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EQ Is More Important Than IQ

Richard Branson dropped out of school at age 16, never to return. He still managed to amass a net worth of several billion dollars, earn himself a knighthood, and appear to have a lot of fun in the process.

Branson states, “I think being emotionally intelligent is more important in every aspect of life — including business. Being a good listener, finding empathy, understanding emotions, communicating effectively, treating people well, and bringing out the best is critical to success. It will also help you build a business that understands people and solves their problems and make for a happier and healthier team, too.”

 He added this:

“If I had let my IQ and my school grades determine my success, I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Clearly, it is possible to struggle academically and still do amazing things in life. Science, it turns out, largely backs Branson up.

Study after study agrees: EQ trumps IQ

Any discussion of whether IQ or EQ matters more for success hinges on what you mean by success. If what you have in mind is becoming a Fields Medal-winning mathematician or world-leading theoretical physicist, exceptional intellectual horsepower is essential for success.

But if what you have in mind is building a profitable business and/or enjoying a happy, stable home life, there’s a very good chance that you should worry a lot more about maximizing your EQ.

Many people fret about whether they have the smarts to succeed at work, but when Harvard researchers analyzed the performance of professional teams, they found that those with higher EQ outperformed those with a higher cumulative IQ.

Looking to make it into management? An extensive Google analysis showed that what makes for a good boss has much less to do with technical competence and all-around braininess and more to do with so-called “soft skills” like empathy, empowerment, and communication.

Concerned you need a huge brain to make smart decisions for your business? Intelligence certainly helps, but a study out of Yale showed those with high EQ actually make far wiser decisions, largely because they are better able to recognize and manage their emotions and thus better able to think through problems logically. Other research even linked higher EQ to higher income.

In entrepreneurship, a massive analysis of the traits of 65,000 business owners — as well as their companies' growth, profitability, and longevity — showed that high EQ was much more predictive of success than high IQ. Being smart is helpful. But being people-savvy matters more.

Finally, not only is EQ a more reliable predictor of many forms of everyday success, but it’s also easier to influence. While there are many ways to maximize whatever intellectual potential you were born with, IQ is relatively fixed over time. Emotional intelligence encompasses skills and abilities that are much easier to strengthen through deliberate practice.

Branson is onto something.

All of which should probably convince you that Branson knows what he’s talking about. Reading, learning new skills, busting biases, and smartly approaching problems are all valuable. No one’s saying you shouldn’t try to be as smart as possible. But you shouldn’t be discouraged if you were far from the brainiest student at your school.

Branson did terribly in school but very well for himself, thanks more than partly to his exceptional EQ. Few of us will climb to the same heights as Richard Branson, but he’s an excellent example of two key principles of success: EQ can be trained, and, for most practical definitions of success, it will get you further than IQ.

At Western Heights, we place great emphasis on developing our children's Emotional Intelligence - their EQ.

In our rapidly changing world, Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Intelligence can already beat humans in most tasks that require IQ. Where humans still have a clear advantage is in EQ. We teach our children to be caring,  kind, empathetic, respectful and contributing citizens. We teach them to be collaborators, creative and to ask good questions. We also teach them to be independent thinkers and self-managing leaders of their own learning. 

We strongly believe these attributes will give our children the best chance at building successful and happy lives for themselves.

As always - if you have questions or concerns about anything school-related - email me at macash@mac.com, and I will get back to you asap.

My very best regards to you all,

Ash Maindonald

Principal.