Why IQ and EQ Aren’t Enough |
For decades, we’ve treated IQ and EQ as the twin pillars of success. IQ measures how well you think. EQ measures how well you feel. Together, they shaped how we educated children, selected leaders, and decided who had “potential.”
But after years of working closely with founders, executives, and high performers, I’ve become convinced that something critical is missing from this picture. I argue that there’s a third form of intelligence, one that quietly determines who thrives when life stops following the script.
It’s called AQ, or agility quotient.
Your AQ is your ability to face change, disappointment, and the unknown without losing your footing. It’s what allows some people to treat disruption as information instead of a threat. Most of us, however, were trained for a very different world.
From an early age, we’re rewarded for IQ. Memorize. Analyze. Optimize. Get the right answer. More recently, EQ entered the conversation, encouraging self-awareness, empathy, and emotional regulation. Both matter. But neither was designed for a world like ours that refuses to sit still.
The old contract—work hard, be smart, and things will stabilize—is breaking down. College degrees no longer guarantee employment. Even elite graduates are finding themselves navigating uncertainty earlier and more often. The systems that once rewarded optimization now punish rigidity.
And then there’s AI. Artificial intelligence has rapidly absorbed many of........