AQ Is the New IQ

What does it take to operate, let alone succeed, in an environment where the pace is relentless, the stakes are massive and every decision carries a risk of failure, at least on some scale? How do you orient yourself when you know you cannot rely on the past to inform your sense of what might happen next? How can you hold deep-seated biases at bay, keep your emotions in check and step outside of your own perspective—"telescope up," as I like to say—when it’s time to pull the trigger and execute on your decision? And what if all of the above presupposes that you’re not just comfortable, but confident, navigating turbulence and uncertainty as essentially a default state of being? 

Succeeding under these and similar conditions demands not a certain type of person, but a certain way of thinking. 

I have spent the past 30-plus years building and leading investment organizations—first as a trading executive, later as a founder and investor—working in environments where decisions are made quickly, under uncertainty and with real consequences for getting them wrong. Over the course of 30 years spent in the daily practice of fast-cycle decision-making—as well as the close study of how others, in and far beyond my industry, make decisions—I started to notice something: The people who consistently outperformed were not always the smartest, or the boldest or even the most experienced. They were the most adaptive: the ones who knew how to mentally "simulate" a potential course of action before they acted, learned fast enough to course-correct mid-flight and had the humility to pivot and adjust without ego. In fact, I’ve come to believe that the most successful people, especially serial entrepreneurs and those who rack up wins across industries, use a common set of tools and processes, either knowingly or unknowingly. People who employ these techniques may appear to be lucky, but—in reality—they’re not placing random bets; they are making their own luck. They are stacking the odds in their favor like a casino. They are leveraging superior decision-making to increase their chance of success and minimize the risk of total (fatal) catastrophe. 

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.