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“We are not here to merely earn a living and to create value for our shareholders. We are here to enrich the world and make it a finer place to live. We will impoverish ourselves if we fail to do so.” ~ Woodrow Wilson

Spiritual Quotient (SQ) is the key to holistic, sustainable and outstanding leadership. Leaders choosing to progress on this journey can have a profound impact on the leadership of our times, across business, public service and the social sector of our society.

Until the 1980s, the most popular management approach to gauge a person’s leadership potential was their Intelligence Quotient (IQ) – simply put, the belief that the smartest person in the room should be the leader as they were considered most equipped to develop a powerful business strategy.

In the 1990s, the idea of Emotional Quotient (EQ), popularized particularly by Daniel Goleman’s seminal work in the area, gained much traction. Rightfully so, it urged leaders to pay attention to how they managed their emotions and related to others – considered crucial in the leader’s ability to galvanize the team towards manifesting the strategy into life.

Spiritual Quotient

While different variations of these two core ideas have served leaders well, there’s a relatively nascent idea (and I am a keen believer of it) based on the principle of Spiritual Quotient (SQ). Not to be confused with any religious or related undertones, the principle of Spiritual Quotient relates to the leader’s level of holistic self-awareness, morality, wisdom and self-responsibility. It’s indicative of the leader’s depth of awareness about who they are (and by extension their holistic awareness of the people and the world around), what they want their life to be about, and their commitment towards living their inner values and purpose.

Leaders with high SQ have an advanced understanding of their personal being. They are not only very aware of their professional strengths and limitations, but are also in tune with their personal mental-emotional make up. They are in touch with their core values and commit to live them with great integrity. They are equally conversant with the spiritual nature of their being and can deeply connect with the interconnectedness of life between self, others and the universe. Hence they have a keen grasp of the impact of their decisions on the whole – colleagues, organization, the community and the environment.

Further, such leaders have a deep clarity of their personal purpose in life and build the relevant connections between that, their work and their organizational purpose. They are comfortable honestly examining the social context of their work and the organization and if required, shaping them to be more meaningful. Besides, they are very willing to take personal responsibility for their thoughts and actions. They are as committed to reforming their mental-emotional self as they are to living the purpose of their life and work.

Implications

After a decade of coaching leaders, I have come to believe that Spiritual Quotient is the key differentiator between good leaders and the outstanding ones.

In organizations, generally, junior managers manage well-defines tasks, middle managers manage processes, and leaders besides developing strategy, spend a significant time managing people. However, the most outstanding leaders are the ones who know how to manage themselves. Harder to accomplish, but those who can progress on this do not have to make as much effort leading others – they become such role models that others simply want to follow them.

Leaders with high Spiritual Quotient tend to be highly effective in creating a sustainable, long-term organization. This is an outcome firstly of their drive to examine and build greater clarity of the organizational purpose – the very social context for which the organization should exist in the first place (a key question that’s not always paid sufficient attention). This effectively supports inculcating a stronger sense of direction for their employees, even positively influencing the profile of staff who are attracted to the organization.

Further, such leaders operate from a deep sense of personal security (emanating from being on purpose) as well as a strong empathy for others (from their heightened self-awareness) – resulting in a very trusting environment for all to excel in. Additionally, their strength of purpose and direction supports them in withstanding external challenges, particularly during crisis situations. Finally, such leaders have an inner connect to the world around and hence, are naturally driven towards creating sustainable solutions- for their clients, employees and the organization- that are in tune with the needs of the broader community and the environment.

Research support

I have done research with a number of senior business leaders based in India, Singapore and the US to ascertain their feedback in this area. While they all tend to describe the relevant personality traits of such leaders in their own vocabulary, an overwhelming majority of them believe that progress on such a journey of personal mastery truly differentiates the outstanding leaders from the good ones.

Working towards enhancing Spiritual Quotient

Advancing on the path of building SQ is a personal journey – one that you need to discover and carve out for yourself. However, here are three ideas that can be supportive.

Deepening self-awareness:

Unless we develop a deeper understanding of ourselves, we are easily influenced by both, our own conditioned thinking and behavior patterns as well as whatever appears popular around us.

Choosing to slow down from time to time and creating structured time for reflection helps us pay attention to our recurring emotions. That’s how we can learn about our perfectionism, judgmental nature, envy, greed, anger, fear and anxiety. Only then can we begin the work of reforming our inner selves and building courage, compassion, wholesomeness, authenticity and mindfulness.

This allows us to build authentic and deeper relationship with ourselves and in turn, with our colleagues. Examining our conditioned beliefs (more is better, how others view us is important, destination is more important than the journey and so on), facilitates us in being passionate about our work and purpose, but detached from the ups and downs of day to day outcomes.

Clarifying life’s purpose:

As I have written about this extensively, this is about clarifying a core personal purpose for our life and making that purpose the anchor of our existence. It’s about becoming very aware of that singular pursuit that we want the rest of our life to be about. It also demands building a better appreciation of the inter-linkages of this purpose with everything around us – from the immediate professional world to the broader community.

As a leader, it is equally important to see the manifestation of your life’s purpose in your every day work. Work then becomes an authentic expression of who you are and not what you do for a living. If one of the elements of your purpose is to help others succeed, how can you live that with your colleagues and clients; if it emphasises living a happy life, what parts of your professional activities do you need to amplify to be happier at work; if it is linked to giving back, how can you practice that with your colleagues and through your organization.

Taking personal responsibility:

To bring our intent into action, we need to take charge of our life and commit to the changes that we personally require making – to grow, reform our inner selves, and fulfil our purpose. Appreciating that much of the change is within us and that instead of blaming others or our circumstances, when we choose to focus within, irrespective of the environment and the people around us, we and our organization start to experience a new and healthier reality.