Attitude is More Important than Intelligence

I flew back from Florida last week and I had an opportunity to sit next to a Chairman of the Board of four companies. She took her business card and on the back she drew four quadrants. In each of these four quadrants she placed a "J" and a "V" for Job and Vision. The question was how would she label a person working for her in terms of their job performance (J) and their ability to carry out the vision (V) of the firm?

In the first quadrant she had someone with a postive job performance and a positive vision. She suggested the symbol for this person be handcuffs to make sure and keep this person.

In the second quadrant she had someone with poor job perfomance and a positive vision. She suggested this person needs either a reposting to another job they can handle or training.

In the third quadrant she had someone with positive job performance and a negative vision. She suggested this person be fired.

In the fourth quadrant she had someone with poor job performance and a negative vision. She suggested this person be fired.

I was with her for most of this, but then we circled back regarding the third quadrant. I have found as a manager and having worked with conflict resolution in this area, that many times there are other issues going on. This quadrant needs further evaluation. Many times when the issue is investigated further there can be many reasons for the negative vision. Rather than lose a good employee, and spend the time and money to post, hire, train and develop a new employee, if these reasons can be addressed it is possible to turn the negative vision into a positive vision.

For example I was aware of a very competent technical employee who was not able to complete tasks timely. The employee was technically brilliant, but continually over promised and under delivered. He seemed to have a very negative attitude towards the firm and towards other managers at the firm. A half dozen managers complained about IT not being able to deliver as promised. As it turns out the IT guru had a half dozen managers asking for additional favors and as he tried his best to comply, he could not meet their deadlines. In the end he had an administrative assistant assigned to help schedule work and another manager had to approve all work assigned to IT going forward. This alleviated the issue. It was good that the person others viewed as having a negative vision had his interests explored to find out what the problems were so they could be addressed. It is so important to know how to deal with failure or perceived failure when it appears an employee has a negative vision.

Today I also want to share Jonathan Low's Blog "The Lowdown" of why "Attitude is more important than IQ". He offers a common sense article from Travis Bradberry reports in Quartz that in part states,

"Common sense would suggest that having ability, like being smart, inspires confidence. It does, but only while the going is easy. The deciding factor in life is how you handle setbacks and challenges. People with a growth mindset welcome setbacks with open arms. According to Dweck, success in life is all about how you deal with failure.

When it comes to success, it’s easy to think that people blessed with brains are inevitably going to leave the rest of us in the dust. But new research from Stanford University will change your mind (and your attitude).

Psychologist Carol Dweck has spent her entire career studying attitude and performance, and her latest study shows that your attitude is a better predictor of your success than your IQ.

Dweck found that people’s core attitudes fall into one of two categories: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

With a fixed mindset, you believe you are who you are and you cannot change. This creates problems when you’re challenged because anything that appears to be more than you can handle is bound to make you feel hopeless and overwhelmed.

With a fixed mindset, you believe you are who you are and you cannot change. This creates problems when you’re challenged. People with a growth mindset believe that they can improve with effort. They outperform those with a fixed mindset, even when they have a lower IQ, because they embrace challenges, treating them as opportunities to learn something new.

Common sense would suggest that having ability, like being smart, inspires confidence. It does, but only while the going is easy. The deciding factor in life is how you handle setbacks and challenges. People with a growth mindset welcome setbacks with open arms.

According to Dweck, success in life is all about how you deal with failure. She describes the approach to failure of people with the growth mindset as an inability to deal with failure. Failure doesn’t have to be a bad thing; in fact, failure is helpful information. It shows us how to do better next time.

Regardless of which side of the chart you fall on, you can make changes and develop a growth mindset. What follows are some strategies that will fine-tune your mindset and help you make certain it’s as growth oriented as possible."

The article goes on to address:

• Don't stay helpless
• Be Passionate
• Take Action
• Go the Extra Mile or Two
• Expect Results
• Be Flexible
• Don't Complain When Things Don't Go Your Way

I suggest you click on the link above and check the article his blog. It may improve your attitude and give you a more positive vision. You may also find it useful to share this with someone else.