‘Adversity quotient’ vital for survival

Adversity quotient of a person plays a crucial role in today’s environment, says Sudhir Raj K, Professor at the Nitte-based Justice K.S. Hegde Institute of Management.

He was delivering the BL Club lecture on ‘Adversity quotient: Some management lessons’ at Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Business Management in Mangalore. The event was sponsored by Syndicate Bank.

Sudhir Raj said that ‘adversity quotient’ is the capacity of a person to respond productively to manage stress. He said that Paul Stoltz coined the phrase.

One can turn obstacles into opportunities with adversity quotient. In simple terms, it is the use of brain power to manage stress productively, he said, adding that nowadays companies are looking for people with strong adversity quotient.

He said that adversity quotient is high among people who have the tendency to grow in their career and life. Adversity quotient is at the lowest in the case of quitters.

Citing eagles as an example, Sudhir Raj said the birds manage adverse conditions very effectively. Though an eagle gets quite old at 40, it lives up to 70 years. It is because of its adversity quotient. It has the will to go the extra mile to re-engineer itself to survive, he said.

Explaining this, Sudhir Raj said that its beak bends at 40 making it almost impossible to grab its prey. In such a situation, it moves to a jungle and knocks its beak against the rock until the eagle plucks it out. It takes the flight of rebirth after the new beak grows back. This is the situation where eagle shows its strong adversity quotient, he said.

Devaraj, Principal of Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Business Management, attended the function.

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