Aristotle’s virtues’ philosophy provides the foundation for the concept of Effective Intelligence (FI), as it connects the goals of success and happiness (or well-being) to the core virtues needed before one can be effective in their pursuit.

Effective intelligence (FI) is defined as one’s ability to set and achieve valuable and meaningful goals that contribute towards achieving success. It is one’s demonstrated ability to use their natural and developed capabilities effectively in developing enabling beliefs, make appropriate decisions and take appropriate actions that can translate who they are genetically and who they’ve become because of their environment, timing and luck, into success.

Effective Intelligence is a “meta”-intelligence and defines the degree to which we can put into productive use all of the “other intelligences” (e.g. IQ, EI, SI, etc.). It is one’s ability to capitalize on these intelligences in an effective…