HOW TO DEVELOP AQ BY JOHN SPENCE
I just completed my 20th year of delivering executive programs for the Securities Industry Institute in partnership with the Wharton School of Business. In addition to the sessions I usually offer on strategy, leadership, and organizational culture, I put together two new workshops this year. The first was on building resilient organizations, and the other was on how to improve your AQ (adaptability quotient). More than ever, organizations must be adaptable, agile, nimble, and resilient to survive in today’s marketplace. However, organizations are not adaptable. People who have a high AQ create organizational adaptability. Here are what I believe are four core elements for personal adaptability.
1. CURIOSITY Develop an insatiable desire to learn new ideas and skills constantly. Critically important to this practice is the willingness to look outside of your industry and pursue information from multiple sources. Combining your personal experience with innovative ideas is what leads to innovative strategies. 2. INTELLECTUAL RIGOR It’s not enough to just read information, listen to audiobooks, and watch YouTube videos. You must invest the mental effort necessary to understand what you are learning at a deeper level. Then think about precisely how to apply it to your organization. 3. FLEXIBLE THINKING When you practice intellectually rigorous curiosity, you’re going to come across ideas that seem uncomfortable or even in direct contradiction with what you have done in the past. Flexible thinkers are willing to try out new ways of doing things, question their assumptions, and let go of old beliefs that no longer work. 4. SPEED The most challenging part of building your AQ is that you must do it in a fast cycle. You must invest time every day to take in new information that you can apply quickly to solve pressing problems. Speed wins. Because I love to put everything into an equation… (CURIOSITY + INTELLECTUAL RIGOR + FLEXIBLE THINKING) X SPEED = AQ
“ We read to know we’re not alone.” WILLIAM NICHOLSON, SHADOWLANDS
Books have the ability to keep us future focused and thinking positively, something still greatly needed for our mental health. As John just shared, reading the book is not enough, you must also take the time to consider how you will apply what you’ve learned. USSSA is launching a Book Club to bring together members with an interest in learning together. If you are interested in joining a group, please complete our interest form at https://www.jotform.com/form/210945143033042
John Spence is an author, international executive coach, professional development educator, virtual trainer, strategic planning facilitator, keynote speaker and developer of online learning programs. John is recognized as one of the top business thought leaders and leadership development experts in the world and was named by the American Management Association as one of America’s Top 50 Leaders to Watch along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. As a consultant and coach to organizations worldwide, from startups to the Fortune 10, John is dedicated to helping people and businesses be more successful by “Making the Very Complex… Awesomely Simple.” Reprinted with permission.
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