Would You Rather Hire a Butterfly or a Genius?
It might sound like a dumb question until you read a little bit further…
There is an ongoing conversation about whether or not emotional intelligence (also known as EQ) is more important than an individual’s IQ (a score indicating how intelligent one is). Yes, emotional intelligence (EQ) and IQ are two different things. If you are interested in a deep dive there is a great article that talks about how they are different and provides another opinion on why one may or may not be more important than the other.
After working in a fast-paced and high growth environment for almost 4 years it is obvious, at least to me, that IQ is important. Being able to understand concepts quickly, learn new technologies, and identify areas of improvement are extremely compelling abilities. That being said, the ability to connect with others, develop friendships, and motivate groups of people are crucial. Without emotional intelligence, many of those quickly learned concepts, new technologies, and identification of areas of improvement don’t go anywhere.
We as humans are social beings. Although some of us are extroverted and others are introverted, interacting with other humans is a part of what we do every day. Emotional intelligence is the ability to, when we interact with others, do it well — and for those of you who are concerned about your ability to interact with others I have some good news. Emotional intelligence is a skill! It can be taught.
An article I recently found (here on medium) summarizes one person’s insights on the book “Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman. I suggest you take a look… Alex practically said the same thing to start his post.
“I recommend everyone to read this post (and perhaps the book) because emotional intelligence affects almost every aspect of our lives, including your relationship with yourself, relationships with others, and your success.”
I hope you gave it a read.
Now, let’s go over the difference between a butterfly and a genius because it leads us to our answer.
An interesting Inc.com article recently took information from a study done by a Harvard Professor to relate EQ (Emotional Intelligence) to a butterfly and IQ (Intellectual Quotient) to a genius. Both are important, but there is a common thread between the list below…
- Families
- Communities
- Companies
All of them are groups, not individuals!
For a group to be successful, emotional intelligence outweighs IQ. In the article below the math speaks for itself.
Here is a portion of the math for those who decided to skip over the article 👇
“Well, among the Geniuses a bit fewer than 1 out of 5 individuals (18 percent) will end up with the [world changing] invention. Half of those Geniuses will have figured it out all by themselves. Meanwhile, 99.9 percent of Butterflies will have the [world-changing] innovation, but only 0.1 percent will have figured it out by themselves.”
Geniuses are important, yes, but we often overlook what butterflies can do for our communities and our organizations. Whether you are a genius or a butterfly, there is a place for you!
And, if you are looking to become more like a butterfly (or a genius) it can be learned. Go check out www.learnwithedifi.com to learn more!
