President’s intelligence rated as high

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 6

President’s intelligence rated as high

By

JOHN CUNNIFF,

of

the Associated Press New York Ronald Reagan is one of the most functionally intelligent people you are likely to see in a top role in government, business or anywhere else, says an authority on leadership. Professor Eugene Jennings, who has studied leaders m all walks of life back to the ancients, and who wrote “Anatomy of Leadership, a primary,; reference,” reaches that conclusion after watching Reagan the leader “in of business .and .politics, uvs Professor Jennings, intelligence

is far more critical to success than formal intelligence, which is

measured by I.Q. tests, classroom grades and the like.” “Functional intelligence,” says Professor Jennings, a professor of management and leadership at Michigan State University, “is the ability to do what you set out to do, and to do it efficiently and gracefully.” “In Reagan “we have an example of one who might not have the highest formal intelligence, but who has probably the highest functional intelligence I have ever seen. In that respect, Reagan is in sharp contrast to President Carter, who possessed a high formal intelligence quotient but who had one of

the lowest functional IQs of any (U.S.) President. Nixon wasn’t much better.” To be as adroit as Reagan, Professor Jennings says, a person has to have a high level of emotional maturity. “It is this that helps a leader avoid emotional traps. Emotions can undo intellect.” Mr Reagan’s emotional maturity is based on a personality that is well integrated, Professor Jennings says. He chooses the description carefully, noting that the stem of integrated in Greek and Hebrew means whole. “It means that the inner and outer man are the same. There is no

public persona and private person. Reagan is Reagan, and he isn’t any different than when he was Governor of California.”

For 30 years Professor Jennings has been observing, writing, and lecturing about business and political leadership, and serving also as a confidant and adviser to people in top positions in business and government

He concludes that Mr Reagan did not have to change to become President; the rest of the world simply caught up with him.

“People recognise that Reagan’s temperament allows him to be an extremely smart leader. He is not duplicitous, as Lyn-

don Johnson, nor egoinvolved, as Harry Truman. Reagan doesn’t take his person that seriously.

“As a result, opponents find it extremely difficult to successfully attack his person. Since he doesn’t react, he avoids the greatest trap of all for a would-be leader, that is, of being overly reactive to opponents.

“Once adversaries discover they can make you react by attacking your person, you become personally vulnerable. “But if you have Reagan’s ability you avoid turning idea opponents into personal opponents.” He cites Edward Koch, the boisterous Mayor of New «Vork, as a prime

example of the opposite type of personality, as a man who responds to every catcall and who carries his ego on his shoulders like epaulettes.

“The value of a mature temperament,” says Professor Jennings, “is that nobody dares attack the person. To personally attack a leader who will not respond is to risk exposing yourself as an incompetent and perhaps foolish opponent”

For that reason Reagan opponents have reduced or ceased ad hominem attacks.

“Reagan,” he says, “has the smarts to be able to raise the level of debate and argument to where it involves ideas — not motives and people.” ,