In Search of Consciousness

September 2010


I had never heard of CQ until recently. When I first came across these two letters in the Business Times I thought it was a new eau d’cologne. But I was wrong. CQ is the abbreviation for consciousness quotient, the corporate world’s new buzz word, and if HR practitioners and executive search consultants are to be believed, the key to future job success.

Now the question of consciousness is an area that has troubled philosophers and great thinkers for at least two thousand years. They have battled to come to a satisfying explanation of consciousness. In the last century alone volumes have been written and a plethora of neuro-scientific explanations have been forwarded all trying to make sense of this complex issue. Consciousness is a huge subject which covers areas such as feelings or emotions, belief, values, the mind, sensory stimuli, perceptions, thought, reason, experience, widely differing accounts of reality, intent and finally brain processes or neural activity. Scientists and psychologists even speak of streams of obtuse consciousness whatever that means. One thing we all agree on however is that the brain and not the anus is the seat of consciousness. It is by no means a field of study to be taken glibly or superficially.

How do we begin then to demystify the notion of consciousness? What is it like to have a consciousness? Some experts say it is simply a matter of heightened awareness. Another definition offered is that “a conscious state is a mental state we are conscious of being in.” OK so far so good. So for example I am presently in a very agitated mental state. Lightning has fried my DSTV decoder and I am seriously pissed off with my son for playing games on my laptop and infecting it with viruses. Being conscious of something then is merely a matter of firstly being awake, then mentally responsive to sensory stimuli or having some or other thought, feeling or emotion about it. If there is no thought we cannot speak of a mental state being in existence. Or when we speak of conscious experiences do we mean physical happenings as well?

The feint stirring Hugh Hefner sometimes feels in his loins when one of his scantily clad buxom bunnies walk past him, that is surely both a heightened state of awareness and a physical happening or is there really no physical sensation at all but merely his brain playing tricks on him. Either way he is thinking about them in a lusty way so he is presumably in a conscious state and will eventually regress into a highly distressed mental state because he cannot remember where he put his Viagra tablets.

The fact that an intelligent explanation of consciousness has eluded great minds has not deterred the intrepid talking heads of the corporate world who have fearlessly stepped into this minefield. There are clinical psychologists, HR managers, recruitment specialists and other consultants who no doubt do sterling work and do their bit for the improvement of humanity. Then there are the bottom-feeders among them, struggling to stay relevant who pass the time by inventing new jargon or corporate gobbledegook and live off the occasional scraps that indulgent bosses throw at them.

We all know what IQ stands for (in case you are wondering Mr Malema it stands for intelligence quotient, something which unfortunately seems to escape you) and we are all familiar with the term artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence Julius is the type of instantly erased nanosecond intelligence commonly found in goldfish, algae and in Playboy Bunnies when they stick out their fake boobs, tilt their head to one side and pretend to know the answer to a question they have already forgotten.

We’ve had emotional intelligence or EQ thrown at us, as a must have for great leadership and there is even something called moral intelligence or MQ, which appears to be completely lacking in certain businessmen and politicians in South Africa and Greece and among bankers especially those working for Goldman Sachs. Now we have CQ or “consciousness quotient” as the new management fad to throw into the play pen. Psychologists tell us that there is an obvious link between inner states and human behaviour. Fine, easy enough to understand even for Julius. He ruptures a tyre and crashes his car in one of the many cavernous potholes his construction company should have repaired on the roads of Polokwane, a case of divine justice or fortune being a capricious mistress. He feels angry, stupid and unloved so he lashes out at a BBC journalist who asks him a clever question.

Psychologists define consciousness quotient as: “the general level of being conscious or aware throughout a day in regular life conditions.” Apparently what these geniuses have figured out is that CQ like IQ and EQ has a very important influence on the ability of employees to work and interact in an office environment. This is groundbreaking research and revolutionary thinking.

