MM#338--When Smart is Dumb

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:07.612 --> 00:00:20.807
Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

00:00:20.807 --> 00:00:26.146
Now here's your host, david Kaiser, flourishing life.

00:00:26.167 --> 00:00:27.653
Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

00:00:27.653 --> 00:00:36.103
Hello, I am David, and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.

00:00:36.103 --> 00:00:39.331
Today we're going to explore a book written some 30 years ago but I think is still relevant for us today.

00:00:39.331 --> 00:00:44.923
In fact I would dare say it's more relevant today than when it was written.

00:00:44.923 --> 00:00:49.448
The great books have a way of doing that, don't they?

00:00:50.790 --> 00:00:55.396
Our book of the day is Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goldman.

00:00:55.396 --> 00:01:00.564
Why it can matter more than IQ.

00:01:00.564 --> 00:01:02.731
It was written back in 1997.

00:01:02.731 --> 00:01:08.772
This book was a breakthrough in psychology departments around the world at the time.

00:01:08.772 --> 00:01:19.694
And, as Goldman says in the opening pages, this book is quote a guide to making sense of the senseless.

00:01:19.694 --> 00:01:23.689
So with that let's go to our first pull quote.

00:01:23.689 --> 00:01:28.670
Anyone can become angry, that is easy.

00:01:28.670 --> 00:01:39.795
But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, in the right way, that is not easy.

00:01:39.795 --> 00:01:44.811
So it says Aristotle from the Neomachean Ethics.

00:01:44.811 --> 00:01:48.362
So it says Aristotle from the Neomachian Ethics.

00:01:48.362 --> 00:02:10.806
I love that Goldman kicks off this exploration into making sense of the senseless by starting with one of the great classics of all of Western literature, the Neomachian Ethics by Aristotle, perhaps the very first personal development book, right up there with the Old Testament in the strict sense of a quote book.

00:02:10.806 --> 00:02:26.212
And this book, the Neomachian Ethics, is worth reading, and we should do a study of this book and perhaps an academy review of it, most especially since the classical books seem to be disregarded at a high rate these days.

00:02:26.212 --> 00:02:31.091
But that is a topic for a different day and a different time.

00:02:32.181 --> 00:02:35.991
Back to our book of the day Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goldman.

00:02:35.991 --> 00:02:39.443
Isn't that quote from Aristotle?

00:02:39.443 --> 00:02:44.633
So true though there's tons of wisdom in just that quote alone.

00:02:44.633 --> 00:02:46.586
True though there's tons of wisdom in just that quote alone.

00:02:46.586 --> 00:02:48.210
Anyone can be angry, that's easy.

00:02:48.210 --> 00:03:01.919
But to be angry with the right person, at the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, in the right way, that is not easy.

00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:40.995
And we've all known someone or even ourselves, I should say most especially ourselves that have gotten angry and spun up in the heat of the moment and didn't recognize that we were doing that Completely spun up, totally overreacted, probably got angry, all out of sorts, felt embarrassed, felt awful afterwards about our conduct, our actions, our words, knowing full well that we would have to apologize later and make things right for those around us or who we went overboard with in our anger.

00:03:43.461 --> 00:03:48.453
Now let's go back to the book to hear of an extremely tragic tale.

00:03:48.453 --> 00:04:00.955
Exactly why David Poligruto, a high school physics teacher, was stabbed with a kitchen knife by one of his star students is still debatable.

00:04:00.955 --> 00:04:03.807
But the facts as widely reported.

00:04:03.807 --> 00:04:08.360
Are these still debatable?

00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:13.074
But the facts as widely reported are these Jason H, a sophomore and a straight-A student at Coral Springs, florida High School, was fixated on getting into medical school.

00:04:13.074 --> 00:04:17.028
Not just any medical school he dreamt of Harvard.

00:04:17.028 --> 00:04:22.701
But Poligroto, his physics teacher, had given Jason an 80 on a quiz.

00:04:22.701 --> 00:04:26.966
Believing the grade a mere B put his dream in jeopardy.

