“Positive Intelligence – Why only 20% of teams and individuals achieve their true potential.” – Shirzad Chamine

Shirzad Chamine published the book “Positive Intelligence” in 2012. He was the CEO of the largest coach training organization in the world and has been a Stanford lecturer for over 13 years.

Chamine writes that our potential is determined by many factors, including our cognitive intelligence (IQ), our emotional intelligence (EQ) and our skills, knowledge, experience and social network. All of these items and more determine our potential to achieve.

But our Positive Intelligence (PQ) determines what percent of our potential we achieve and how happy we are on the path.

Chamine’s book and program aim to improve our mental fitness so we achieve a greater percentage of the potential God has given us. You can check out his program at www.positiveintelligence.com

Positive Intelligence is not a Christian program. When you look at it, you could easily assume it falls into the camp with meditation and yoga. But, as in all things, there is a great deal to be learned from the program.

And, if you are a believer, I believe you will see biblical truths throughout the book.

Why spend time on this book? If you are performing at 110% mentally and so is your team and those you love, don’t waste your time. If that is not true for you and those you love, at least read these articles and check out the book or the website if you are interested.

I listened to this book a few years back and, like most books I listen to, I tried to implement some of it, but never went back to work Chamine’s system.

More and more I am finding greater returns in my life by going deeper on concepts I want to implement rather than stacking on new books and theories. Implementation is everything in life.

There are a few reasons I decided to give PQ a deeper look.

First, a friend of mine who leads a large organization has been taking his leadership team through the program and he has been amazed by the results. People on his team are seeing real-life change and those changes are translating into positive business results.

Secondly, I liked the book when I listened to it and it made sense from a biblical perspective. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we are instructed to “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.” PQ is a secular approach to taking every thought captive that we can use from a biblical perspective.

Lastly, some big names are singing the praises of PQ. If you look at the book cover you see recommendations from many big-name CEOs and Marshal Goldsmith who happens to be my favorite executive coach.

So, let me give you an overview of what we’ll learn and we’ll dive into how to implement the strategies.

What is PQ? PQ is potentially the best predictor of how happy you are and how well you perform relative to your potential. PQ is a measure of the strength of your positive mental muscles compared to your negative muscles.

Chamine gives us three strategies to improve our PQ and therefore our mental fitness. They are:

Weaken Your Saboteurs

Chamine calls our negative mental muscles our saboteurs. You might know these as automatic negative thoughts or negative self-talk.

Our saboteurs cause all of our stress, anxiety, self-doubt, frustration, regret, shame, guilt and unhappiness.

The first step in weakening our saboteurs is to recognize them. Chamine gives our saboteurs 10 names. They are The Judge, Stickler, Pleaser, Hyper-Achiever, Victim, Hyper-Rational, Hyper-Vigilant, Restless, Controller and Avoider.

Strengthen Your Sage

Our Sage lives in an entirely different region of our brain and handles challenges in ways that produce positive emotions like curiosity, empathy, creativity, calm and clear-headed laser-focused action. As we strengthen our Sage, we will handle adversity in much more positive ways.

Build Up Your PQ Brain Muscles

Chamine calls this going to the PQ gym. I call them mental pushups. As frustrating as it can be dealing with negative thoughts, we are doing reps every time we turn our mind to the present moment and to things that are pure, lovely and praiseworthy.

Just like pushups, we get stronger with every rep we do.

I’m excited about doing a deeper dive into Positive Intelligence and creating some positive mental habits that I can make a long-term part of my life. I hope you’ll join me as we go through each of Chamine’s three strategies in the coming weeks.

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Curt Fowler is president of Fowler & Company and director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey. He is dedicated to helping leaders build great organizations and better lives for themselves and the people they lead.

Curt and the team at FHRS help leaders build great companies through Virtual CFO, strategy, tax and accounting services.

Curt is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and business advisor. He has an MBA in strategy and entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School, is a CPA and is a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and five children.