My cyberfriend Janna recently pointed to this article titled
Emotional intelligence factors into employment. Here are a few thoughts from the article and other places about what Emotional Intelligence (EI) is:
- the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills necessary to be successful in any role;
- knowing how to manage yourself and relationships with others well;
- knowing how to emotionally interact with people around you;
- possessing self-awareness, empathy, and the ability to love and be loved by others;
- controlling one's impulses and having social competence in interpersonal relationship.
There seems to be a general consensus that EI is more important that IQ.. and I have to agree. So often in my life IQ has simply gotten in the way of cooperating and working with other people. Here is the way that the article puts it:
- “Employers will look for students coming out of college with strong interpersonal skills more so now than ever,” ... “Most employers I work with are frustrated with recent college graduates’ inability to communicate well with others.”
- Adults with high emotional intelligence are more effective leaders and salespeople and have better personal and professional relationships.
I agree with the article when it says "A healthy balance of IQ and emotional intelligence is necessary". What do you think about this idea of being emotionally intelligent?
They are both important. A team with IQ only can generate the best options but no concensus. A team with EI will easily reach concensus but may not develop the best options to chose from.
ReplyDeleteThe best teams that I have worked with are led by a person that solicits input from everybody involved and makes a decision when enough is enough.
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention here. Obviously I wholeheartedly agree since I'm a certified EQmentor and coach people to have more of these skills.
You know, if people want to see a lack of EQ (or EI) in action, all they need to do is watch the situational comedy, "Big Bang Theory" (I think that's the name of it). :D
Most managers that I've had over the years must have had really low EQ's and many had really low IQ's as well. Recently they've been much better though.
ReplyDeleteEQ beats IQ all the time... except in jobs where there are no people-people interaction... pathologists, laboratory jobs...
ReplyDelete