AQ is the ability to provide better answers for ANY business priority.

Analytics AQ
Brand AQ
Coaching AQ
Conflict AQ
Consulting AQ
Creativity AQ

Culture AQ
Diversity AQ
Emotional Intelligence AQ
Employee Retention AQ
Growth AQ
Innovation AQ
Interview AQ
Job Competency AQ
Leadership AQ

Marketing AQ
Meetings AQ
Mentoring AQ
Performance Management AQ
Presentations AQ
Sales AQ
Strategy AQ
Teams AQ
...

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Learn About AQ.

At this point, we anticipate you have some basic, but important questions.

We use AQ to Explain AQ.

We heard a story about a communication guru that gave a presentation.  At the end, an audience member commented, "You didn't use the approach from your book during your presentation."  The presenter lost credibility.  It is authentic for us to answer questions about AQ using AQ.  The mirror reflects upon itself (that's a metaphor if you are keeping track).

What is AQ?

As a concept, AQ is the ability to provide six answers (concept, theory, story, metaphor, procedure, action) to important questions. 

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​As a metaphor, AQ is the coin of the realm -- something valued as if it were money.  We hire consultants for their ability to provide answers. The best teachers answer our questions. Problem solving ends when an answer is found.

Generally, answers are the currency by which we influence others. Story and metaphor allow us to relate to others, theory and concept help us make sense of a complex world, and procedure and action get work done.

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Another metaphor we find informative is that AQ is a rocket.  A rocket takes a lot of fuel to get off the ground, yet alone to reach the stratosphere.  Similarly, to raise your AQ, it requires commitment and practice.

Why is AQ Important?

Let me (Dr. Brian Glibkowski, AQ Researcher) tell you a story about the first time I knew AQ was important.  The AQ circle was recently developed and I was stress testing AQ in my conversations.

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​I had a client meeting with an executive at a life insurance company.  I was working on a technology solution that required three parties to work together (me, the life insurance company, and a 3rd party technology consultant).  I wanted to develop a metaphor to answer the question "What is a partnership?"

Upon reflection, I used the metaphor of a three-legged stool.  If one leg of the stool is taken away, the stool falls down.  The same was true for our partnership. The metaphor worked.  I knew it worked because unprompted the executive used the metaphor in a subsequent conversation.  Cool.

​Simple metaphors, such as the stool metaphor, are high risk.  For every metaphor that works another falls flat as contrived.  This was puzzling and random to me at first.  Then it occurred to me, the stool metaphor worked because all of the other five answer types I provided to the executive were high quality.  I had discovered Complementary Answers (High AQ Practice 4 of 7); any given answer type is strengthened by providing additional answer types. 
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The six answers, the 7 High AQ Practices, and AQ overall became real to me.

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​A theory is a cause-and-effect relationship between concepts.  The stool story demonstrated that answers can influence others.  Answers provide influence because they explain and predict in a complex world, emotionally connect, and get things done.

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How do you use AQ?

Every priority in business and life is implemented with procedures and actions, which are related, but distinct.  To illustrate, consider baking a cake. When we look at the 12 steps to bake a cake, we are emphasizing a procedure, or sequenced steps.  However, when we focus on any given step, such as cracking an egg, we are emphasizing an action. 

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Our research into expert communicators has revealed 7 High AQ Practices that consist of procedures and actions associated with the six answer types.  Taken together, these practices can help you raise your AQ.

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