A friend of mine told me recently of a businessman who had been a long time supplier to the Government for various goods and services who had gone bankrupt after a regime change.

His gravy train of lucrative contracts had dried up. As a result of a change of fortunes, he had opted to focus his capital and efforts in the private sector. After five years of intense effort, his business remained in the red and went through the tubes.

According to my friend, this businessman is a very intelligent person and has a high intelligence quotient.

His high IQ enabled him to identify business opportunities in areas that few would have seen and his high analytical capabilities enabled him to structure complex, but profitable business deals. Unfortunately, the high IQ came with its problems. He expected everybody around him to be as smart as he was and usually snapped when people, especially his employees and business associates, did not understand his directions and intentions.

The businessman had a classical case of having a high IQ, but low emotional intelligence quotient . When he was a big supplier of goods and serv ices to the Government, he belonged to that class of opportunists or profiteering contractors who operate behind patriotic facades. As far as they are concerned, profits normally provide a balm for their conscience. In retrospect, their emotional intelligence quotient is on the relatively lower side. It is the ability to identify, assess and recog nise emotions of others. Emo tional intelligence affects intuition, integrity and motivation. It also contributes significantly to communication and relationship skills. For the businessman in question he did not require too much emotional intelligence as his IQ enabled him to outsmart other bidders.

Once he fulfilled the deliveries, he was under no obligation to develop relationships with officers in the Government as he was too busy looking for opportunities to cut the next deal.

However, out in the real world, he discovered that he was having a very hard time motivating his employees and keeping his few customers happy. His communications skills were poor and his ability to build genuine relationships was a real challenge.

His inability to control his temper and leverage his intelligence to bring everyone at par with him was simply not in his DNA. His orientation to focus on results rather than process was

was too busy looking for opportunities to cut the next deal.

However, out in the real world, he discov ered that he was having a very hard time moti vating his employees and keeping his few customers happy. His communications skills were poor and his ability to build genu ine relationships was a real challenge.

His inability to control his temper and leverage his intelli gence to bring everyone at par with him was simply not in his DNA. His orientation to focus on results rather than process was his Achilles heel.

Emotional intelligence takes into account how things get done, not just results. It is no wonder that many "A" students who enter the workplace tend to perform poorly without proper mentoring because although they may have high IQs, emotionally they face challenges.

Most employees and business associates would rather prefer leaders who are able to control their emotions and connect with people rather than leaders who are very intelligent, but a pain in the back side. It is no wonder that some business leaders who have nimble minds for numbers and infinite dexterity for balance sheets tend to the worst people managers.

For the more religious inclined, the pursuit for wealth may play a tag of war with their conscience in terms of determining the threshold between need and greed. Their developed emotional intelligence makes them have discomfort for possessions and a nagging religious anxiety that acquisition of material things may appear idolatrous.

Our businessman therefore needs to go back the basics of emotional quotient 101 which probably got him to some point in his success story. His ability to refocus his efforts on working on his relationship skills with both his staff and his customers will most result in his financials moving from the red to black