We all know about IQ and perhaps even EQ (emotional intelligence*), but have you ever heard of AQ? AQ stands for Adversity Quotient®, and it is a measure of human resilience. People who successfully apply AQ perform optimally in the face of adversity — the challenges, big and small, that confront us each day. In fact, they not only learn from these challenges, but they also respond to them better and faster.**

I recently learned about this measurement of intelligence in a new book written by a friend of mine, Erik Weihenmayer. The book is The Adversity Advantage: Turning Everyday Struggles into Everyday Greatness by Erik Weihenmayer, Paul Stoltz, Stephen R. Covey (Foreward). Erik Weihenmayer was a colleague of mine in a previous job, and I have kept in touch with him off an on over the years. While Erik has accomplished numerous impressive feats in his day, perhaps his most dramatic accomplishment was being the first blind person to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest. (He writes about this accomplishment and other aspects of his life in another booked the library owns titled Touch the top of the world.)

To learn more about the Adversity Quotient®, or AQ®, visit the AQ/Peak Learning website. To learn more about human resilience, try checking out one of these books:

NPL Books about Resilience:
A resilient life : you can move ahead no matter what / Gordon MacDonald
Call Number: 248.4 M

The whispering of ghosts : trauma and resilience / Boris Cyrulnik ; translated by Susan Fairfield.
Call Number: 155.24 C

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* To learn about emotional intelligence, try looking at Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence, (call number: 152.4 G) and Primal leadership : realizing the power of emotional intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, (call number is BUS 658.4 G, located in the Business section.)

** From the Adversity Quotient® website visited on January 26, 2007.