According to the experts who have invented this new CQ fad, we as human beings have a unique ability to be conscious of our own consciousness! And in a work environment, employees not only need to access certain information but once they have obtained this information or knowledge, it must also lead to a state of consciousness. What a profound thought! What a revelation! What else could it possibly lead to, a decision maybe or perhaps an involuntary bowel movement?

I bet the great thinkers and philosophers never thought about this one. How does one accomplish this unbelievably difficult task of having information at ones disposal and simultaneously being conscious? How about simply saying to someone, stop for a minute and think about what you are doing before you act. Or as some corporate coaches like to advise their clients, when in doubt call an SOS, an acronym for stop, observe and strategise.

It’s no wonder CEO’s are reluctant to part with shareholder’s money and are calling this new field “spiritualist mumbo jumbo” and other unprintable names. Advocates of CQ reply that consciousness and putting the “soul” back into business or doing as they put it “soulful business” is what it is all about. Most CEO’s have so much volatility, uncertainty, change and risk to worry about they have understandably never cared much about the soft stuff. They say talking about souls in the cut-throat and competitive business environment is a huge waste of time but as a result they are often labelled unenlightened and unevolved dinosaurs.

Apparently in this new age business environment you now need to show that you not only care about the soul of your clients but also the soul of each employee as well. How does one achieve this? Maybe we should ask Google. I can see emails circulating on the company’s intranet saying “Good morning everybody, please take note as of next week casual Friday has been replaced by soul Friday. Please remember to come to work barefoot and bring along your favourite pillow.” The next bank advert may well be: “We care because your soul matters to us!” The confessional has finally made it into the business environment. We’ve had ethical business, ubuntu in business, eco or green business, wellness in business, petro-dollars, pink dollars and now we have soul dollars. What next? I’m as confused as the next person.

HR experts now say we need to take CQ and “soul” into account when recruiting people. I’m not quite sure how you test for “soul” or “consciousness” but it seems the traditional methods or battery of tests, including aptitude, character, personality tests, learning styles, academic or technical qualifications, career history, work experience, past track record, relevant skills, CV, testimonials, integrity vetting and lie detector tests are no longer sufficient or even reliable indicators of success or suitability for a position. Dare we say that you need to do a whole lot of “soul searching”, so that you can determine whether the person you are employing is actually soulfully conscious and not some sleepwalking zombie with their eyes open.

Consciousness tests are not to be confused however with tests of conscience although the two words are related. Tests of conscience have proved successful to gauge feelings of guilt and the extent of remorse found in war criminals but found completely ineffective when applied to investment bankers. The deeper question to ponder is how do you conduct business and make money without losing your soul? Maybe Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 – 1946) had it right when he said: “Most people sell their souls and live with a good conscience on the proceeds.”

At first I struggled to understand the need for this new type of CQ testing or assessment. But on further reflection it slowly dawned on me why it is necessary and very important especially in South Africa. Think for a moment about some of the civil servants and employees working in government departments, municipalities and para-statals such as ESKOM, SAA, ARMSCOR, etc. There is no doubt that some of the people working in these organisations at every level, even in the very top or senior management echelons are overpaid, useless and grossly inefficient to the point of being negligent. You would hesitate to employ them as potato peelers in your local fish and chips shop.

This malaise is costing the country billions in fraud, wastage, inefficiency, delays, failed or stalled service delivery and non-implementation of policy directives. Up until now experts thought that these systemic failures were caused by employees either being ignorant or just plain stupid. Some employees may lack the requisite level of competence because there is no supervision, guidance, coaching and mentorship. As a result they lack the proper skills or on the job training while others are just plain lazy, wilfully obstructionist or corrupt.

But now another more serious condition has come to light. When we speak about consciousness we also need to take into account its opposite state namely, unconsciousness. Alarmed experts have now discovered that a far greater group of government civil servants and municipal employees are in a deep and heightened state of unconsciousness. According to government spokesperson, Prudence Mpondo-Williams, the government is taking this issue very seriously and is prepared to spend billions to rectify this problem so that it can meet its strategic policy objectives or targets.