00:04:27.026 --> 00:04:38.216
Jason took a butcher knife to school and, in a confrontation with Polo Gruto in the physics lab, stabbed his teacher in the collarbone before being subdued in a struggle.

00:04:38.216 --> 00:04:43.651
A judge found Jason innocent, temporarily insane during the incident.

00:04:43.651 --> 00:04:48.711
A panel of four psychologists and psychiatrists swore he was psychotic.

00:04:48.711 --> 00:05:01.927
During the fight, jason claimed he had been planning to commit suicide because of the test score and had gone to Polo Gruto to tell him he was going to kill himself because of the bad grade.

00:05:01.927 --> 00:05:05.463
Polo Gruto told a different story.

00:05:05.463 --> 00:05:12.327
I think he tried to completely do me in with a knife because he was infuriated over the bad grade.

00:05:12.327 --> 00:05:17.906
After transferring to a private school, jason graduated two years later in the top of his class.

00:05:17.906 --> 00:05:32.879
A perfect grade in regular classes would have given him a straight 4.0 average, but Jason had taken enough advanced courses to raise his grade point average to 4.614, way beyond A-plus range.

00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:45.528
Even as Jason graduated with the highest honors, his old physics teacher, david Poligruto, complained that Jason had never apologized or even taken responsibility for the attack.

00:05:46.716 --> 00:05:54.990
The question is how could someone of such obvious intelligence do something so irrational, so downright dumb?

00:05:54.990 --> 00:05:57.557
The answer academic intelligence has little to do with emotional life.

00:05:57.557 --> 00:06:00.581
Academic intelligence has little to do with emotional life.

00:06:00.581 --> 00:06:07.750
The brightest among us can founder on the shoals of unbridled passions and unruly impulses.

00:06:07.750 --> 00:06:18.334
People with high IQs can be stunningly poor pilots of their private lives.

00:06:18.334 --> 00:06:23.274
How absolutely awful.

00:06:23.274 --> 00:06:31.940
The student took no responsibilities for his action, never apologized and then ended up getting off scot-free.

00:06:31.940 --> 00:06:35.387
Now here's our nugget of wisdom for today.

00:06:37.435 --> 00:06:50.798
Going back to the book, there are widespread expectations to the myth that IQ predicts success, many or more expectations than cases that fit the rule.

00:06:50.798 --> 00:06:58.617
At best, iq contributes about 20% to the factors that determine life success, which leaves 80% to other forces.

00:06:58.617 --> 00:07:08.170
As one observer notes, the vast majority of one's ultimate niche in society is determined by non IQ factors, ranging from social class to luck.

00:07:08.170 --> 00:07:19.002
Even Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, whose book the Bell Curve imputes primary importance to IQ, acknowledge this, acknowledge this, as they point out.

00:07:19.002 --> 00:07:31.552
Perhaps, or as they point out, quote, perhaps a freshman with an SAT math score of 500 had better not have his heart set on being a mathematician.

00:07:31.552 --> 00:07:39.440
But if, instead, he wants to run his own business, become a US senator or make a million dollars, he should not put aside his dreams.

00:07:39.440 --> 00:07:51.732
The link between test scores and those achievements is dwarfed by the totality of other characteristics that he brings to life.

00:07:51.732 --> 00:07:56.163
So did you catch that nugget?

00:07:56.163 --> 00:08:06.550
At best, iq contributes about 20% to the factors that determine life success, which leaves 80% to other forces.

00:08:06.550 --> 00:08:09.744
20% versus 80%.

00:08:09.744 --> 00:08:21.747
20% is IQ, 80% is EQ, intelligence quotient IQ versus emotional quotient EQ.

00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:26.766
But here's the hopeful part of all of this.

00:08:26.766 --> 00:08:50.626
My concern is with a key set of these other characteristics emotional intelligence abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations, to control impulse and delay gratification, to regulate one's moods and keep distress from swamping.

00:08:50.626 --> 00:08:56.491
The ability to think, to empathize and to hope.

