I interviewed Dr. Tony Alessandra, founder of Assessments 24x7, to discuss the intersection of DISC and Answer Intelligence (AQ)™. The following are some basics regarding DISC, AQ, and DISC AQ (using DISC + AQ at the same time).

DISC is a framework for understanding your behaviors and those of others. AQ is the ability to provide elevated answers to important questions. Taken together, DISC AQ supports meaningful conversations about your identity and the identity of others to encourage productive and deep relationships at work. DISC AQ is the ability to effectively communicate your behavior style.

DISC

• Understanding your behavior style is an important first step to becoming your authentic self at work.
• Understanding the behavior style of others is important to appreciate others.
• Behavior style is dynamic (it can be strengthened/weakend, changed) and it is informed by self-reflection, life experiences, education, and maturity.

AQ

• AQ is a new science of answers that fully incorporates questions.
• Questions and answers are fundamental to effective communication.
• AQ can be applied to any topic (leadership, sales, personality, etc.).

DISC AQ

• “Who are you?" In AQ terms, you are the answers you tell yourself and provide to others.  In other words, you need to be able communicate your DISC style as six answers (story, metaphor, theory, concept, procedure, action) to basic questions.  For example, imagine you have a Dominance Style. "What is like to work with a D-style?" can be answered with a concept or metaphor. "Why should I work with a D-style?" can be answered with a story or theory. "How do I work with a D-style?" can be answered with a procedure or action.
• A fundamental human need is to be understood and to understand others. AQ is a framework that individuals can use at work to communicate their DISC styles to each other by simple question and answer exchange to achieve greater appreciation, respect, and influence upon each other.
• AQ is a development framework that extends DISC. There are 4 primary behavior styles (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientious) and 15 DISC Profiles (unique combinations of the four primary behavior styles) all of which can be developed in terms of six answer types and the 5 High AQ practices. For example, there is always an opportunity to learn a new story or metaphor to emotionally connect yourself or others to your primary behavior style; you can identify a new procedure or action to develop new behaviors, and you can reflect upon and communicate behavioral concepts and theory to develop enduring mental models of yourself and others.

Interview with Dr. Alesandra
During my interview with Dr. Alesandra, I asked him some basic questions about his DISC profile.  I knew Dominance was his primary behavioral style.  For example, I asked him, "What is dominance?"  In AQ terms, as a concept-answer he was able to define dominance and discuss key aspects of dominance, including that he is very direct. I then suggested a metaphor for being direct.  I said, "you prefer to go from point A to point B."  He said, "That is close. I prefer to go directly from point A to Z."  This metaphor is very helpful for anyone that is working with Dr. Alessandra.

It is important to communicate your DISC style in terms of six answers (story, metaphor, theory, concept, procedure, action) to make sense of yourself and to help others effectively work with you. 
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What is Dominance?

Understand & Communicate Who You Are.  Learn more about the DISC AQ assessment for Individuals, Organizations, or Professional Service Firms.

The foundation of High AQ is the ability to provide six answers (High AQ Practice 1).  My AQ is a series of articles that feature business executives that provide six answers to important topics and questions.

Jason Langford Brown used AQ to help a 20-year-old big ticket project management company sell to the board of an international resort.  Engineers at the client firm were tasked with presenting to the board, something they were not comfortable doing.  Jason helped his client develop six answers the engineers used to answer pressing why-, what-, and how-questions.  The result... the engineers won the deal and two others from the same client valued at $2.5 million in total fees.  They are also now discussing more than 10 additional projects.

Each answer by itself relates to a specific question. If you take all the answers together, it is the cumulative and reinforcing aspect of the answers that communicate the value proposition of a selling organization. The AQ framework provided the engineers important preparation for a board level conversation as well as a dynamic tool to help them adjust their answers as the conversation naturally shifted to different types of questions.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Dr. Brian Glibkowski connect on the topic "Answer Intelligence". Dr. Glibkowski, Author of Raise your AQ, talks about how questions and answers are both important to PreSales. While we typically focus on questions, or objections, ANSWERS are just as important.
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​To note, James is a co-author of the Sales AQ Chapter in Raise your AQ.

Listen as the casters speak with Dr. Brian Glibkowski as he shares about his passion for the role of questions and answer in business and society.

Brian’s “binder on the wall” moment led to research that resulted in his new book Answer Intelligence: Raise Your AQ—which is nominated for a 2022 PROSE award which celebrates landmark works in professional and scholarly publishing.

We discuss the six w/h questions (why, what when, where, who, how) and the appropriate answers for each question.

In this episode, we are talking about:
What is more important - asking the right question or answering appropriately?
Origin of AQ (Answer Intelligence) framework.
The six high AQ practices.
Problems with overdoing only one aspect and how to avoid them?
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More resources to learn about AQ and practice.Dr. Brian Glibkowski is passionate about the role of questions and answers in business and society. Brian is an internationally recognized scholar. He is a recipient of the Emerald Citation of Excellence Award. His academic article was selected as one of the top 50 globally from 15,000 management articles in 300 peer-reviewed publications worldwide. His research on the six WH-questions (what, why when, where, who, how) as the Association of Human Resource Development recognized a common framework for communication and decision-making as one of ten articles that will shape the 21st century. 

In this episode, Emerald Podcast Series with author Dr. Brian Glibkowski talked about his book, Answer Intelligence: Raise your AQ and the AQ framework. 

Sales leaders are equipped with scripts, guides, playbooks and are trained to ask penetrating discovery questions. How often are these same professionals taught and coached on how to provide appropriate answers; answers that build rapport, trust, and ultimately generate a higher percentage of wins?
Dr. Brian Glibkowski joins the program to share from his research and training on how leaders can influence decisions by learning a framework of answer types. Brian is a University Professor, TED Talk speaker, the CEO of Semplar Science, and the author of the book: Answer Intelligence: Raise your AQ.
He believes that “Questions are for curiosity and answers are for influence", which is why he developed the Answer Intelligence (Answer AQ) model. This framework is designed to complement a similar framework of questions into answer types. These 6 answer types include: Story, Metaphor, Theory, Concept, Procedure and Action. He also speaks to the 5 high AQ practices that every professional should know, and they include: Provide 6 answers, Answer twice, Provide compliments, Answer with style and Answer in context.

In today’s episode, we have the recipient of the Emerald Citation of Excellence Award, pioneer of a new science Answer Intelligence (AQ), and author, Dr. Brian Glibkowski. His research on the six WH-questions (what, why, how, when, where, who) as a common framework for communication and decision-making was recognized by the Association of Human Resource Development as one of ten articles that will shape the 21st century. Dr. Glibkowski is a Professor and CEO of Semplar Science, the company established to commercialize his research.

Join Dr. Brian and David in this episode today as they dive deep all about AQ framework and how it works. They will also discuss how adapting this framework can help business leaders improve communication and management through their organization.