Why IQ and EQ Aren't Enough Anymore. The Age of AI Demands AQ.

“I know what the problem is but I don’t know where to begin.”

“I’ll start on it after I finish these easier items first.”

“Look, everyone was aligned on this. The whole team signed off.”

“I emailed them but they didn't respond.”

“What should I work on next?”

We all recognize these voices.

We’ve worked with people who sound smart, feel smart, and yet somehow don’t ship, don’t land, don’t move. Others are social and savvy, they attend the lectures, listen to the podcasts, nod at the right moments, build consensus - - and still struggle to turn intention into results.

This isn’t an IQ problem.

It isn’t even an EQ problem.

It’s an AQ problem.

Introducing Agency Quotient (AQ), the most important ability in the age of AI.

AQ is the ability to manifest.

To actualize.

To get things done - - the right things.

A good friend of mine is fond of saying IQ determines your floor, EQ your ceiling. But in this age of increasingly smart and empathetic thinking machines (AI therapists, AI coaches, AI companions), what we truly should value is AQ. If IQ determines your floor and EQ determines your ceiling, then AQ determines your building - - a shed or a spread, a cabin or a cathedral. You decide what rises.

High AQ certainly demands both IQ and EQ. In fact, the higher the better, but I would suggest that, whether alone or in combination, IQ and EQ are necessary but not sufficient for high AQ.

You can have high IQ, but low AQ; think Nikola Tesla, the rigid genius. Tesla could see the future — but couldn’t ship it. In your company, Tesla is the brilliant technologist who finds safety in thought and risk in action - - believing clarity must always precede movement.

You can have high EQ but low AQ; think Neville Chamberlain, the conflict-avoidant peacemaker. Chamberlain read Europe’s emotional temperature perfectly - - but acted too softly to change its trajectory. Chamberlain today is the executive who delays decisions to avoid discomfort, confusing kindness with effectiveness.

You can even have high IQ and high EQ but low AQ - - think Marcus Brutus, the prisoner of principle. Bright and beloved philosopher, yet his assassination of Caesar didn’t restore the Republic; instead it triggered a civil war. Brutus is the CEO who zigged instead of zagged.

High IQ and/or EQ doesn’t guarantee being correct in complex situations. To produce the outcomes they want, high AQ people are discerning; they are right a lot, especially on important issues.

Good ideas do not ensure high AQ. The Chinese call this 纸上谈兵 (zhǐ shàng tán bīng) - - "discussing military strategy on paper." A general who memorized every text but lost his first real battle. All theory, no execution.

Likewise, good relationships will not secure high AQ. The sensitive leader who overweights how people will feel now versus outcomes later is low in AQ. A few days ago, the CEO of a $10+ billion company told me that years ago he should have exchanged ten points of employee NPS for ten points of customer NPS.

The true cost of low AQ isn’t failure - - it’s years of potential quietly slipping by. High AQ accelerates learning and compounds progress. If each iteration cycle makes you X% better, then AQ is exponential and slow iteration is catastrophic because it is also exponential.

Seneca cautioned two thousand years ago: “It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a great deal of it.” IQ and EQ without AQ is precisely that waste.

I’ve spent 30+ years in operating roles hiring (and firing) for almost every conceivable job function. Sifting through all the noise of job descriptions I can tell you what matters. Hiring managers are looking for evidence that you can deliver results when things are messy and changing fast. That’s AQ.

Here is the problem: Most hiring managers should be screening for high AQ, but they often focus on the wrong things. They fall for the impressive analyst who is slow to act. Or the politically smooth operator who talks a good game but does not close the loop. High IQ without execution. High EQ without outcomes. Both intelligences are useless if the person does not manage to get things done.

Why is AQ even more important today? It starts with the visualization of what a society that is transformed by AI looks like. Two key vectors are the democratization of intelligence and building. As the incremental cost for each falls, the primary question for humans will be what do you want to create? To actualize. To manifest.

AQ is existentially important because it’s the difference between humans shaping AI to amplify our capabilities versus becoming passive consumers of AI-generated everything.

Think for a moment about what’s happening right now: we’re at this inflection point where AI can do so much - - write, code, analyze, create - - that there’s a real risk people stop doing things themselves. The path of least resistance becomes “let AI handle it.” That’s dangerous.