00:08:56.491 --> 00:09:06.836
Unlike IQ, with its nearly 100-year history of research with hundreds of thousands of people.

00:09:06.836 --> 00:09:08.458
Emotional intelligence is a new concept.

00:09:08.458 --> 00:09:24.412
No one can yet say exactly how much of the variability from person to person in life's course it accounts for, but what data exists suggests it can be as powerful and at times more powerful than IQ.

00:09:24.412 --> 00:09:45.977
And while there are those who argue that IQ cannot be changed much by experience or education, I will show in part five that the crucial emotional competencies can indeed be learned and improved upon by children if we bother to teach them.

00:09:45.977 --> 00:09:50.543
Ah, we have hope, then.

00:09:50.543 --> 00:09:58.583
Our emotional intelligence is not repeat, not a fixed personality trait.

00:09:58.583 --> 00:10:01.596
We can learn and approve upon this.

00:10:01.596 --> 00:10:08.150
Just as we can help To teach our children these ways, we as adults can also learn.

00:10:08.150 --> 00:10:11.649
Everything is not etched in stone.

00:10:13.280 --> 00:10:30.386
Now, what I found fascinating is that Goldman, in my copy, the 25th anniversary of the book being published, helps clear up some mistaken notions around EQ and IQ From the update, the 25th edition.

00:10:30.386 --> 00:10:40.754
Let's go back to the book to hear about this update, for one, emotional intelligence does not account in individuals for 80% of success.

00:10:40.754 --> 00:10:52.484
This misconception comes from the misreading of the data suggesting that IQ may account for up to 20% of career success and likely a smaller amount.

00:10:52.484 --> 00:11:00.264
There are plenty of other factors that add to success apart from EI, emotional intelligence.

00:11:00.264 --> 00:11:05.740
Then there's the mistaken notion that EI always matters more than IQ.

00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:21.087
Ei, emotional intelligence, can be more important than IQ when it comes to health and relationships though I've never seen any data showing this but certainly not when it comes to, say, academic achievement.

00:11:22.029 --> 00:11:40.427
Another wrong-headed view that having emotional intelligence just means that a person is nice, when in fact emotional intelligence could mean a person is blunt or assertive when it comes to expressing unpleasant truths in certain contexts.

00:11:40.427 --> 00:11:53.244
So you can see that after 25 years, many people take Goldman's teaching from the book and then make it their own and misuse the actual data in what it represents.

00:11:53.244 --> 00:11:59.842
We saw this happen with another great book, extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.

00:11:59.842 --> 00:12:07.062
They ended up having to write another book, essentially the Dichotomy of Leadership.

00:12:07.062 --> 00:12:15.855
The book that comes after comes after extreme ownership is the rebalancing of the book extreme ownership, because so many people got the definitions wrong.

00:12:17.020 --> 00:12:27.066
Now this book offers such great ideas about how we as adults can learn and grow and ultimately have control over our emotional intelligence.

00:12:27.066 --> 00:12:29.611
Everything is not etched in stone.

00:12:29.611 --> 00:12:38.284
Like we said Now, this book is worth a tumble if you want to improve your relationships and your health and your experience at your workplace.

00:12:38.284 --> 00:12:51.315
Most especially, gardering and learning and developing emotional intelligence can help you to be smart rather than dumb around your coworkers.

00:12:51.315 --> 00:13:13.289
So, in today's Mojo Minute, if you want to improve on your ability to have self-control, and also have zeal and persistence and have the ability to motivate oneself, then I would urge you to pick up this classic Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman and read it, or you can cheat and listen to it on Audible.

00:13:13.289 --> 00:13:25.014
If you do, your time will be richly rewarded, and so, most especially so, will your emotional intelligence be rewarded.

00:13:25.014 --> 00:13:30.032
And with that, as always, let's keep fighting the good fight.

00:13:34.542 --> 00:13:35.767
Thank you for joining us.

00:13:35.767 --> 00:13:39.149
We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:48.352
Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

00:13:48.352 --> 00:13:52.187
Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.

MM#338--When Smart is Dumb

Listen On

Recent Episodes