Why IQ Matters in Management and Leadership
IQ matters because to create more relationships your cognitive capacity is your limit according to Professor Robin Dunbar. People can maintain on average 150 relationships but more if they have a higher cognitive capacity.
And that's where IQ and working memory come in.
This means that depending on how many friends you have privately and your level of IQ you are more or less capable of becoming a great manager or leader.
Unfortunately many believe that any person can be a manager or leader just because they get presented with the opportunity.
Some will become great managers and leaders
Great managers and leaders have higher cognitive abilities. They have great networking skills and have larger networks than the average Joe.
All because they have the capacity to:
Remember large amounts of information
Iterate solutions and give direction in meetings
Explain different ideas to any given problem
But if you have the potential to become a great manager or leader that will endure the employment or get fired is mostly up to your genetics and upbringing.
Let's dive in.
Reason 1: The ability to listen is fundamentally IQ
To be a great listener you need a very large IQ which is remembering a lot of information without storing it in your long-term memory through repetition.
Research shows managers have an IQ of around 110. Now the average IQ in most Western countries is around 98-99. That excludes a lot of people from that type of role.
But why is cognitive ability limiting?
Let's say you're listening to an employee in a 1:1 meeting. To be perceived as a good listener you need to remember everything the other person has said so that you can summarise it back to them to confirm you understood them. Otherwise, you won't be able to address the issue they are describing and you would coach them on the wrong thing.
If you did not remember or understand he or she will start frowning or worse, play dumb not to give away that you suck at being a manager.
The value of being a manager is to be able to listen and give guidance or to understand any given problem in the service or product the manager is responsible for. If the manager does not grasp the problem his next stop will be the chopping block which means his personal items will be handed to him/her in a cardboard box on the way out the door escorted by security into unemployment.
Trust me when I say that your lack of listening skills and not understanding what your team is trying to tell you will eventually end up in your boss's ears.
In my article about how to listen: you can make sure you have the necessary skills for that type of role and save yourself the walk of shame.
Reason 2: IQ is needed in meetings
Managers run meetings where your fundamental role is to facilitate. Facilitation is listening, summarising, and setting directions on the fly.
It's easy to sound and look like a fool. Don't get me wrong. It can be done with practice and you can always compensate with a notepad or other tool like a whiteboard if you lack IQ. However, the meeting members will always judge your ability to run the meeting and move it towards a viable solution.
During meetings, you need to be able to listen to everyone and draw conclusions on the fly. You, the facilitator in the meeting need to summarise what everyone is saying so that you understand the problem and can set the direction.
If you have to low IQ these are some of the consequences:
Team members figure out you don't understand what they say.
Team members will not respect you.
Team members will distrust you.
Team members will eventually tell your manager that you're not good enough.
The best team members will resign.
But if you are high enough in IQ you will do just fine since you will stay on top of everyone's descriptions and you will see patterns in what they say and they will love you for it.
Reason 3: IQ makes you see patterns in your head
One great feature of IQ is that no matter what the subject you'll start to make sense of everything.
As you're making sense of what the other person is describing you'll remain calm and focused on listening. Even if the other person thinks you're a fool and tries to pull a fast one. You'll be able to summarise in broad strokes what the person is trying to convey. That will create trust and strengthen any relationship.
Remember that employees crave relationships, and task management from the other article I wrote about how to be a great leader for beginners.
IQ also increases the odds of you becoming better at communicating the task they need to do since you understand what's needed.
Takeaways
Management is more than a bump in salary and responsibility. It also requires a larger cognitive function in order to deliver value to the team and business. Not only do you need a larger IQ of 110 and above. You also need to have a specific personality which I will tell you all about in the next newsletter.
More resources
“Why We Love” by Dr. Anna Machin
“The Life Of Dad” by Dr. Anna Machin
“The Master and His Emissary” by Dr. Iain McGilchrist
“The Matter With Things” by Dr. Iain McGilchrist