It seems everyone is talking about it in some form or fashion; is emotional intelligence (EI) just a fad or is it here to stay? Our position is that it is not a fad (although Daniel Golman has made emotional intelligence trendy, the "father" of the recent movement is Reuven Bar-On who started studying emotional quotient (EQ) in the mid-1980's) as it has been around for a lot longer than most think.

Studies have shown that between IQ and EQ/EI, EQ/EI is more of a predictor of success in leadership than IQ. The study showed that IQ could predict workplace success in a given job between 1 and 20 percent of the time with the average being 6 percent [Wagner, Richard K., "Intelligence, Training, and Employment," American Psychologist, 52(10), (October 1997): 1059-1069]. Further, emotional intelligence has been shown to be responsible for between 27 to 45 percent of job success [Stein, Steven J., Book, Howard E., "The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and your Success", 3rd Edition, p. 17, 2011].

DEFINITION

Emotional intelligence is a set of emotional and social skills that affect the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and meaningful way.

HOW CAN I BENEFIT?

Because it has been demonstated that emotional intelligence can be responsible for 27-45% of job success, knowing where you stand and where you could improve gives you the starting point for a new phase in your leadership. Here are links to two documents which provide more information on the benefits of emotional intelligence and leadership: EQi and Leadership and ROI of EQi.

If you would like to visit with Richard about emotional intelligence, email him and he will respond promptly.