The AEP Glossary: What's Your "CQ"?

Doing creative-based work for many years has made me make up alot of my own terms. If you worked with me, you may hear me say things like "Hose down" the room, or "Tweak the order".  With this post, I'm going to begin sharing some of my terminologies and the meanings - and - how they may help you in your work.

Today, I want to talk about what I call "CQ".  NO- it's not "GQ"!  "CQ" - as defined by me stands for "Change Quotient".   I've realized over the years that everyone has their own change quotient or "CQ" as I call it.

Some people have very little to almost no CQ.  I and many creatives have a very high CQ.

The CQ concept is about how much change you can envision and tolerate.

I've often been brought into (long) meetings to discuss ideas on how to make changes to programs or products that need a fresh start.  Now - with my high CQ level, I'm usually sitting there re-inventing / re-envisioning what we could do to breath new life into something.  I've learned the hard way that usually, the folks sitting on the other side of the table from me are thinking "David - You could guide us in changing the background of our Powerpoint slides from blue to red"!  (Oooooohhh - how EDGY is that!!!) 

As simple as it seems, this was a very powerful revelation for me.  Not everyone can visualize or envision the same way that you may be able to.  I learned to ask some questions early in the meetings that would help be determine the various CQ's represented in the room.  I was able to speak more specifically and intelligently to the issues presented when I did so.  I learned to take people more gradually through the change process so they could more easily absorb it and be less frightened of the process and outcome.

I hope this is a little helpful concept for you as you do creative work.

What's your CQ?