AQ: Adaptability Quotient

Much has been said of IQ, intelligence quotient, and EQ emotional quotient or emotional intelligence. In this day and age of battered economies, corporate bankruptcies, recalls, deflation and debt, AQ or Adaptability Quotient becomes one of the key traits to professional success.  Developing your ability to embrace and adapt to change is now a key professional must.

Stuart Parkin in his Ad Age article What Makes you Employable in 2010? states that, as important as raw intelligence and personality traits are, now more than ever, being able to adapt to change will profoundly determine your ability to survive in the current job market or get re-employed if you are in a transitional period.


Has your employer changed strategies?  Are you expected to do more with less, be it staff, budget or other resources? Are you expected to work less or more hours?  Has your office moved to a less desirable location? Will you need to acquire new skills? What skills will you need to transfer to remain in your current post or adapt to a new one? All these questions relate to adaptability. 

Parkin also states that willingly seeking and promoting change can help you succeed.  Resisting changes that your organization enforces to ensure commercial and operational success will not viewed positively in the current economic environment. The new economy requires employees that seek, promote and embrace change.