"Consider the average intelligence of the common man, then realise that 50% are even stupider."

Mark Twain

Intelligence is the primary driver of energy and performance in every role

"At the end of the day we have a choice. If we want to build high performing, profitable and effective organisations and governments, we need to make sure that we appoint people who have the highest possible intelligence to perform the tasks. 

Any other strategy will act as a highly effective entropy generator, and ultimately clog the arteries with incompetence and destroy the system." 

There is no cure for stupid."

In the incessant noise around leadership, that a great leader must be kind, care, grow people, be a good listener, be emotionally intelligent, it is understandable that we may forget the basic logic behind building high-energy organisations.

Hierarchies exist.  Roles exist.  And roles determine the level of intelligence and skill that are needed to perform at the highest level in every role.

Intelligence is energy 

Broadly speaking there are two types of intelligence, potential and kinetic, that drive all performance in every role.  Potential intelligence is the inherent cognitive capability of an individual to perform the role.  And kinetic intelligence is the actual capability to perform the tasks required of the role.

Further each of these intelligence types are driven by three systemic components, personal, interpersonal and impact.  (Or input, process and output.)

To understand the impact of a role, ask yourself a simple question.  "What am I paid to do?"  This applies to every role in an organisation.

The next question is "What levels of cognitive and behavioural skills are required in this role?"

Note that there is no predetermined or off the shelf answer.  Every role has unique requirements.

THE COGNITIVE INTELLIGENCE SCALE

Each role requires a certain level of native cognitive and problem solving intelligence, combined with the level of skill and experience required to do the job.

Think of this in terms of a 1 to 10 scale from the simplest repetitive tasks to the most strategically complex CEO role of a global corporation.

THE BEHAVIOURAL INTELLIGENCE SCALE

Each role also requires a different level and type of communication and behavioural skill. 

Again use a similar scale.  At the one end the role may be completely functional and technical and require only the minimum interaction and sharing of data with others.  

At the other end of the scale the focus of the role may be continuous interaction, motivating a large team, and generally doing all those nice leadership things that the world seems so obsessed with at present.

THE BOTTOM LINE, THE POLITICAL TRAP AND NIKOLA TESLA

"It is interesting to note that in the cutthroat global market of technical innovation, companies such as MS, Apple, Google, FB, Tesla, Spacex etc all employ for one primary competence - intelligence."

The key point is that it is the role and nothing else that determines the level of cognitive intelligence and behavioural intelligence required to be effective in the job.

The goal is always to maximise the 'fit' between the job and the person.

Herein lies the real danger.  

Nikola Tesla wrote extensively about maximising human energy.  His principles apply absolutely to organisations today.  To generate system energy, do two things.  

First, remove the barriers that prevent an individual from using their full intelligence potential.

Second, continuously develop the capability and intelligence of the individual in the job.  Explore all possibilities.

Simple.  A perfect framework.

THE GOAL

Maximise the 'fit' between the role and the person.  Anything less than a perfect fit will be a measurable loss of system energy.

This means you need to measure the potential energy of every new and existing employee.  The extent of this 'fit' generates the level of system energy, which in turn determines strategic capability.  

(We use the Game Changing Index for this.  It provides a perfect measure of the individual's preferred and unique way of contributing and the level of energy the individual is prepared to bring to the party.)

Whatever instrument you use at least make sure you measure potential energy.  It's the intelligent thing to do.

For example, we have measured the system energy of many large organisations.   Typically many large legacy financial institutions and retail organisations have relatively low energy.

Based on our instrument, many of these organisations sit in the dangerously low 55% to 60% energy range.

This means they are wasting at least 40% of their potential energy and system intelligence - the essential weapons for competitive advantage.

HERE BE DRAGONS - POLITICS, THE SILENT KILLER

In a perfect world organisations would always work hard to match the intelligence of the individual with the requirements of the role.

However there is many a slip betwixt cup and lip.

Politics is the greatest killer.  Whenever a person is appointed to a role without the requisite intelligence and experience, this immediately blocks the arteries of organisational energy and system intelligence.

And when this becomes all pervasive the emerging body politic becomes a thriving entropy generator, and in extreme cases a death knell to the organisation.

THE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CHALLENGE - REMEMBER THESE NUMBERS....

It is abundantly clear that corporations and even nations battle with the challenge of system intelligence, as politics creeps into the system consuming energy and intelligence at every turn.

"Basically. Stupid politicians create stupid nations. Intelligent politicians create intelligent and prosperous nations."

The average global IQ is a dangerously low 82.  Barely enough to get into the US Army.

This means 50% of countries are operating below this level.  Along with their governments.

Effectively national IQ is a measure of both national intelligence and a measure of the output capability of national government, as measured by the Human Capital Index.

Note.  Interested readers are encouraged to read the widely available reports on national IQ and the direct correlation with the World Bank's Human Capital Index - a key measure of economic and social well being. 

Basically. Stupid politicians create stupid nations.  Intelligent politicians create intelligent and prosperous nations.  

This is not an opinion.  Check the data for your own country.  You will see that there is a perfect correlation between national IQ and the well-being of citizens as measured by the Human Capital Index.

Here is an example.  The Lindenwood University research. https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=cee

Intelligence in the real world - it matters

It is interesting to note that in the cutthroat global market of technical innovation, companies such as MS, Apple, Google, FB, Tesla, Spacex etc all employ for one primary competence - intelligence.

IQ matters.  It is the building block upon which high energy and successful organisations are built.

In stark contrast corrupt political systems (check the data for your own country's national IQ and HCIndex) generate low intelligence and low well being.

It is of further interest that corruption levels generally correlate positively with low intelligence.

At the end of the day we have a choice.  If we want to build high performing, profitable and effective organisations and governments, we need to make sure that we appoint people who have the highest possible intelligence to perform the tasks.  

Any other strategy will act as a highly effective entropy generator, and ultimately clog the arteries with incompetence and destroy the system.

There is no cure for stupid.

If we do this we are then in a position to explore Tesla's second principle of generating high and creative energy and competitive system performance.