IQ Is Massively Overrated!

We hear a lot about the importance of IQ, but I believe Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is more important in getting you a promotion. IQ is a significant advantage in school to get good grades, but how many people do you know that are very smart and stuck in a job that requires little of their intelligence?

This is a common occurrence, with many of these people frustrated by this situation, so what is EQ and how will it boost your career?

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to make others feel valued and understood. 

Studies have shown that executives typically have 1 standard deviation higher IQ than average, around 115, but after that, your EQ is what will skyrocket your career. EQ dictates how well you lead, listen to your team, react under pressure. These are all critical factors of success and applies in every form of communication from individual conversations to speaking in public at large events. To communicate is to persuade, take this post for example, I am offering reasons why investing time and effort to increase your EQ is an investment you should make. This is achieved by listing reasons that create a valid argument and demonstrating that I say this as someone who used to struggle with EQ, but have now observed the many benefits and want you to also flourish.

How EQ factors into public speaking

The largest disconnect you can have when speaking in public is not listening and reacting to your audience. I see this often when a speaker has a set script of what they want to present and will not adjust to audience needs. This is where EQ will boost your audience support.

The role of the speaker is to provide relevant information the audience wants!

If the audience has questions about a related topic, but you didn’t plan on speaking about it, do not brush it off because this will destroy their trust. Here are a 4 steps to succeed:

1. Address their question

This makes the audience member feel heard and respected, acknowledge their question.

2. Give them some information on the topic

By giving a basic response, you are providing value, then if further detail is required, you can act accordingly.

3. Be Honest

If you’re tight for time, tell the audience that you would love to go into greater detail, but that would mean missing the section on… This shows that you’re listening, willing to adapt, and gives them the choice of what would benefit them more. By following this step, you are building major trust with the audience.

4. Offer To Follow-Up

Tell the person that asked the question to give you their email after the presentation and you will send them a more detailed answer. Now you have demonstrated that you’re a presenter of integrity and are genuinely there for their needs. You can open this offer up to everyone in the audience that’s interested and CC them, this will also benefit you with additional email addresses to follow up with as their impression of you will be great.