Afford Anything Podcast

Episode: "Your IQ Won't Save Your Career. Your AQ Might."

Host: Paula Pant
Guest: Liz Tran (Founder of Inner Genius and author of "AQ")
Release Date: February 20, 2026

Episode Overview

In this thought-provoking episode, Paula Pant interviews Liz Tran, executive coach and author, about the concept of AQ—Agility Quotient. With AI now outperforming humans on traditional measures of intelligence, Liz makes the case that the key to thriving in a rapidly changing world is not your IQ or even your EQ (emotional intelligence), but your AQ: your ability to adapt, learn, unlearn, and stay psychologically agile amid uncertainty. The episode delivers actionable frameworks for identifying, growing, and leveraging your own AQ, offering reassurance that this crucial skillset is improvable for everyone, regardless of your current level.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. What Is AQ? How Is It Different from IQ and EQ?

[03:00–05:56]

• Definition of AQ:
  "AQ is a new form of intelligence... your capacity to handle change, disappointment, uncertainty. It’s a standalone intelligence in the same way we think about IQ or EQ." — Liz Tran [03:00]
• Historical Progression:
  • IQ: Cognition (sorting students for industrialization; cognitive horsepower),
  • EQ: Interpersonal skills (born during globalization, pushing for collaboration and management),
  • AQ: Adapting to exponential change (needed now, in the tech revolution).
• Distinct from EQ:
  • EQ = relational/interpersonal skills.
  • AQ = "a psychological orientation towards life"; thriving in chaos, not just enduring it.

2. AQ and the Age of AI

[05:56–08:17]

• AI can now outperform humans on IQ-based measures (LSAT, MCAT, chess, etc).
• What sets people apart is how they adapt and leverage these new technologies: "Your IQ becomes like a car... Your AQ is you, the driver." — Liz Tran [07:50]
• Learning aptitude is central; it’s not just how quickly you learn new things, but how fast you can let go of obsolete skills.

3. Adaptability vs. Specialization: The Half-life of Skills

[08:17–12:36]

• Average half-life of a technical skill:
  • General workforce: 5 years
  • Tech industry: 2–2.5 years
• Durable skills ("transferable skills"): communication, problem-solving, learning aptitude.
• Balance required:
  • Technical (job-specific) skills are important but temporary.
  • Durable skills are longer-lasting and cross-industry. "My job is to help people reach their greatest potential [durable skill]." — Liz Tran [11:27]

4. How to Measure & Grow Durable Skills Without Clear Benchmarks

[12:36–15:56]

• Technical skills have clear benchmarks; durable skills are squishier.
• Be self-reflective: Notice what strengths are unacknowledged and where feedback is absent. "You can start to create goals for yourself... a self assessment for yourself afterwards so you can create some structure around this." — Liz Tran [15:08]
• Noticing the "dog that didn’t bark"—clues in the absence of feedback or acknowledgment.

5. Four AQ Archetypes: Framework for Handling Change

[17:11–24:46]

• Neurosurgeon: Handles chaos through preparation and perfectionism; methodical, high resilience to proactive change.
• Astronaut: Bold, future-oriented, jumps into both proactive and reactive change; visionary but may lose others along the way.
• Firefighter: Thrives in crisis; excellent in emergencies but underplans.
• Novelist: Loves planning, organized; struggles when plans unravel but excels in proactive change.
• No one type is “best”; AQ is about recognizing your style, flexing into other styles as needed: "The goal is to be able to draw from every type and use that in specific situations... If you have a toolbox and you only have a hammer, hammer is not going to be appropriate for everything." — Liz Tran [24:24]

6. The ABCD Model for Building High AQ

[31:06–42:21]

• D: Discomfort
  • Seek out discomfort: "Most of the time, we try to arrange our lives to have as minimal discomfort as possible. To be high AQ, you have to flip that on its head." — Liz Tran [33:24]
  • Muscle analogy: Like working out—soreness = growth.
• A: Anchors
  • People, places, routines keeping you grounded.
  • Don’t neglect anchors in stress; they are your safety line in chaos.
  • Seek balance on the "Yerkes Dodson curve"—some stress is optimal, too much is paralyzing.
• C: Classroom
  • Life as a perpetual classroom.
  • "Satya Nadella... transitioned the employee culture from being a know-it-all to a learn-it-all culture." — Liz Tran [38:18]
  • Ask questions; learning mindset is critical, but don’t let it turn into perpetual hesitation.
• B: Bets
  • Take calculated leaps—don’t wait for 100% certainty or you’ll miss opportunities.
  • "If you're waiting until you have 100% certainty, it's already too late." — Paula Pant [42:21]
  • Use your archetype awareness to prevent either over-betting or under-betting.

