An article (Legal Week, Vol. 7, Oct. 27, 2005 at 22) that mostly emphasized emotional intelligence (Ei) explained the differences between these four attributes.
“Competence is about what I can do (skills), IQ is about what I could do (cognitive potential), personality is about how I do it (style), and Ei is about why I do it (attitude and motivation).” My reaction is that IQ is academic cerebration, which is more limited than this rough definition.
The take-away is that any assessment or development process in a law department should integrate these parts of every lawyer into a whole picture of their development needs and strengths of contribution. (See my post of July 31, 2005 on the predictive accuracy of Ei instruments and July 14, 2005 on another set of definitions.) No law department or HR group even scratches the surface of compiling – let alone making use – of these lawyer attributes. (See my post of Nov. 8, 2005 on the contributions of HR reps.)