“Emotional Intelligence is a way of recognizing, understanding, and choosing how we think, feel, and act. It shapes our interactions with others and our understanding of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn; it allows us to set priorities; it determines the majority of our daily actions. Research suggests it is responsible for as much as 80% of the “success” in our lives.”
Freedman et al – From Handle With Care: Emotional Intelligence Activity Book
We all have different personalities, different wants and needs, and different ways of showing our emotions. Navigating through this all takes tact and cleverness – especially if we hope to succeed in life. This is where emotional intelligence becomes important.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a general assessment of a person’s abilities to control emotions, to sense, understand and react to others’ emotions, and manage relationships. The national survey –conducted May 19 to June 8, 2011, with more than 2600 hiring managers and human resource professionals – reveals that EQ is a critical characteristic for landing a job and advancing one’s career. Fifty-nine percent of employers would not hire someone who has a high IQ but low EQ. For workers being considered for a promotion, the high EQ candidate will beat out the high IQ candidate in most cases – 75 percent said they’re more likely to promote the high EQ worker.
According to Wikipedia, Emotional intelligence (EQ) is an ability, skill or, in the case of the trait EQ model, a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Various models and definitions have been proposed of which the ability and trait EQ models are the most widely accepted in the scientific literature. Moreover there are five main domains of emotional intelligence: 1) knowing one’s emotions, that is, self-awareness, 2) managing emotions, 3) motivating oneself, 4) recognizing emotions in others, that is, empathy, and 5) handling relationships or managing emotions in others
People with high emotional intelligence are usually successful in most things they do. Why? Because “In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships.” John Gottman –From Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child.
Daniel Goleman is widely considered to “godfather” of Emotional Intelligence, based on a concept in the early 1990’s introduced by 2 psychologists, John Mayer and Peter Salovey. He has written several books on the subject, and says that Emotional Intelligence is about “harmonizing thought and feeling”…
There is no question but that there is a rapidly growing awareness of this very powerful “partner in C.R.I.M.E. to IQ. (What is C.R.I.M.E.?) Stay tuned for the explanation, or contact me!