I had met Sundar, a childhood friend of mine, after a long time. We probably hadn’t met after higher secondary. To be honest, I did not recognize him instantly. I was assisting—I find the term ‘assisting’ appropriate—Anu, my wife, in shopping at Bhatbhateni Super Market. He greeted me when I was inspecting the expiry date of cornflakes for my four-year-old toddler. I squinted for a minute to recover his name from my not-so-distant past.
I don’t remember the details of our conversation, which must have lasted for about 15 minutes, except the one sentence where he mentioned he was the General Manager of a leading pharmaceutical company in Nepal. Let me confess that the news was not a surprise. Rather, it was a shock, because my career progress looked mundane compared to his. My career path was accruing slowly, whereas his had shot up exponentially. Sundar used to be an average student. To the best of my memory, in any given year his marks never exceeded 50 percent. Nevertheless, he had managed to reach a height of success. His appearance left no doubt of his opulence. How did this happen! It was a terrible night for me. I began to analyze our old days. He was not very good at studies (I am hoping to appease my shock by highlighting this fact once again), but he had a very good rapport with teachers and fellow classmates. He had more than double the number of friends I had. Less than a quarter of our classmates might have known me, but I reckon almost all teachers and students from our batch knew him. [break]
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Malcolm Gladwell, the British-Canadian journalist and bestselling author and speaker, highlights the term “Practical Intelligence” in his bestselling book Outliers. Practical intelligence refers to things like “knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing what to say for maximum effect.” He explains that it is a type of knowledge that helps you read situations correctly and get what you want. It is a kind of intelligence separate from the sort of analytical ability measured by IQ or Intelligence Quotient—a term coined by psychologist William Stern. However low his IQ, Sundar had very high “Practical Intelligence.” What do we take away, then, from his case? Is pondering over tomes to score high marks worthless? Are schools and universities misguiding us? My mind was fraught with numerous such questions.
Daniel Goleman, an author, psychologist, and science journalist, writes in his book Emotional Intelligence, that academic intelligence does not prepare you for life’s turmoil. He stresses on “Emotional Intelligence”—a set of characteristics that matter enormously for personal achievement. He summarizes studies from different psychologists, concluding that pupils who scored low in Emotional Intelligence were less successful compared to their high scoring peers, not only in terms of salary and productivity, but also in status in their fields. Academic excellence does not ensure satisfaction in life or happiness in friendship, family and romantic relationships. So what do we do? Do we stop pursuing academic degrees?
Goleman underscores that academic courses need to embrace emotional intelligence. Schools and universities should spend more time identifying children’s natural competencies and gifts and cultivate those, and spend less time on ranking. Like Following both Gladwell and Goleman, I believe that “Practical Intelligence” and “Emotional Intelligence” are psychological resources that help one reach the pinnacle of personal success.
Anup, a friend of mine, suggests that acquiring psychological resources is not an overnight task. He argues that it has to be embedded in the mind from childhood. For this, our conventional family practice has to be substantially modified. Anup remembers that when he was a child, he was always alienated from important family discussions. He was told that children are not allowed to interfere when adults are taking vital decisions. Although I have a weak memory, I too remember similar lessons from my parents. Anup adds that such lessons impair children’s decision making and subvert children’s ability to build psychological resources. This will, in the long term, have repercussions on their professional as well as personal life.
Psychological resources are as important in burnishing the career of an organisation as of an individual. We are accustomed to hearing subordinates carping about their bosses and vice versa. My friend Roshan always talks about the intrusive nature of his female subordinates. He has already fired three subordinates and is considering letting the current one go as well. As a result of the chaos, the work he is looking over has not progressed at all. Initially, I was partial to Roshan and assumed he was right. But later I wondered if it was Roshan’s leadership strategy that was wrong. Goleman writes “leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work towards a common goal”. Listening is a good leadership skill.
Again like Goleman, I believe listening is also a psychological resource which has the capacity to mitigate colossal problems. Goleman further writes that “how criticisms are given and received goes a long way in determining how satisfied people are with their work, with those they work with, and with those to whom they are responsible.” Recently, I was reading an article by Dr Marla Gottschalk posted in Linkedin. She is an Industrial & Organizational Psychologist/Workplace Strategist. She points out the significance of “Psychological Capital” upon work and career. Positive psychology helps one to attain greater levels of workplace happiness and success. She lists key psychological resources required to succeed in professional life, referring to them as HERO, which stands for Hope (a belief in goal), Efficacy (confidence to put effort), Resilience (ability to bounce back), and Optimism (positive view towards work).
Psychological resources are pivotal to success. I am in debt to Sundar, who inadvertently helped me analyse important things that I have been ignoring. I believe implementing expert advice on bolstering psychological resources will help nurture capable human resources and create healthy workplaces. I am not vituperating academic intelligence, only pointing out how it can be complemented by psychological resources.
uanumalakar@gmail.com
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