I’ve seen lots of talk lately about leaders needing soft skills like empathy, self-awareness, and vulnerability.
That’s absolute garbage–your EQ (emotional quotient) doesn’t matter. It’s all about your IQ (intelligence quotient). If you want to be a successful leader, you have to be the smartest person in the room.
People don’t want a leader who makes them feel good with emotional fluff. They want a leader who can make money and is smart enough to make quick, strong decisions. In a high-risk situation where your business is on the line, do you want someone smart to solve the problem or someone who is emotionally intelligent and can make you feel better about the ship going down?
Strong EQ skills like empathy and vulnerability make you weak and look like a pushover. When people think they can connect to you emotionally and you showcase your weaknesses and struggles, you lose credibility as a leader. And connecting with people and showing emotions slows you down as a leader and takes you away from what really matters: money! You need to be bulletproof with a strong IQ.
This is why leaders are always portrayed as confident, strong, knowledgeable, and not emotional. That’s not what works and it’s not what people want.
And I’m not alone in this thought: IQ measures your ability to solve problems, use logic, and communicate complex ideas–all crucial skills to being a great leader. High IQ scores are connected to economic success, meaning smarter people make more money. You can’t be a great leader without a high IQ. But having a high EQ only slows you down. EQ isn’t necessary for being a leader. In fact, it’s a liability. I’m sure you know of quite a few leaders out there who are running successful teams and multi-billion dollar companies who don’t have any EQ!
The idea of EQ wasn’t created until 1990. But think of all the great leaders who came before then. They succeeded because they were intelligent and determined, not because they worried about fluffy emotions. Can you imagine business greats like Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, or Henry Ford getting bogged down with emotions? No way! They succeeded because of their brain power and authority.
If you want to lead, you have to be smart. Leaders throughout history have been incredibly smart. At least 40% of the world’s billionaires, judges, CEOs, and government leaders are in the top 1% of cognitive ability.
Soft skills add unnecessary emotion and confusion to business. The office isn’t the place to work through your feelings or show weakness. When you focus on being the smartest person, you get results. Plus, IQ makes it easy to know what leaders to promote. If someone doesn’t have a high IQ, they aren’t cut out to be a leader. I hire smart people who can do their jobs, not people who are good at “connecting” with others.
In the next ten years, we’ll all be working with bots and technology anyway, so who cares about emotional intelligence? You need to beat out the bots!
Stop worrying about “soft skills.” They’re only slowing you down! If you want to be a great leader like me, all that matters is that you are the smartest person in the room and everyone knows it. If you don’t agree with me it’s probably because you have a lower IQ!
-The Outdated Leader
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Over the last 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of speaking and working with some of the world’s top leaders. Here are 15 of the best leadership lessons that I learned from the CEOs of organizations like Netflix, Honeywell, Volvo, Best Buy, The Home Depot, and others. I hope they inspire you and give you things you can try in your work and life. Get the PDF here.
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