Rounded mental abilities: IQ, EQ & KQ
/By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.
Reading time: 7 mins
Summary: Rounded mental abilities > Only strong in one area. Through deliberate effort I believe one can level up each of IQ, EQ and KQ.
Definitions
IQ = Intelligence Quotient = Pure logic ability
EQ = Emotional Intelligence = Ability to understand yourself and others
KQ = Knowledge Intelligence = The amount of useful ideas you know of. An article on what I consider a subset of KQ. But I prefer this idea of the knowledge curriculum from Natalie Wexler.
*Aside: To me the word ‘intelligence’ is a very fixed mindset idea. I’m just using ‘intelligence’ it is how things are currently named, you’ll see below that I think you can grow all areas and that mental ability (vs intelligence) is a better name as it sounds more upgradable.
Rounded vs Unbalanced Mental Abilities
You can grow mental abilities
Over the last 100 years IQ has improved on average 3 points per decade, or 30 points over 100 years - link.
15 points is one standard deviation. This means that the average person today would have scored in the 94th percentile 100 year ago.
People have put forward many explanations for this, I think the cleanest explanation is that one’s mental abilities are not fixed, and that you can level up. The earlier you start compounding mental abilities the better. This is called ‘cumulative advantage’ or ‘The Matthew Effect’.
To me, on average there is more exposure to content today than 100 years ago (books, games, calculations for buying things, video, etc), but also 100 years ago there was no TV, no internet and no smart phones. So the average person today is starting to compound mental abilities sooner and doing so at a higher quantity and quality than an average person 100 years ago.
Mental ability = 1. Quantity * 2. Quality of upgrades done.
I think today vs 100 years ago on average people:
A: start mental upgrades sooner.
B: do higher quantity once they start, and
C: on average the quality is higher.
*Aside: the main difference I see between someone who is a master in their field and someone who is average is the quantity and quality of upgrades they have done. In other words, if you want to be a master, start doing upgrades now!
This can explain the 30 point difference / 2 standard deviation difference in IQ results from 100 years ago. Effectively the average human today is using their brain earlier and more in all areas than 100 years ago, and this has compounding effects.
*Aside: I consider this blog “Mental Ability = Number of ideas * Interconnectedness of ideas” one explanation of how the Matthew Effect can compound and is ceilingless. Also, this blog has another definition of ‘mental ability’.
Some thoughts on how to grow IQ, EQ and KQ
IQ
It’s logical to think improving at logic ability is logical! Haha, I like that sentence!
The best way I know to improve logic ability is writing blogs. Writing blogs like this CloudStreaks blog = Improving raw logic ability. Here are some blogs I’ve written about the power of writing.
One way to represent logic ability is the logic structures one can build - as per this blog.
High quality logic solving (IQ ability) is playing 3D chess. Low quality logic solving is 1D checkers.
A visualisation for logic problem solving ability.
I find a problem, then I write about it. The writing is figuring out the ‘solution’, I don’t know before I write what I’m going to write, I just have a problem I’d like to level up my understanding of.
In effect writing blogs like this one you are reading, are little logic puzzles. I set myself custom little logic puzzles and solve them.
Including what I do inside work, I likely solve 5-15 logic puzzles a week.
You get better at the things you try to get better at. I believe I’ve slowly gotten better at solving logic puzzles through writing. AKA I've levelled up my IQ abilities.
I’d council that you write a weekly or fortnightly blog about anything you want to systematically get better at. I do this for improving Edrolo as a business, improving the product at Edrolo, personal self reflections, etc etc.
*Aside: IMO for the vast majority of jobs, speed of problem solving pales in comparison to the quality of the solution. Normally I don’t care if it takes twice as long if the solution is twice as good, or frankly 10% better. Normally the solution scales to some degree more than offsetting the extra time needed.
EQ
A couple of frameworks I like for emotional intelligence
Learning from yourself (improving self awareness and self management)
“You do not learn from your experiences, you learn from reflecting on your experiences.” John Dewy
I try to do a few units of ‘Post Game Analysis’ a week on how I’ve done in meetings etc with others, eg in 1:1s.
I journal to myself about the week and also review what I was journaling about from a year ago writing notes.
Learning from others (improving social awareness and relationship management)
“The good learn from everything and everyone, the average from themselves, and the stupid already know everything.” Socrates
I systematically try to consume content 2+ times a week that will help me walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Reality TV can be great for this.
Some examples:
Reading biographies - recent ones include ‘Xi, a study in power’ (about Xi Jinping), ‘10 steps to Nanette’ (if you haven’t watched the Netflix special please do) & ‘Burn Rate - Launching a startup and losing my mind’ (about mental health troubles and running a startup)
Watching reality TV - Love on the spectrum (people with ASD dating), You can’t ask that (a mix bag of everything being a sportsperson to addition), Maid (abuse, single mum, poverty :( ).
Podcasts - Dear HBR (different circumstances at work), en(gender)ed (coercive control), Trained (a podcast interviewing coaches of sports players and what they do)
I also do post game analysis with others about others. It's great!
KQ
They say ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’. Well I think a big determinant in who you know, is what you know! As I’ve gotten to know more stuff I’ve been able to meet people I wouldn’t have been able to if I didn’t know much! I've found you can meet someone when you are worthy of meeting them, not because you have a connection. So do the work to level yourself up to be worthy of meeting people!
Ideas / content range from highly useful to not really useful at all.
I think one should try and understand all highly useful ideas. For instance, I think one should understand about inflation and central bank policy right now. I also think one should understand the last time there were countries trying to take other countries (eg Russia with Ukraine and China with Taiwan) and how the world reacted.
But overall you should know about economics, sociology, startups, politics, geopolitics, financial markets, the differences in major cultures, key lessons from history, etc etc.
It’s pretty friggin broad… and awesome! Normally the more you know about something the more interesting it is. I knew almost nothing about the world as an 18 year old and most things were boring. I like to think I know much more now, and honestly, almost everything is interesting!
Some quick thoughts from me
I do ~2 hours of EQ and KQ content consumption a day. This is just the reading component.
But then I also systematically try to do the major learning modalities at least once a week, ideally once a day: Reading, thinking, talking, writing, building and user testing! This is partially building IQ ability.
If you only take away one thing
I like to think my IQ, EQ and KQ have massively levelled up from where they were 10 years ago. I like to think my IQ, EG and KQ will be massively levelled up in 10 years.
I’m trying to do systematic upgrades 5-6 days a week.
I’ve found there is an emergent outcome where these areas combine to allow me to do new things I couldn’t before.
I don’t believe any of IQ, EQ or KQ have a ceiling, you can level up indefinitely. Not just that, your improvements can be more than linear, they can be exponential!
Jingle: If you think your abilities are fixed, then there is no point trying to level up. I’ve got a fix for you, break that fixed mindset and out of the rubble start to grow!