Why AQ Beats IQ (and Even EQ) in Today’s World

In a recent con­ver­sa­tion with Mike Des­jardins, CEO of ViR­TUS, Mike intro­duced the con­cept of AQ — Adapt­abil­i­ty Quo­tient — and why it’s become the defin­ing edge for today’s most effec­tive lead­ers. ViR­TUS spe­cial­izes in help­ing orga­ni­za­tions build great long-term lead­er­ship devel­op­ment pro­grams that tru­ly stick — and scale.

For most of my career, I’ve worked with incred­i­bly smart and emo­tion­al­ly attuned lead­ers. They’ve built great busi­ness­es. They’ve built strong teams. But in today’s world, that’s not enough.

We’re liv­ing in an era of relent­less change. Whether it’s mar­ket volatil­i­ty, tech­no­log­i­cal dis­rup­tion, geopo­lit­i­cal curve­balls — or just the chaot­ic nature of run­ning a fast-scal­ing busi­ness — what sep­a­rates good lead­ers from great ones isn’t just their IQ (intel­li­gence) or even their EQ (emo­tion­al intelligence).

It’s their AQ—Adapt­abil­i­ty Quo­tient. Or what some peo­ple call Adver­si­ty Quo­tient.

Why AQ Mat­ters More Than Ever

AQ is your abil­i­ty to adapt to change, recov­er from set­backs, and thrive in uncertainty.

It’s not the­o­ret­i­cal. It’s not a trend. It’s what real lead­ers do — espe­cial­ly when the heat is on.

I recent­ly had a con­ver­sa­tion with Mike Des­jardins, CEO of ViR­TUS, and his sto­ry brought this into sharp focus.

In the ear­ly days of his busi­ness, Mike leaned hard on IQ and expe­ri­ence. Like many entre­pre­neurs, he was dri­ven, sharp, and hands-on. But for years, he didn’t see much val­ue in plan­ning, lead­er­ship devel­op­ment or struc­tured coaching.

That changed. And with it, so did every­thing else.

Mike chose to lean into growth — even though he didn’t ​“need” to. He intro­duced plan­ning rhythms, for­mal­ized lead­er­ship devel­op­ment, and cre­at­ed a cadence of team learn­ing. He adapt­ed. And now, he’s not just evolv­ing — he’s lead­ing a more aligned, engaged and high-per­form­ing team than ever before.

That’s AQ in action.

The Good News: AQ Can Be Built

Unlike IQ, which is most­ly sta­t­ic, or even EQ, which can take years to devel­op, AQ is high­ly train­able — if you’re willing.

To build it, you have to:

• Embrace dis­com­fort and ambiguity.
• Make time for reflec­tion and recal­i­bra­tion (hel­lo, quar­ter­ly reset).
• Lean into tough feed­back — and act on it.
• Pri­or­i­tize struc­ture over instinct.
• Train your team like you would train your top athletes.

And most impor­tant­ly? Keep show­ing up when it’s eas­i­er to retreat.

Watch the full inter­view with Mike below.

The Chal­lenge

When was the last time you stretched your AQ?

What’s one area in your lead­er­ship right now where you’re resist­ing change, because it’s unfa­mil­iar, uncom­fort­able or sim­ply new?

Resources

• Deal with Your Emo­tion­al Junk – Chap­ter 6, Your Oxy­gen Mask First
• Dou­ble Your Per­son­al Resilience
• Quar­ter­ly Reset & Mas­ter Plan Tools
• Think You Know It All? True Pro­fes­sion­als Learn Like Amateurs

If you’re inter­est­ed in explor­ing lead­er­ship devel­op­ment with your team and the pro­grams ViR­TUS offers, reach out and we’d be hap­py to facil­i­tate an introduction.

About ViR­TUS
ViR­TUS is a Van­cou­ver-based lead­er­ship devel­op­ment firm that works with growth-ori­ent­ed orga­ni­za­tions to build aligned, resilient, and high-per­form­ing teams. Through cus­tomized lead­er­ship devel­op­ment pro­grams, ViR­TUS helps lead­ers turn poten­tial into per­for­mance — and strat­e­gy into results.