WHAT IS SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE?

Social intelligence is not like the intelligence measured in high schools by career counselors and psychologists. In our society if an individual has a high intelligence quotient or IQ they are considered more valuable or more gifted than their neighbour with a low IQ. Social intelligence or SQ is a measure of social awareness, social progressiveness and appetite for new experiences. A person with a high SQ is no better or worse than someone with a low SQ. They’re just different. They have different attitudes, hopes, interests and desires.

The new evolutionary order or NEO for example, have an average SQ of 140 while their Traditional brothers and sisters have an average SQ of 74. (Readers with a technical bent can take a look at the notes at the end of this section for an explanation of the SQ algorithm).

The appetites of high SQ individuals are based not on a desire for things alone, but the unique personal meaning of things to each individual. Swiss jeweller Otto Kunsli created in 1980 a matt-black rubber bracelet titled Gold Makes You Blind. The bracelet has, under its black rubber exterior, a secret cache of pure gold. Only the wearer, and those few in the know, are aware there is gold beneath the matt rubber; aware of the ironic social commentary in the artwork. This is inconspicuous consumption in the extreme: the elevated desire of the socially intelligent where symbols and passwords outrank the mere objectivity of things. This is the world of whispered secrets. These high SQ individuals build momentum from nascent ideas, small treasures.

A hip bar in a darkened Melbourne laneway for example not only has no name visible on the exterior, directory assistance reports it as an unlisted number. Marketers use the term viral marketing to describe the success of such well guarded secrets but it is really a social intelligence wave that starts with a murmur and ends in a roar of whispers. This phenomenon of secretive symbolism is not exclusive to darkened lanes in Melbourne. Australia. Another case in point is an anonymous address in a decidedly unfashionable part of Manhattan’s West Village. An insignificant sign reading Employees Only sits atop an old double fronted shop with a fortune-teller in the window lit only by a flickering neon sign announcing ‘Psychic’, which is precisely what you would need to be to recognize this as one of New York’s hottest cocktail bar restaurants.

Imagination, pass-codes, social awareness and desire combine at the heart of social intelligence to transform objects and things into symbols that convey messages, not just about the object but also about the people who love them. In this high SQ world basic things carry vastly less value than the symbols that have risen in their place; than peak experiences and social activism.

Individuals with high SQs, like NEOs for example, are challenging and abandoning the traditional ways and entering the realms of ethics and principles as local issues become public policy and public policy changes the ways governments think and behave. They are unimpressed by corporate brands preferring to evaluate the corporate culture and management ethics of a brand. When word spread that Nike was employing sweatshop labour in Asia, small waves started to build across high SQ networks and before Nike could say swoosh, the global media spotlight was illuminating their infamous practices. Social intelligence determines what we believe in, what we stand for and how we behave in the face of inequity. This is the world NEOs inhabit. And there are millions of these high SQ NEOs in the world – 59 million in the USA, 6 million in Canada, 4 million in Australia and 12 million in Britain.

Conversely, those in the population with low SQs are aroused only by basic needs and the demand for rudimentary satisfaction. They are happy not to know what they don’t know. Their attitudes are rooted in social, industrial, and technological conservatism; defined by traditional social values and by the production and exchange of objects. No whispered secrets for them. To a Traditional the Coca Cola sign above the Bangkok klong is not a symbol of cultural colonialism but rather a reassuring sign that all is well with a familiar world.

As individuals NEOs are always looking for an experience beyond the lowest common denominator, the path less travelled, rich information, a quality of life and a world of their making. While Traditionals read to lose themselves, NEOs read to find themselves. And despite their strong sense of individuality they like to relate to, communicate with people like them.

Our brains are designed to connect to the brains of other people and for those in the new evolutionary order, social intelligence is the interpersonal part of emotional intelligence. That’s what enables them to make an emotional connection with other people like them; what makes them self-selecting. Believe it or not, Traditional or NEO, we prefer to work with people like us, live near other people like us, socialize with people like us and marry someone who shares our values.

People with lower social intelligence have much more trouble communicating with or relating emotionally to others. At the extreme they are so unable to relate or connect in a social context they may exhibit symptoms of autism. An autistic person can have a high IQ but their low SQ typically prevents them from socializing and utilizing that IQ.

So it is that our level of social evolution, social intelligence determines who we are, how we behave and what we get out of life. The good news is that social intelligence is soft-wiring and not part of a predetermined genetic blueprint. We can evolve; change our life. It’s up to each of us.

The Social Intelligence Quotient

The social intelligence quotient algorithm is a combination of:

1. Socially Aware population classification (From the Roy Morgan Values Segmentation: an attitudinal and behavioural model developed by Michele Levine and Colin Benjamin, building on global studies including cross-cultural studies by Geert Hofstede). The Socially Aware in society are community minded and socially active; always searching for the new and different, looking for new things to learn. They embrace learning a living as well as earning a living.

2. Positive attitude to progressive social issues (‘somewhat progressive’ or ‘very progressive’)

3. Attraction and openness to new experiences