The Hindu Business Line : `Intuition is a mixture of executive intelligence and knowledge'

Why are most leaders ineffective? Because skills that enable great leadership have been misunderstood far too long and as a result people who have been put in positions of leadership do not possess the essential capacities to be effective, reasons Justin Menkes, Managing Director of the Executive Intelligence Group. He is hopeful, however, that we can do a better job of identifying and developing the next generation of leaders.

Menkes is the author of Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have, acknowledged as a work of academic rigour, furnished with many insights. He consults with businesses around the world to help them identify, hire and promote exceptional leaders and managers. Menkes, whose articles have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive and Leader to Leader, holds a PhD in organisational behaviour from Claremont Graduate University where he studied with Peter Drucker, Michael Scriven and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

He has an MA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Haverford College. Here, Menkes takes a few questions from The New Manager.

How would you define `executive intelligence'?

Executive intelligence is the ability to recognise what needs to get done and how best to get it done.

It is the explicit set of skills that allow certain people to get to the right answer, be it about strategy, handling other people or adapting themselves. No one can be a star executive without these skills.

Is executive intelligence measurable? How? Can it be useful in recruitment exercises?

Executive intelligence is highly measurable. It is defined by a specific set of skills and questions can be created to test an individual's performance in these skills.

For instance, rather than asking job candidates if they are capable of recognising unintended consequences, give them a situation that involves critical unintended consequences and see if they show a recognition of likely unintended consequences in their answer.

Does intuition have a place in executive intelligence?

Intuition is a mixture of executive intelligence and knowledge.

But good intuition is always the skilful application of what one knows in order to identify the most sensible solution.

Which works of Peter Drucker and Jim Collins have you been influenced/inspired by?

Executive intelligence comes as a result of my study under Peter Drucker while I was getting my doctorate. All of his work, as well as his classroom lectures and private counsel to me were essential in the discovery of the theory of executive intelligence. Jim Collins' Good to Great was also very influential. He tells us that great Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) were more like Lincoln and Socrates than like General Patton. Executive intelligence tells you how to identify who has the capacity to be great CEOs.

Do you think executive intelligence can be acquired? Can it be inspired by or drawn from others? Can it be taught?

Like any set of skills, executive intelligence is 50 per cent genetic and 50 per cent taught. I've interviewed many of the greatest CEOs in the world and every single one of them points to a key mentor that taught them how to think with rigour. A part of learning these skills comes from working with others that have them. In a culture of highly skilled thinkers, there is no limit to what you can accomplish.

People around can, therefore, make the difference in executive intelligence?

The greatest strategy in the world will never work without a critical mass of talented people working together.

It is not enough to simply have one great mind anymore.

The world changes too fast. A company's competitive edge comes largely from having highly skilled people throughout its ranks.

You've talked about the `charisma trap'. Can you elaborate?

We are drawn in by first impressions, by larger than life figures that seem authoritative and decisive. But the best leaders tend to probe and dig for the truth. They are not impulsive.

They are thoughtful and are careful to solve the right problem, rather than running immediately, full speed, but in the wrong direction.

How big a role will executive intelligence have in running effective organisations in the future?

As the pace of change gets faster, the importance of having people with strong decision-making skills becomes more important.

As Peter Drucker said, "Charisma matters little in tomorrow's leader. He or she must be able to think through the fundamentals so that others can work effectively."

Executive intelligence is getting more important every day.

Does it have a place in running governments too?

It's hard not to look at world events and not see dramatic examples of government leaders failing because they could not ask good questions, were not skilled enough to think things through. In other words, they lack executive intelligence. As a result, their counties and the rest of the world suffer.

Are there situations where Executive Intelligence can be irrelevant?

Yes, there are situations where executive intelligence is less relevant. For instance, there is less relevance for it in a job that doesn't require any decision-making.

What are you working on next?

I'm writing a book about great achievement and why certain human beings demonstrate an unquenchable appetite for excellence.

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