The South African government has employed the services of the prestigious Geneva based Neuro-Scientific Institute at great cost, to run a battery of tests on these helpless state and municipal employees. After conducting exhaustive experiments they have found that these civil servants, municipal employees, Julius Malema and even George W. Bush have a lot in common. In all these instances and persons there isn’t a proper sequential firing of the neural triggers. Which means that at a very basic level, as in the case of a brick or a lavatory door, there is an absence of a clearly identifiable brain process, therefore we cannot speak of consciousness being present.

Once the state of unconsciousness is confirmed, the Institute uses a variety of secret techniques and therapies to reverse the condition and to bring these floundering employees out of their unconscious state and back into the real world of hard work, service, pride, responsibility, accountability and integrity. The aim is to bring all the unconscious incompetents into progressive phases of conscious incompetence until they are so ashamed by their inadequacies they strive to reach the final and desired stage of conscious competence.

According to a disgruntled former therapist who worked for the Institute, these techniques and therapies involve a combination of electro-shock therapy, deep level hypnotism, hot and cold water immersion therapy, childhood regression therapy and once they emerge out of their unconscious state, intensive neuro-linguistic programming, walking on hot coals, group wailing and chanting of repetitive mantras in a drumming circle under the stars next to a raging bonfire.

The problem is that these techniques and therapies have proven to be quite successful. Once brought back into a state of consciousness employees want to immediately regress back into their unconscious state. It’s akin to the shock and post-partum anxiety new born babies experience when they leave the warm comfort of their mother’s womb they start crying and want to go back into the safety of the dark. The employees soon realise that in a fully conscious state they need to be responsible, they need to think, make quick decisions and act. All this is hard work. It’s much easier to be in a permanently unconscious but eyes open state where life is reduced to performing simple or menial tasks, like grunting, scowling, sneezing, scratching, coughing, breathing, eating, swallowing, resting, sticking things in your ear and picking your nose to name but a few of our most basic bodily functions.

If we look further afield we’ll see that the word has even crept into the consciousness of the international political arena. In response to the Greek financial crisis German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently said: “Germans should not pay for the consciously flawed fiscal and budgetary policies of others.”

A valid counter argument of course is that great intelligence and even a state of consciousness are not essential prerequisites to be famous, in a position of power or to hold high office. For a start it’s a debatable issue whether consciousness arises solely from brain activity as suggested before. A part of the brain can be irreversibly lost, dead or damaged yet you can still be said to be conscious. In the case of Ozzie Osbourne his brain was permanently cooked and altered by various chemical substances.

Let’s examine for a moment a few of the colourful individuals who have held the most powerful position in the world, POTUS or President of the United States. The detractors of President Gerald Ford said that he was so dumb he could not chew gum and fart at the same time. President Ronald Reagan was not in a conscious state because he was barely awake most of the time. He was labelled “the amiable dunce” and served two terms in office “sleepwalking through history.” As a B-grade actor, Ronnie could somehow remember and deliver his lines effortlessly every time, finding new ways to repeat himself any which way you wanted to the delight, appreciation and rapturous applause of his handlers. He would occasionally be prodded out of his slumber by his dear old friend Maggie from across the pond who knew exactly where to tickle him much to the annoyance of Nancy. George Bush junior although sober was incapable of coherent language or any thought and he was not even aware or conscious that he was conscious, let alone could he even attempt to spell the word. Look what happened to the world as a result.

In conclusion if you don’t want to be treated like plankton and want to succeed in the workplace or life in general, speed up your IQ, by minding your P’s and Q’s, so that you can improve your EQ without compromising your MQ to fully maximise your CQ. To reach that heightened state of awareness but not arousal, to achieve that desired plateau of conscious competence you must become very conscious of your search for consciousness.

And finally to satisfy any CEO’s focus on the bottom-line and to take a leaf out of the American school of pragmatism, we may well ask, what is the “cash value” of this idea? Well despite what the sceptics say, if organised religion can turn saving souls into a profitable business then so can business when it comes to caring about them provided of course you remain conscious.