AQ is the new IQ

What does it take to operate, let alone succeed, in an environment where the pace is relentless, the stakes are massive, and every decision carries a risk of failure, at least on some scale? How do you orient yourself when you know you can’t rely on the past to inform your sense of what might happen next? How can you hold deep-seated biases at bay, keep your emotions in check, and step outside of your own perspective—“telescope up,” as I like to say—when it’s time to pull the trigger and execute on your decision? And what if all of the above presupposes that you’re not just comfortable, but confident, navigating turbulence and uncertainty as essentially a default state of being? Succeeding under these and similar conditions demands not a certain type of person, but a certain way of thinking. I’ve spent the past thirty-plus years building and leading investment organizations—first as a trading executive, later as a founder and investor—working in environments where decisions are made quickly, under uncertainty, and with real consequences for getting them wrong. Over the course of three decades spent in the daily practice of fast-cycle decision-making—as well as the close study of h…