COLUMN: EQ may be good test for leadership

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by Chris Ciompi

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I have always been opposed to tests like the IQ or SAT, which seem to only measure one's abilities for one certain part of one certain day.

Our society places such an emphasis on the quantitative results of bubble-filling dexterity that it sometimes forgets that it is not a number two pencil taking the test.

Now, EQ would be a much more relevant test but much harder to measure.

However, the difficulty of its assessment should not stop us from trying to implement something which has the potential to be that much more pertinent to today's needs and changing standards.

For example, this EQ test could be used right here at Rice: Its effectiveness would be overwhelming when placed in the context of Dr. Camacho's proposed leadership program.

This special program should be filled with high scorers on a test like the EQ because it is not necessarily merely the intelligence of a person that will make him an outstanding leader.

Instead, it is his ability to interact effectively with his employees, his peers and his superiors.

Overall, it is these interpersonal skills that will take anyone to the top of his field.

In a world like today's, where communication continues to grow increasingly important, the ability to convey not just information but abstract ideas and feelings is of premier concern.

So ... great, here we are, having gotten into one of the most select universities based on our intelligence and/or talent, and now we have to be masters of our emotions too? Well, yes.

However, the way the emotionally adept will be filtered out will be in the old-fashioned manner -- we'll come back to reunions in the future and find that one of the 2.6 GPA students is the richest while many of those deemed summa cum laude solely on the basis of their high GPAs are stuck at the bottom of the corporate ladder.

Had these highly- honored graduates had the courage to approach their superiors with their suggestions, they may have bettered their situation.

However, there is no way for us to know who will be the summa cum laude at the bottom, who will be the summa cum laude at the top or who will be the 2.6 who owns half of Wall Street.

He probably did not make those investments, he just knew whom to call and how to get that person's trust. EQ may be the answer.

Emotions and recognition of them, their importance and their pertinence is what will take us into the next century.

It is just how important and pertinent each individual deems them that will most likely determine what his own personal future status will be.

Chris Ciompi is a Sid Richardson College freshman.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the October 13, 1995 issue.

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