I love how it amplifies me, but I am keeping a wary eye on the cost. I have experienced this passivity in myself. In instances where I have used AI to do my writing, I have noticed I have a poorer command of the idea. The more I let AI speak for me, the less I actually understand what I’m saying.

Here’s the paradox nobody is talking about: the tool that most rewards agency is the one most quietly eroding it. Every delegation is a micro-abdication. AQ is not just the most important skill in the age of AI. It’s the most fragile.

My friends at Pixar were prescient in their imagining in Wall-E of the totally passive human, on floating recliners, consuming Big Gulps and videos. AI accelerates that flying couch potato future. AQ counters it.

At a recent CEO Dinner, leaders crystallized this low vs. high AQ contrast; work will either be "below or above the API." Will you be directing AI or taking direction from AI?

Leading Gen Z’ers can see it too - - this Faustian bargain that AI represents. One of my friends reported that “at MIT, kids there are deleting their AI accounts. My son has deleted everything except Claude with the mission to use it sparingly.”

In this world where anything is possible, our K-shaped economy will further bifurcate along the lines of high AQ and low AQ people. Building an idea used to require an army of CS degrees; now it requires articulation. Legal contracts that cost thousands cost dollars. Six-figure spreadsheet analysis costs keystrokes. Media creation? Pennies.

The first billion dollar company in America was U.S. Steel, founded in 1901. It required 168,000 employees to generate $100M in revenue. Today we have unicorns that have only a handful of employees.

The one-person unicorn is inevitable.

The safe haven for human ego of "AI Slop" will evaporate; it's just a matter of time. I believe the best of our civilization will be a collaboration between humans and AI. Humans will determine intention and taste; AI will deliver intelligence and tools. The speed, quantity and quality of outputs will be breathtaking.

The astonishingly productive superhumans of the future will be those with high AQ.

High AQ isn’t one trait. It’s a system, a loop with twelve skills that consistently underlie high agency. They can be grouped into three phases: forming intention, taking action and closing the loop.

I will explore each phase and every skill in this 14-part series on AQ.

For now, however, here’s the tour-de-force map of the circuit:

Forming Intention is about determining what you want to manifest. The key skills are discernment, articulation, planning and confidence. General ambition breeds anxiety; specific ambition builds direction. Articulate - - in high definition - - what success looks like. Look around corners. Be right a lot; when wrong, minimize loss function and update fast. As my daughter Diana says, “Plan or Fail.” Confidence in high AQ people often begins blind - - a leap of faith - - and success compounds it into conviction.

Taking Action is where intention meets momentum. The key skills are decisiveness, proactivity, self-regulation and focus. The biggest predictor of success is the time between setting an intention and taking action. Most people know what to do. They just don’t do it. Decide with imperfect information. Correct quickly. Don’t waffle; course correct. Self-discipline does what’s required when you don’t feel like it; self-control resists what distracts you from your goals. Focus is ruthless prioritization. Do few things. Do first things first.

Closing the Loop is where execution produces results. The key skills are resourcefulness, rigor, social acuity and fortitude. The gap between getting started and getting done is where reputations are built. Resources are always scarce; high AQ people find a way anyway. They trust but verify - - fastidious with truth, assumptions, details and edge cases. Because almost all work requires collaboration, they are attuned and attentive to the motives, emotions and incentives of individuals and institutions. Fortitude is the final skill and the hardest - - not just perseverance, but the willingness to absorb friction, put fear aside, and act boldly.

While this post is an introduction to AQ, in the weeks ahead I will delve into the twelve underlying competencies - - with self-assessments to measure your AQ and practical exercises to strengthen it. I’ll also present tools that companies can use to hire for and develop AQ within their organizations.

Let me know in the comments if there is anything particular you would like me to cover!

Reid Hoffman argues in Superagency (LSE interview) that AI transforms every individual into a potential CEO. He is optimistic that everyone can adapt. I am hopeful too - - with the conviction that high AQ makes adaptation in the AI era possible.

As Virgil exhorts, Audentis Fortuna iuvat. Fortune favors the bold.

The building is yours to build.