Emotional Intelligence in the new Steve Jobs film

One of the more pleasant activities of Summer in Sydney is to go to the Open Air Cinema at Farm Cove.  The view is spectacular as the sun sets, incorporating the Opera House and Bridge, fruit bats flying above and then as the screen rises above the water, hundreds of smart phones making a video; all compounded by a glass of pinot gris.

Two weeks ago we went to a preview of the new Steve Jobs film starring Michael Fassbinder and Kate Winslet.  The film is opening in Sydney on 4 February having had a chequered opening in the US last October.  While the fans may have disliked it Kate Winslet and scriptwriter Andrew Sorken did win Golden Globes.  I actually enjoyed it, unlike my wife, but having been involved with computers since 1967 and also having extensively blogged about about Steve Jobs made it more enjoyable for me.

The film is set in three acts each culminating in Steve Jobs presenting keynotes to fervent fans.  Each act is filmed in a different formats: grainy 16mm film for 1984, lustrous 35mm for 1988, and sleek, high-definition digital for 1998.  During each act Sorkin has Jobs interacting with his co-founder Woziak, John Scully and his ex-partner Chrisaan Brennan and his daughter Lisa.  The criticism of film rests on two planks: it portrays Steve Jobs as jerk and does not portray his good points and Sorkin takes too many liberties with the actual timing of historical events.  For example Joanna Hoffman (played by Kate Winslet), was at Jobs side before each of these keynotes but actually had left Apple long before Jobs returned to launch the iMac in 1998

The film did not change my assessment of Steve Jobs; he is a wonderful Artist-Hustler.  This is a very strong individualist who is shrewd and manipulative and schemes for personal advantage. There is a built in conflict here, because the need to accumulate goods and money is strong, but the individual also wants to be creative and has a sensitive streak that 'feels' for others, understands them well and yet is tempted to use this to their own advantage. As a result, they can at times be very sensitive and understanding with others, but can then also become quite selfish and 'offhand' or brusque in the way they treat them at other times.  Although they are family oriented and others may think they know them well, this person is basically a loner and prefers their own company. They will mix with others when it serves their purpose (such as in a work environment) but are hard to get close and while they may have a number of acquaintances, 'friends' will be few and most relationships will be superficial and developed to suit their own ends. In effect, they will be somewhat 'inscrutable' and hard for others to read or understand. They, on the other hand, will have a good understanding of other people and will use it for business or personal gain. In business, they will be seen as very affable and can be quite successful in self-employment. They are not interested in being responsible for others, are not really suited to line management positions and are best in independent, creative work roles where they are accountable only for their own performance. A person with this temperament style is a true loner with a Machiavellian outlook and the potential to be quite creative, particularly at making money or developing better business opportunities.

Sorkin captured this brilliantly in the 1988 launch of the Next computer.  At one point Joanna says she loves Steve because he is not interested in money. However just before going on stage Jobs tells Joanna Hoffman that he has a diabolical master plan: He will use NeXT (indeed, he will ensure its failure) to create an operating system that Apple will have to buy for half a billion dollars, giving him back the control of the company he founded.  Whether true or not this is how a highly intelligent Artist-Hustler thinks.

Worry is a wasted emotion

In my previous blog I discussed the emotional intelligence of Michael Cheika, Head Coach of the Australian Rugby team.  However he is not alone in having high EQ, another is Steve Hansen, head coach of the New Zealand All-Blacks, probably the most successful sporting team in the world.

There is a fascinating video of Steven Hansen when asked how he felt facing France in the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup.  Was he worried? (For those who are unfamiliar with Rugby World Cup {RWC} history, France had twice defeated New Zealand in earlier World Cups when the All-Blacks were un-backable favourites.  And in the 2011 final, New Zealand just scraped home against France winning 8-7.  Also no country had won the RWC twice in a row.)

His reply was profound: worry is a wasted emotion.  Funnily enough I have now come to realise that several fonts of wisdom share the same view.  After teaching the multitude the Lord’s Prayer Jesus then asked the question "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" {Mathew 6:27}

Similarly according to Cicero, 'The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destroy one's spirit by worrying about them too far in advance.”

However there is one group of individuals who worry constantly: those who have a strong Doublechecker component.  They are driven by the desire for security and become procrastinators because they worry about making wrong decisions.  They are hypochondriacs suffering from a range of imaginary illnesses.  They love listening to other people’s problems and trying to help them which means they make excellent teachers, nurses and counsellors.  Because of this trait people generally find them agreeable.

The irony is that worrying about the future is generally wasted because humans are so bad at predicting the future.  Trying to predict the future is a folly.

Shakespeare had it right in Hamlet.  As Sir Laurence Oliver said in his Oscar winning version of Hamlet, “This is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind.”  However in the final act, Hamlet realises that his worrying has been a waste of time.

“We defy augury. There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all.”

Worrying is a wasted emotion.  Instead what you need to do is increase your ability to be prepared to handle various events as and when they occur.  The readiness is indeed all as Hansen himself realised and communicated to his team who not only beat France easily but went on to win successive World Cups.

