The Strengths Studio Blog
Strengths are the Key for Building AQ
Without a doubt, the world is moving fast and change is rapidly accelerating in nearly every workplace. In this environment, success is less about what we know and more about how we respond to uncertainty.
I recently read a compelling piece on AQ - Adaptability Quotient, framed as the new “non-negotiable” skill of highly successful people. At its core, AQ reflects the ability to navigate stress, uncertainty, and disruption without losing your footing.
This got me thinking about the environments I am encountering lately and the skills individuals deeply need to navigate these incredibly uncertain and fast moving times. And, as usual, it leads me right back to strengths. As I think about AQ, strengths are a powerful way to build this skill set because the tool provides the opportunity to unlock the awareness that is needed to be self-aware, self-regulate, and build capability.
What AQ Really Means
The Adaptability Quotient (AQ) is more than just “handling change.” It’s about how we respond when stress hits, routines shift, and the future feels unknown. People with high AQ are not necessarily the smartest or the most emotionally tuned, but they are those who pivot well, learn quickly, and grow through uncertainty.
They don’t just survive change; they navigate it with presence, flexibility, and intentional action.
Strengths as a Foundation and a Map
Before we can adapt, we have to know who we are in the moment of change and what our natural patterns, how we typically respond to stress, and what energizes us versus depletes.
This is where strengths leads the way and can build the awareness, skillset, and agility to navigate uncertainty before a single moment even emerges. By helping us know our strengths, gain situational insights, and engage with intentional action, we can build our AQ. Strengths give us that ability to:
- Build self-awareness: Uncover how we tend to show up, especially when things don’t go as planned by watching for our own cues and clues.
- Understand situational insight: Understanding who we are and what can impact us, we can also begin to distinguish situations from our reactions.
- Act with intention: With the insights about ourselves, we can decide what to do, not just how we feel, when uncertainty arises. And we can make a choice to move forward.
Without self-awareness, we’re often blind to our own triggers: we get stuck in familiar patterns that no longer work, we resist constructive feedback, or we double down when the context calls for flexibility. With self-awareness, we begin to choose how to respond rather than default into reaction. AQ isn’t about eliminating stress, it’s about responding more wisely to it.
A Few Strengths-Based Tips to Build AQ
- Recognize your natural responses to stress. When routines shift, do you cling tightly or seek structure? Do you improvise or over-plan? Strengths clarify these patterns.
- Identify what you need in discomfort. Maybe you need connection, maybe clarity, maybe space. Tap into your strengths to help you identify and articulate it.
- Make intentional bets rather than reactive moves. Highly adaptable people don’t wait for certainty, they act with purpose, test possibilities, and refine based on learning.
- Stay in motion even when outcomes are unknown. Change feels uncomfortable precisely because outcomes aren’t certain. Strengths help us stay grounded, even when we don’t know yet.
In a World That Can’t Be Predicted… Strengths are the Anchor
The world will continue to accelerate, shift, and surprise us. But just because change is hard doesn’t mean we should be stifled by it. Strengths give us the awareness and confidence to respond, not react, and see patterns, anticipate challenges, and choose intentional action.
When we build our self-awareness, we build our capacity for AQ. And that’s not just a skill for “highly successful people.” It’s a capability we can intentionally develop daily.
