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Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have

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Executive Intelligence By Justin Menkes
Reviewed By Alan M Goldberg Ph.D.
Professor of Toxicology and Director, Center for Alaternatives to Animal Testing, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

It takes brilliance to make what become apparent- apparent. We know that intelligence and knowledge are different--once we read Executive Intelligence (ExI). We may have even known it before reading ExI but not quite in the same way. The clarity of the presentation and the real life examples provides proof that both are necessary, but alone neither is sufficient. Once paired, then the critical thinking that evolves makes ExI extremely powerful. As impressive is the understandable way the 3 skills of ExI - tasks, people, and self- are taught. Having read the book and having a chance to think about the concepts, it is unlikely that I will ever approach a problem without thinking through the ExI concepts. The approach developed in ExI goes beyond the corporate office but equally applies to academic management as well. This is breakthrough thinking not unlike the work of the late Peter Drucker. A must read for those that really want to improve their own performance.

This is the book my Wharton alma mater should assign its students. Why? Because it sheds new and significant light upon something which has been too much of a mystery for far too long and the understanding of which is highly relevant to anyone involved in management - what makes a star executive a star? Menkes answers this question with a welcome clarity and directness that is far removed from the unnecessarily dense prose and jargon which obscures so many business school articles and tomes. Indeed, Executive Intelligence crackles along with entertaining and enlightening insight and example. But don't let the accessibility of this book fool you because it is obviously a work of academic rigor. Those of us who could do without wasting our time on another business self-help book filled with platitudes and exhortations will find themselves deeply satisfied and educated.

Like many readers, I need my intellectual stimulation to come with a healthy dose of good storytelling. Menkes gives us both here. His Executive Intelligence theory comes with a strong empirical foundation, and the sample questions he gives to measure said intelligence intrigue and challenge us. Readers who test their own executive intelligence by these measures will either find themselves pounding fist to forehead asking, "Why didn't *I* think of that?" or will immediately seek better jobs in the knowledge that they can indeed perform in high management positions. Fortunately for those of us with black and blue foreheads, Menkes provides exercises for both learning and teaching Executive Intelligence. Overall an absorbing read in the spirit of Gladwell's Tipping Point or Drucker's Effective Executive.

This book is unique. Unlike the stacks of management books I've got on my shelf, this one is grounded in extensive empirical research that is explained in easy to understand terms. I definitely walked away feeling like I'd gained something useful.

Menkes begins the book by talking about what executive intelligence is: The skilled use of information as a guide to action.

The first half of the book outlines the concept in detail, listing the specific skills that make it up. It includes a series of case study interviews with exceptional CEO's, including such notables as: Kevin Rollins (CEO Dell), Andrea Jung (CEO Avon), and Jack Welch (former CEO GE) and Jim Kilts (CEO Gillette) to name a few.

The second half of the book delves into the science underpinning the theory. It gives an excellent history of how the definition of intelligence has evolved over the years, and how controversy over IQ has caused us to disregard the undeniable role that cognitive ability plays in success. He dissects the usefulness of emotional intelligence (not very) as well as current hiring practices- what works, what doesn't, and why. He finishes by explaining how to combine the practices that work with a new kind of interview that measures executive intelligence. The findings include independent studies that support his recommendations.

Menkes does a nice job identifying and laying out the skills needed to be successful at work. But instead of just putting out a theory and arguing why its right, Menkes actually includes executive intelligence test questions to allow the reader to judge for themselves whether they would provide any useful insight. From my perspective, they do.

As an executive for a large company responsible for a lot of our new hires, I try to stay current with new employee hiring and assessment best practices. I was reading the November issue of Harvard Business Review and there was an interesting article by Menkes about his theory, so I decided to buy his book.

I was prepared to hear all about how Menkes was going to expand the concept of intelligence beyond what it means to be smart like Goleman (emotional intelligence) or Zohar (spiritual intelligence). I was shocked and pleasantly surprised to learn that Menkes actually believes that intelligence is how skillfully someone thinks, not how emotionally attuned or spiritually grounded they are.

Menkes premise is that IQ tests were originally designed to predict school success and that they do so very effectively. So, he reasons, just like we can identify the subjects of academics and assess an individual's likely success in school, we can also identify the subjects of business and the skills needed to perform well in that setting. By doing so he created an intelligence measure that should predict business success. He divides work into three subjects: accomplishing tasks, working with other people, and adapting oneself.

