EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

A 1995 research showed that emotional intelligence (EQ) is the single most important factor responsible for an individual’s success.

Emotional Intelligence is defined as the capability to recognize, understand and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others, in order to manage your own behaviour and your interpersonal relationships. It is a critical life-skill and has a huge impact on an individual’s professional and personal success.

Further, EQ was found to be the vital distinguishing factor of great leaders. In the words of Daniel Goleman, “…without emotional intelligence, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader” ¹.

EQ is a core life-skill

EQ is at the core and its development impacts many fundamental life-skills. In other words, EQ serves as the foundation for many critical skills that help a person achieve personal and professional success. Some of the crucial skills that a high EQ has an impact upon are motivation, empathy, adaptability, the ability to influence positively, resolve conflict sensitively, delegate efficiently and communicate openly.

EQ can be developed

The good news is that EQ can be developed. At any point in one’s life.

The brain has the ability to overwrite old patterns of behaviour with new ones, if the new patterns of behaviour occur regularly and consistently. Repeated patterns of newly learnt emotionally intelligent behaviours can become intuitive and habitual over time.

(1) Goleman, Daniel. “What Makes a Leader?” On Leadership, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2011