Emotional Intelligence: the difference between psychopaths and sociopaths

Twice in the last two weeks I have been involved in discussions about corporate psychopaths.  Each time when I was saying someone was a psychopath I was told I was wrong, the person named was deemed to be a sociopath.  However I was unable to get an answer when I asked what was the difference? 

Now having blogged extensively of the topic corporate psychopaths:

The emotional intelligence of a psychopath

How do you recognise a corporate psychopath? Part 1

How do you recognise the corporate psychopath? Part 2

 

I think I duty bound to attempt to explain the difference.  Sociopaths and psychopaths do share several behaviours including:

·         A disregard for laws and social mores

·         A disregard for the rights of others

·         A failure to feel remorse or guilt

Sociopaths tend to be nervous and easily agitated. They are volatile and prone to emotional outbursts, including fits of rage. They are likely to be uneducated and live on the fringes of society, unable to hold down a steady job or stay in one place for very long. It is difficult but not impossible for sociopaths to form attachments with others. Any crimes committed by a sociopath, including murder, will tend to be haphazard, disorganized and spontaneous rather than planned.

Psychopaths, on the other hand, are unable to form emotional attachments or feel real empathy with others, although they often have disarming or even charming personalities. Psychopaths are very manipulative and can easily gain people’s trust. They learn to mimic emotions, despite their inability to actually feel them, and will appear normal to unsuspecting people. Psychopaths are often well educated and hold steady jobs. Some are so good at manipulation and mimicry that they have families and other long-term relationships without those around them ever suspecting their true nature.  When committing crimes, psychopaths carefully plan out every detail in advance and often have contingency plans in place. Unlike their sociopathic counterparts, psychopathic criminals are cool, calm, and meticulous.  Their crimes, whether violent or non-violent, will be highly organized and generally offer few clues for authorities to pursue.  Intelligent psychopaths make excellent white-collar criminals and "con artists" due to their calm and charismatic natures.

Psychopathy is the largely the result of “nature” (genetics) while sociopathy is more likely the result of “nurture” (environment).  Sociopathy is more likely the product of childhood trauma and physical/emotional abuse. Because sociopathy appears to be learned rather than innate, sociopaths are capable of empathy in certain limited circumstances but not in others, and with a few individuals but not others.

In the Humm-Wadsworth model, psychopathy is the mental illness associated with the Hustler component.  Around 14% of the population have a higher than average Hustler.

The Emotional Intelligence of Football Coaches

The social media world of Emotional Intelligence is currently buzzing with news that the coach of the Philidelphia Eagles, Chip Kelly, was dismissed for lacking emotional intelligence.

I know very little about Gridiron Football but if you want a classic example of how a coach with high emotional intelligence can improve the performance of a team look no further than the current coach of the Australian National Rugby Team, Michael Cheika.

Michael Cheika has an impressive track record in turning around poorly performing teams into champions.  Under his guidance Leinster won the Heinekin Cup in 2009 and the NSW Waratahs won the 2014 Super Rugby Championship after trying for 19 years.  As a fellow Waratah fan said it was like owing a stock for 19 years and finally getting a dividend.

However it was the performance of the Australian Rugby team in 2015 that clearly demonstrated Cheika’s skills.  He was appointed as head coach in October 2014.  The National team was in total disarray.  It had split into warring camps based on state loyalties.  Press conferences had become hostile with Coach McKenzie was even forced to deny being in an extramarital affair with Di Patston, a business manager whose appointment had been pushed through by McKenzie.  Suddenly McKenzie left just 6 days before the team left Australia for their 2014 Spring Tour.  A measure of the disarray was that on the Spring Tour Australia lost 3 of the 4 international matches they played.  At this time I was booking matches for the Rugby World Cup to be held in England in September 2016.  I was convinced that Australia would not progress past the pool rounds.  I could have not been more wrong.

In an unbelievable turnaround not only did Cheika manage to win the 2015 Rugby Championship for the first time (the contest for the best nation in the Southern hemisphere) he led Australia to the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final.  Subsequently, Cheika was named 2015 World Rugby Coach of the Year, a title that normally is won by a New Zealander.

Cheika’s motivational skills are legendary.  The son of Lebanese migrants, the former Randwick No 8 grew up in a working class home and went on to build a multi-million dollar fashion business.  He speaks fluent Arabic, French and Italian and, while he still possesses a renowned ‘fear factor,’ Cheika clearly has the ability to reach players from all walks of life.  He is famous for his off-the-wall motivational methods ranging from using golf clubs to cartoons of poker faces. 

However it was in the run-up to the England-Australia World Cup match that Cheika out did himself.  Clive Woodward, England’s most successful rugby coach had claimed that Australia lacked intelligence and were not the brightest team.  Cheika admitted that his school marks were never the best, but hoped that his team would have the 'emotional intelligence' to beat England on Saturday night.  It certainly worked because in front of 75,000 English fans baying for blood at Twickenham Australia turned in a brilliant display of running rugby winning 33-13.  I was there and by full time the stadium was empty with only 5,000 Australian fans jumping for joy.