He offers a very convincing argument for what I've observed for a long time; that is, the interviewing methods we currently use only tell us about a person's experience, not about how smart they are or how well they will do in a new position (which is why many people who have done great at their job interviews have turned out to be such disappointments once they are hired).

Menkes boils down very complex research into understandable explanations and provides a lot of scientific and empirical support for his argument, as well as interviews with top executives that show what this intelligence looks like in real life. The book wasn't overly complicated, confusing or esoteric, and I was able to read it in two evenings.

I found Executive Intelligence to be one of the most substantive and engaging management books that I have ever read. I've experienced first hand the phenomena that Menkes talks about in his book. We've all met or worked with certain people who just seem to "get it". This book explains how these people are able to do what they do. As Menkes says, "What great executives do is not magic. Their performance is made possible by specific, identifiable skills."

Menkes research suggests that there is a type of intelligence that determines leadership or business success, but that we don't measure this when we are hiring people, or teaching them in business school and that this has left us with a very mediocre workforce. This book certainly made me rethink how I will go about hiring people.

Robert Sternberg, Dean of Tufts University wrote a review of this book in this month's Personnel Psychology. Sternberg's authored more articles and books on intelligence than just about anyone. Since most of us don't have time to keep up with such things, I thought I'd summarize his review.

Book's Premise: The book proposes that there is a distinct type of intelligence that distinguishes great leaders from poor ones.

Book's Structure: Section one describes what executive intelligence is and gives examples of what it looks like in real life. Section two explains why its so rare. Section three discusses how intelligence is different from charisma and other traits, and the ways it can/ can't be measured. Section four is about how executive intelligence can be measured.

Book's Strengths: Unusual combination of scholarly literature with more popular management topics.

Book's Weaknesses: Does not contain the technical information psychologists will need to properly evaluate the theory.

Summary Conclusions: Lively, informative, and fun to read. Useful for practitioners and even for scholars- recommended.

I am happy to be one of the first to review this book because I think that this theory may be the next big thing in business, and I will be able to tell everyone that I recognized it first (everyone needs to gloat occasionally).

Justin Menkes provides nice insight into the role that intelligence plays in business success. Instead of telling us that we must find the "right" people to be successful in business and leaving it at that, Menkes gives us a vivid description of the skills that are necessary to be that person. What's more, he dispels much of the mystery about what information current job evaluation practices can provide (and where they fall short). After reading this book, I will never ask or answer a job interview question the same way again.

Not just a business book.

I would compare this work by Justin Menkes to the creativity and "Flow" discourses Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has presented and to Howard Gardner's invaluable "Frames of Mind" educational theory...as well, obviously, as to Goleman's landmark contribution of "Emotional Intelligence".

It takes years for ideas like this to become accepted, let alone adopted into the lexicon, let alone woven into the fabric of the culture, let ALONE integrated into policy. But here's hoping that not just CEOs and middle managers but school teachers, soccer coaches, ministers and leaders from all corners are screened for Exective Intelligence...

Furthermore, as I see this as a new conception of Intelligence, I certainly hope members of the Intelligence communtiy, police force, and other law enforcement agencies will read and consider the ideas Menkin offers.

I honestly believe the theory of "EX-I" has the potential to revolutionize the way we investigate, protect and preserve the world in which we live, not just add to the bottom line.

Finally, someone goes straight for the jugular of sloppy executive assessment and sheds light on the really serious problems with the so-called "state-of-the-art." Menkes doesn't just expose the snake oil sales folk whose tools and methods are based on no empirical evidence; he finally exposes the management science community for the problem that has plagued it for years -- precisely and "objectively" (using arms-length multiple choice tests) attempting to measure things that well trained human judgment can assess far more accurately.

The rigorous thinking and solid research behind Executive Intelligence are refreshing but not overwhelming. The result is a compelling read, cogently argued from start to finish, loaded with real-life examples from top CEOs, and backed by sound empirical research (drawn from a diverse range of work from credible researchers in multiple fields, as well as Menkes' own validity studies).

A must-have addition to every [critical] thinking executive's bookshelf.