(HR will routinely write essays on "Political EQ" with each installment illustrating and evaluating one facet of the political landscape)
Today we introduce the concept of Political EQ:
Back in 1995, Daniel Goleman wrote a breakthrough book: "Emotional Intelligence." I own this book and regularly re-read it as it provides insightful answers to the routine "challenges" we face in our day to day lives. In the very first pages, you are immediately confronted with one of the key concepts this book defines and examines, "When Passions Overwhelm Reason."
Emotion Intelligence, otherwise known as "EI or EQ," is an important tool that's useful to understand organizational development. To this I intend to illustrate the Republican party as the "organization."
You all know the concepts of IQ. Often defined as "conventional intelligence," it's not an accurate measure of someone's ability to realize success in their lives or their organizations. Emotional intelligence, "EI" defines a broader set of measures that enable success. For example, just about everyone knows someone who possesses great gifts of academic brilliance, but is socially and inter-personally challenged. (Insert engineer joke here) (My father is a brilliant engineer who worked on the Apollo mission that put men on the moon, so this is referenced with respect and "much love.") To rephrase the last paragraph, a high IQ is not an intelligent predictor of personal success.
I'm sure you all know at least one brilliant "policy wonk," who understands every detail and nuance of a 2000+ page bill that congress regularly churns out these days. However; watch them at a town hall meeting and they have no ability to "connect" with the voters and articulate (translate) how our government is serving the citizenry. (Insert name here)
Conversely; There's no shortage of "politicians" in government who never read bills and fail to grasp either the costs or consequences of the legislation they routinely pass. Remarkably; they return to their home districts to slap backs, kiss babies and glad-hand their constituents until the campaign war chest overflows with the spoils. They depart from town hall meetings as the voters exclaim how "screwed up Washington is," but our guy is doing a great job!
It might be fair to say the best public servant would embody both of the above mentioned characteristics but that bird, should it actually exist; would be on the endangered species list.
I'll give you one example for today. Iowa's own Senator Chuck Grassley. In classic "Grassley style," he grills Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during a Senate Finance Committee hearing about the complex and secretive details of the Federal Bailout. Then just hours later, flies home and connects with the Iowa taxpayer in a language that needed no translation here in the Hawkeye state:
"From my standpoint, it's irresponsible for corporations to give bonuses at this time when they're sucking the tit of the taxpayer."
I promise you, anyone whose ever sat through confirmation hearings with the good Senator would never refer to him as a "hick farmer" from the state of Iowa.
In my next installment, I plan to highlight the recent developments in Iowa's GOP gubernatorial primary.
These developments show a complete absence of political EQ from all sides. The result? We win "a battle" and lose the war. Quite frankly, we're already losing the war so if we don't understand and implement the concepts of political EQ, we may ultimately surrender both our party and our country.