IQ or cognitive abilities account for around 1/3 a person's success, according to many researchers. IQ has been extensively measured, yet some findings remain controversial, particularly those dealing with ethnicity.

Emotional Intelligence is the term Goleman applied to the other 2/3 of traits/ skills that make up a person's success. About half of this 2/3 is social skills. Social Quotient seems to be the first unbiased numeric measure of this portion of Emotional Intelligence. Van Sloan believes that SQ is an approximation of a fundamental human likeability trait, just as many believe that an IQ score is an approximation of a basic intelligence trait (or Spearman's g, to cognitive psychologists).

Self-skills (including Ambition), make up the non-social skills balance of Emotional Intelligence. They include many diverse traits that seem to have little in common, like: honesty, adaptability, zeal, punctuality, and many more. Self-skills are generally not measured by SQ, but showing anger can hurt one's SQ score. Self-skills and SQ share an important characteristic: with effort, a person can improve them. Since one's IQ is apparently fixed by age five, a person striving for success ought to focus on what can be improved - self and social skills. It is unfortunate that schools do not do more in these areas.

The Ambition part of Self-skills seems to vary significantly with the matching of one's interest and one's career area. Traits like punctuality or zeal can change dramatically when some teens move from a classroom to a project that "turns them on," as in a political campaign or helping in an animal shelter.

Millionaires report that "loving my career/ business" was much more important than IQ in leading to their success. Table 2-5 in "The Millionaire Mind" by Stanley breaks down results by career type:

One attempt at measuring Ambition centers on students' exploration of possible careers through a unique JOBS survey. Students who have well defined career goals and have some experience (paid or not) in a chosen field are given extra Ambition points. The JOBS survey also considers the student's intended level of job and education as a measure of Ambition. As a counterweight to wishful thinking, the survey asks students to consider the reasonableness of their advanced education goal, given their current grade point average.

Unlike SQ, the JOBS survey is just a partial measuring of one section of Emotional Intelligence. More work is needed in this area to develop reliable measurement numbers.

• Persistence studies, viewed as one way to measure Ambition
• Competitiveness studies, showing that men score much higher in this than women
• Alpha male instincts appear in many species. Primatologist Frans de Waal, author of "Our Inner Ape" is quoted: "The desire to be in a high position is universal. But that trait has co-evolved with another skill - the skill to make the best of life's positions."
• B level individuals, a bit below top tier executives, are increasingly valued and getting higher pay. This ambition strategy has recently gotten play in a New Yorker magazine article on how Ivy League admissions look for future leaders (findings on bright Hunter school graduates).
• Most ambitious group is upper middle class, which has a "status anxiety"
• "Me first" attitude in USA, is contrasted with the many group-focused cultures in the world
• What one is ambitious about is seen as key, the same insight Sloan used in developing his JOBS survey.

Go to: JOBS survey information

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