Traditionally society has measured a person's potential for success by their intelligence as measurable by IQ. However recent insight into what makes a leader great may suggest that IQ is only a part of one's ability to be successful and potentially not even the most important part. This is a theory championed by a prominent writer and psychologist Daniel Goleman, who recently spoke to an audience of Google employees.
The basis of Dr. Goleman's belief is the existence of different types of intelligence, specifically intellectual and emotional. He says that although test and other academic means may be able to measure IQ they do not give an accurate reading of emotional intelligence and it is this latter trait that plays the largest role in determining the success of a leader. His beliefs also firmly rest on the relationship between IQ and emotional intelligence being random.
The essence of Dr. Goleman's belief is that at a certain level of leadership the entire population is at or beyond an above average IQ emotional intelligence will still have a random distribution and those who are most adept in this category will most likely succeed. These leaders will be able to use their left pre-frontal cortex to control the instinctual stress responses of the amygdala and allow the person to best focus on finding a solution. Goleman also argues that it is necessary to have emotional intelligence to make decisions because although it is largely IQ that reasons costs and benefits it is the emotions that can then compare those cost and benefits to prioritize the solutions. It is thus just as important that one spend time developing emotional intelligence as well as IQ.