7. The Six Thinking Hats: Problem-Solving Framework

[44:57–52:43]

A quick way to approach complex decisions or challenges:

• White Hat: Facts and figures.
• Blue Hat: Process, workflow.
• Yellow Hat: What’s working, best-case scenario.
• Black Hat: Risks, worst-case scenario, critical thinking.
• Red Hat: Emotions, gut feelings.
• Green Hat: Innovative, future possibilities ("growth-oriented").
• Use black and green hats together for balanced, reality-based optimism. "The most important lens to wear is both simultaneously... so that I'm making sure that I'm not bringing either too much of a negativity or a confirmation bias to what I'm doing." — Liz Tran [52:20]

8. Overcoming Self-Assessment Bias (Dunning-Kruger Effect)

[52:46–55:21]

• Top experts underrate themselves; novices overrate.
• Invite people with different archetypes into your process for external perspective. "It's helpful to bring in the other archetypes because astronauts wear the green hat really well... neurosurgeons... firefighters... can actually even catch problems before they happen." — Liz Tran [54:20]

9. AQ Is Dynamic and Developable

[60:41–62:18]

• Regret about past inaction? AQ is not fixed.
  • "Your agility is flexible. It's not like IQ... It is not true for AQ. You could be a low AQ person today and be a high AQ person tomorrow. It's organic; it's going up and down all the time." — Liz Tran [66:04]
• Mantra: "I love change and change loves me."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the future of IQ:
  "Your IQ becomes like a car... your AQ is you, the driver of that." — Liz Tran [07:50]
• On learning vs. action:
  "The classroom mindset isn't about questioning yourself or your own abilities. It's just about exploring your aperture for the way you see the world... at some point you have to leap." — Liz Tran [40:54]
• On discomfort:
  "If you feel uncomfortable, you think, great, I'm building my AQ muscle here." — Liz Tran [33:58]
• On AQ’s flexibility:
  "It is not true for AQ. You could be a low AQ person today and be a high AQ person tomorrow." — Liz Tran [66:04]
• On durable skills:
  "Anything that you've spent painstaking time learning is not going to be relevant... these general abilities, we call them durable skills because they're durable across industries, across time." — Liz Tran [64:57]
• A mantra for thriving in change:
  "I love change and change loves me." — Liz Tran [62:18]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• What is AQ: [03:00]
• AI and the new value of AQ: [05:56]
• Technical vs. durable skills: [08:17]
• Measuring and growing durable skills: [12:36]
• The AQ archetypes: [17:11]
• ABCD (Discomfort, Anchors, Classroom, Bets): [31:06]
• Six Thinking Hats: [44:57]
• Overcoming self-assessment bias: [52:46]
• AQ as a flexible, improvable trait: [60:41]

Three Key Takeaways

1. IQ Has Become Commodity—Adaptability Is the Differentiator:
   "What sets us apart is AQ... your capacity to learn quickly, to unlearn old ways, and to adapt in a rapidly changing environment." — Paula Pant [62:27]

2. Technical Skills Expire; Durable Skills Compound:
   "The average half life of a technical skill is five years... On the other hand, these general abilities, we call them durable skills because they're durable across industries, across time." — Liz Tran [64:57]

3. AQ Can Be Grown and Strengthened:
   "Discomfort means you’re growing, not failing... Your agility is flexible; it's not like IQ... never too late." — Liz Tran [66:04]

For Listeners: How To Use This Episode

• Reflect on your own AQ archetype(s) and where your strengths and gaps lie.
• Audit your portfolio of durable (transferable) skills and make a plan to develop them.
• Seek out manageable discomfort as a positive growth signal.
• Use the ABCD model and six thinking hats to approach challenges with agility and depth.
• Remember: No matter your current state, you can actively improve your AQ and thrive amid uncertainty.

Episode hosted by Paula Pant. Guest: Liz Tran. Learn more about AQ in her book and at Inner Genius.