What Is Positive Intelligence?
PQ measures the strength of an individual’s positive mental muscles (the “sage”) versus their negative mental muscles ( their “saboteur”). The self-command muscle is the ability an individual has to boost their sage and dampen down their saboteur (Chamine, 2012). Positive intelligence indicates how your mind acts in your best interest, and the good news is that it is a skill we can build.
What Does the Research Tell Us About Positive Intelligence?
The breakthrough contribution of Positive Intelligence research is through factor analysis to discover the core factors that impact both performance and wellbeing. This research revealed that there are only 10 negative response factors (10 Saboteurs) and only 5 positive response factors (5 Sage powers).
Discovering these root-level factors of performance and wellbeing dramatically simplifies personal and professional development. Intercepting one’s Saboteur and activating one’s Sage automatically results in a wide array of impacts including stress management, relationship improvement, performance, selling and persuasion, creativity, leadership, resilience, and happiness.
This is because we are rewiring the brain at the root level rather than treating symptoms:
“Our mind is our best friend. But it can also be our worst enemy”.
Find out more about the science of Positive Intelligence here.
What Are Sages and Saboteurs in Positive Intelligence?
Saboteurs – the internal enemies that “are a set of automatic and habitual mind patterns, each with its own voice, beliefs, and assumptions that work against your best interest”. Saboteurs are universal and habitually developed to fulfil our needs for survival while growing up. When reaching adulthood, the Saboteurs are not necessary but still are harboured in our Survivor Brain.
Our Saboteurs represent our internal enemies, our Sage is the opposite:
Sage – “represents the deeper and wiser part of you” that thinks big picture and avoids succumbing to the inconsequential issues of the moment or the lies of the Saboteurs. The Sage views challenges or obstacles as opportunities to succeed by using its incredible powers of the mind. However, many people have not tapped into these powers as they lie in the PQ brain, which is different from that of the Saboteurs.
What Are the 10 Saboteurs of Positive Intelligence?
- The Judge.
- The Controller.
- The Hyper-achiever.
- The Restless.
- The Stickler.
- The Pleaser.
- The Hyper-vigilant.
- The Avoider.
- The Victim.
- The Hyper-rational.
What Are the 5 Sages of Positive Intelligence?
Sages live in an entirely different region of our brains, the middle prefrontal cortex, “empathy circuitry”, and parts of the right brain. It generates positive emotions while handling life’s challenges. These include empathy, compassion, gratitude, curiosity, joy of creativity, and calm, clear-headed laser-focused action. This region is wired for creativity and big picture awareness of what is important and the best course of action.
Activating this region results in release of endorphins that counter the negative impacts of stress-induced cortisol. We can consciously generate the gift or opportunity by using the 5 Sage powers of empathy, innovation, navigation, deep insight, and calm, clear-headed action.
Why Is Positive Intelligence Important to Leaders?
- We can develop new habits.
- We can look at stress differently.
- We can encourage social support.
- We can change our mindsets.
- We can strengthen our sages.
- We can weaken our saboteurs.
- We can create a positive team culture.
How Can Leaders Increase Their Positive Intelligence (PQ)?
- Weaken Your Saboteurs: Identify thought and emotion patterns that come from your Saboteurs and gain the clarity that they do not help you.
- Strengthen Your Sage: Shift to the Sage perspective and access the five powers it uses to meet every challenge.
- Strengthen Your PQ Brain Muscles: Learn techniques to build up your PQ Brain muscles as they are underdeveloped while your Survivor Brain has been in overdrive.
Key Questions to Reflect on as a Leader:
- How do you manage your negative emotions?
- What stories do your mind tell you?
- How do you quieten your inner voice?
- What feelings do you regularly experience?
- How do you prepare yourself for challenges and adversity?
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If you are looking to work with someone who has an infectious passion for making positive change happen, you will love working with Hannah. She has a wealth of experience at a senior leadership level and is hugely committed to the diversity agenda. I have benefitted personally from Hannah’s wisdom and guidance on these issues on a number of occasions.
Andy Buck
Founding DirectorLeadership Matters
When it comes to authentic and courageous leadership, Hannah is unbeatable. Her value-driven approach allows her to be precise and focused whilst taking an empathic approach. One of the leadership traits I admire the most in Hannah is her commitment to asking the difficult questions that others avoid, and this has been evident in her work encouraging Diverse Leaders. She is fearless and highly skilled at driving change, even in complex situations. Hannah is a catalyst and can cause a mindset shift in one conversation. Her leadership creates leaders.