Daniel Goleman made a compelling and accurate case nearly
two decades ago that Emotional Intelligence (EQ) was more important to
leadership effectiveness and performance than IQ. But most attempts at
increasing EQ have resulted only in temporary improvements. The reason is that
a more foundational and core intelligence has been ignored, which is a
pre-cursor to high EQ, namely Positive Intelligence (PQ). Without a solid PQ
foundation, many of our attempts at improvements fail due to
self-sabotage.
Your mind is your best friend, but it is also your worst
enemy, involved in self-sabotage. To illustrate, when your mind tells you that
you should prepare for tomorrow’s important meeting, it is acting as your
friend, causing positive action. When it wakes you up at 3:00 a.m. anxious
about the meeting and warning you for the hundredth time about the many
consequences of failing, it is acting as your enemy; it is simply exhausting
your mental resources without any redeeming value. No friend would do that.
Your PQ is the percentage of time your mind is serving you
as opposed to sabotaging you. For example, a PQ of 75 means that your mind is
serving you 75% of the time and sabotaging you about 25% of the time.
Compelling evidence from a synthesis of research in psychology, neuroscience,
and organisational science shows that with higher PQ teams and professionals
ranging from leaders to salespeople perform 30-35% better on average. What’s
more, they report being far happier and less stressed.
In this video, author and Stanford lecturer Shirzad Chamine introduces
Positive Intelligence. He shows how your Positive Intelligence score or PQ
dramatically affects both your performance and personal fulfilment. He reveals
the 10 Saboteurs that are our hidden internal enemies and how to combat them.
