Whenever I turn on the news these days, it seems the media are pushing all of us to embrace a scarcity mentality. Embracing a scarcity mentality, however, will get you nowhere; there couldn’t be anything more pointless and counterproductive than to let your thoughts focus on lack and worry.
Because of this, I’d like to explain a much more valuable concept–the concept of AQ (Abundance Intelligence™) which my good friend Kim George introduced in her 2006 book Coaching into Greatness: 4 Steps to Success in Business and Life. AQ is different from IQ (intelligence quotient) in that we measure a person’s ability to perform at his or her optimal level consistently and authentically.
AQ measures masterful people by their prevalence of abundance aptitudes, patterns and beliefs. Successful people of all types have a high AQ. They believe there’s more than enough to go around and that the proverbial glass is not only half full but overflowing. They accept that life is not always easy and doesn’t always follow the straight and convenient path, but they don’t fight changes in the world or the economy. Instead, they adapt to those changes.
Based on Kim’s in-depth work with hundreds of business owners, here are seven key aptitudes you should adopt to gain a high abundance intelligence and resist being bogged down by a scarcity mentality:
1. Self-worth. Abundant people understand their uniqueness and how they add value to their customers, their networking partners and others in their lives.
2. Empathy. Abundant people do their best to understand and serve their customers in any given situation, and they sustain themselves through tough times by networking with supportive friends who are able to provide reciprocal support empathically .
3. Self-expression. Abundant people are convinced that they are the best with whom to do business and they retain a professional posture of sticking to their personal standards, which pulls people to them.
4. Actualization. Abundunt people don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for things to happen. They take action consistent with their skills and talents. They accept responsibility for their actions and don’t blame others for shortcomings. If they face a barrier, they ask for help and support to find an acceptable solution for all sides. They comfortably give and receive.
5. Significance. Abundant people are confident about their uniqueness, knowing they are the best person for a particular job. They demonstrate self-confidence when asking for business, building their social capital and following up.
6. Surrender. Abundant people don’t view surrender as a form of weakness, rather a sign of letting go of old habits, attitudes and behaviors that don’t serve them in a healthy way. They see potential opportunity in everything that passes by.
7. Inquiry. High Abundance Intelligence means high openness to other points of view. Uncertainty is a reason to thrive and be curious. Security in their curious and creative aptitude enables abundant people to move through all challenging situations. Learning while acting keeps them growing and improving while being pioneers in their industry.
Work the above characteristics into your own persona. Each of these abundant aptitudes contributes to purposeful actions and a well-defined goal orientation to the effort. Instead of being derailed by worrying about the past or the future, you will find inspiration and forward momentum in your immediate surroundings.
This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Business, Emotional Intelligence, Giving, Marketing/Sales, Networking, Networking Education, Self Development, Social Capital. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
9 Responses to “The Seven Key Aptitudes of Abundance Intelligence”
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July 20th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
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July 20th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Kim George has developed a very strong AQ program, and this is a wonderful book. When a person is in the cycle of believing they do not have abundance, they are generally living in “fear”, fear of not having enough or being enough. This is a hard cycle to break because once you are in it, you start to actualize the reality of these fears. The key is recognizing that a person is unable to live in both a state of fear and a place of faith, or abundance, at the same time! You must choose to live in one or another, and Dr. Misner you are right, that to grow business and to attract the people with whom you want to do business, you must choose abundance and fight off the fearful tendencies. Once you begin that cycle you will recognize more successes than ever before. Thank you for posting this, now more than ever we need to be reminded that we are in control of our thoughts and therefore in control of the dreams we dream. I hope everyone reading this makes their dream a big one and then creates the plan to achieve it!
July 20th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
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July 21st, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I am one of the lucky business owners in our Springfield, Ma. BNI chapter to have Kim George in our chapter. Her wealth of knowledge and abundant intelligence have given us a true gem to learn from and to help us grow into more successful entrepreneurs. We love her!!!
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:39 am
I couldn’t agree more. My business is 3 years old and I have realised that when i adopt the seven aptitudes my business moves forward and I feel stronger than ever and able to achieve my goals confidently and set up more goals easily. When recently, my confidence was not so great in other areas of life it affected my feelings about business and so, rather than look at why everything seemed to be tumbling down, I decided to look at what had been working and it was all down to mental attitude. I realised that the way I was approaching my business life was not how I behaved in my personal life. When I made the necessary changes, all areas flourished. I have to add that it was a fellow BNI member who helped me to realise this during a really intense 1:1. He started our chapter about 8 years ago and has a wealth of knowledge. I have been in BNI for 9 months and feel very fortunate to be a part of the team. Our Chapter is Echo chapter in the North-West of England.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 am
I definitely agree that one of the worst approaches to take when it comes to business is to focus on scarcity and lack. Approaching things from this point of view is not very conducive to creative thinking. I think that although the current economic situation may seem uncertain, it is the time to work together to generate innovative solutions. I think that is also definitely not the time to shy away from marketing. It is times like these that promoting your company is essential. We’ve recently been working with this exceptional printing company (http://www.digitallizard.com/small-medium-business.php) that provides an online portal from which you can directly order your marketing materials.
July 24th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I completely support your thoughts on staying mindful and conscious so as to avoid getting sucked into the pervasive scarcity mentality all around us right now. Abundance is all around us if we just choose to focus there. And the seven key aptitudes that you highlight from Kim George’s book are so powerful. I especially love the first one, Self-Worth. It is all too easy and common to be focused ‘out there,’ on everything and everyone else, and not take the time to discover and own our own value and uniqueness, how we contribute, what impact we have in the world, and how we make a difference. By taking the time to do so, we own our greatness – and then, in turn, we give others permission to do so too. In this way, we cause and create viral greatness!
July 30th, 2009 at 2:50 am
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August 6th, 2009 at 8:14 am
[...] just posted a blog this past Monday on the “Seven Key Aptitudes of Abundance Intelligence,” as outlined by my good friend Kim George, and if you’d like to further your education on how [...]