Let's talk Transformation : The business leaders podcast #130 Focusing on Transformation with Faris Aranki
"The secret to great EQ is to follow the platinum rule, not the golden rule."
A fun conversation with Faris about leadership, life and sustainable impact. What is the magic formula to success and does it look the same for everyone ?
Whilst EQ may be where all attention lies, FQ can be just as important and impactful. To achieve success, balance a strong strategy (IQ) with emotional intelligence (EQ) for team buy-in, and focused prioritization (FQ) to avoid spreading resources too thin.
To be successful, it’s critical to have a balance of three components: a great strategy (IQ), emotional intelligence to bring others along (EQ), and focus through prioritization (FQ). Many companies only have one or two of these in harmony. A good strategy involves having a well-thought-out plan. Emotional intelligence is needed to excite others about the idea. Focus is about prioritizing and removing barriers to success.
We also look at what AI brings to this formula - it is most helpful in IQ by coming up with hundreds of ideas; for FQ it can help categorise competing priorities; it is less helpful in EQ as empathetic communication and human connection are still key to creating meaningful relationships, and ideas still have to be sold to other human beings.
Listen as Faris sparkles his gold dust into our ears and eyes from working with leaders and organisations around the globe on this formula for success.
The main insights you'll get from this epsiode are :
- Experience of teaching children around the world helps in a business context to solve problems through people – it brings emotional intelligence to decision-making, which in turn makes delivering a strategy more likely.
- Shiageto means to sharpen a tool but is applied to human beings in this context: we can always be sharper, and the same techniques can be used as to teach, such as making things entertaining, simple, etc.
- Three components are required for success: a) IQ, a great idea/strategy/plan, b) EQ, to take everyone with you on the journey, and c) FQ, to focus, prioritise and remove anticipated barriers; of these, FQ is often the missing piece.
- Deployment as a consultant is often more for EQ than FQ, but the three are interlinked. Cultural differences across the IQ/EQ/FQ formula sit within EQ and questions must be asked to understand/overcome them.
- Teaching IQ across the globe requires adapting delivery of the content to take account of culture by using different tools and approaches – time must be invested in meeting every individual at multinational board meetings, for instance, in order to create a more level playing field.
- Small businesses looking to have more impact must define what this means for them. Consider maximum impact by asking, for example: What is a 15% better idea? What would my nemesis do? How will I measure it? What are my assumptions?
- Advice that is applicable to all organisations is to team up and get to know each other by creating random meet-ups, lunch/job swaps – this opens up conversations and increases success by creating connections.
- The effect of (gen)AI on the formula: it is most helpful in IQ by coming up with hundreds of ideas; for FQ it can help categorise competing priorities; it is less helpful in EQ as ideas still have to be sold to other human beings.
- The disadvantage is the weakening of the EQ muscle, e.g. young people are often reticent to speak on the phone - asynchronous is easy but synchronous requires real EQ; having both difficult and casual conversations is good for collaboration, but a tool (AI) is just a tool that cannot close the EQ gap.
- We must have our own view of the world challenged in order to understand others’; we always have lots to learn and to this end, we should ask one more question than we would normally, and allow more time to listen to the answer, improving our EQ, IQ and FQ.
Find out more about Faris and his work here :