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Once you are in the field, emotional intelligence emerges as a much stronger predictor of who will be most successful, because it is how we handle ourselves in our relationships that determines how well we do once we are in a given job. Daniel Goleman If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing. Will Rogers Reegan is highly committed to her company but is having trouble getting along with two of her coworkers. They just don’t seem to like her, even though she has a lot of good ideas to contribute to the team. While she wants to stay with the company, she just doesn’t see that happening with the current work environment. Reegan schedules a meeting with her manager, Lynn, hoping she will have some ideas on how to improve the situation. Lynn listens intently to Reegan’s concerns and says, “Reegan, you are an asset to this organization, with all of your abilities and skills. But as of right now, you are lacking in some areas we should discuss.” Reegan is very upset with this reaction; she expected Lynn to talk with the others in her department and force them to be easier to work with. “First, the perception is that you are not a team player. You spend time in meetings talking about your ideas, but you don’t ask others what they think of those ideas, nor do you seem to notice body language that indicates someone might have something to say,” says Lynn. “Another thing I have noticed is your seemingly unwillingness to engage your coworkers in anything besides work-related tasks. Remember, this team has worked together for over eight years and they have built personal relationships. You don’t seem to be interested in anyone you work with.” Reegan, defensive, says, “No one will say anything when I mention my ideas! It isn’t my fault that they don’t care about bettering this company. They need to speak up if they have comments or ideas of their own. As far as personal life, I am here to work, not make friends.” Lynn sits back in her chair and asks Reegan if she has ever heard of emotional intelligence skills. Reegan hasn’t, so Lynn gives her some websites to check out, and then schedules a meeting to talk in two days about emotional intelligence. This situation in the workplace is not uncommon yet causes thousands of lost work hours and frustrations on the part of managers and employees. Emotional intelligence skills (sometimes referred to as EQ or EI), as we will discuss in this chapter, can help people be aware of their own emotions, manage those emotions, and work better with others. These skills can be developed over time and are an important part of career success. Before we begin this chapter, it is important to distinguish between personal and professional success, because personal success does not always mean professional success and the other way around. In addition, personal and professional success means different things to different people. For example, having a nice car, a beautiful home, and a fancy job title could be considered professional success. On the other hand, personal success may include the ability to travel, interpersonal relationships, friendships, and other factors that have little to do with professional success. Consider Desiree—she does not earn large sums of money and does not have a fancy job title. She has never been promoted and has worked as an administrative assistant for twelve years for more or less the same salary. However, she does not have the goal of being promoted and prefers to leave the office at 5 pm and not have to think about work beyond that. She has a rich life full of friends and travel and often takes classes to learn new skills such as pottery and kickboxing. One would not argue that Desiree has achieved success and happiness personally. For her, achieving this is far more important than achieving what many would call professional success. However, we know there is much crossover between skills that can help us achieve both professional and personal success or happiness. Emotional intelligence is one of those skills, which we will discuss in greater detail throughout this chapter. Emotional intelligence is a topic that has been researched since the early 1990s and has been found to be an important indicator of life and career success. In fact, this book is written around the ability to develop emotional intelligence skills. Emotional intelligence (EQ)A form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action. refers to a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. This is different from intelligence quotient (IQ)The measure of intelligence based on a score derived from an intelligence test. in that IQ measures intelligence based on a score derived from intelligence tests. The other main difference between the two is that IQ is stable over a lifetime, while EQ can grow and develop over time as we continue to learn about ourselves. The original researchers of EQ, John Mayer and Peter Salovey, provided the first hint of emotional intelligence in their research, but much of the later research on emotional intelligence was done by Daniel Goleman. According to Goleman, there are four main aspects to emotional intelligence, which we will discuss later in this section. First, why is emotional intelligence necessary for success? To start, different from what was previously thought, IQ is not a good predictor of job performance, happiness, or success. Goleman points out that if this myth were true, everyone who graduated at the top of their class with honors would be the most successful people. Because we know this isn’t the case, we know qualities other than just IQ can help predict success. Research by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greves has shown that EQ makes up 58 percent of job requirements and is the single biggest predictor of performance in the workplace and the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence. Their research also showed that 90 percent of high performers at work had high EQ, while 20 percent of low performers had low EQ. In other words, you can be a high performer at work without EQ, but the chances are slimmer with low EQ. EQ research by Bradberry and Greves shows a link between higher EQ and higher salary. In fact, for every point increase in EQ, there is a $1,300 per year increase in salary. In one study performed by Virginia Tech, six hundred undergraduate computer science students and twenty institutions participated in a survey that measured emotional intelligence and the ability to handle demanding curriculum. Although emotional intelligence was not directly linked to academic success in the study, students with higher levels of emotional intelligence had more self-efficacy (belief in one’s own ability), which allowed them to handle problems better—creating higher academic success. For example, the ability to read body language and understand when someone is sad or mad and needs to talk is an emotional intelligence skill. These skills enable us to interact with others successfully. Consider a person who does not have a “filter” and continually puts down others and says exactly what is on their mind, even if it is hurtful. This clear lack of emotional intelligence affects this person’s ability to have good, healthy relationships, both at work and in their personal life. So, we know that emotional intelligence is important for success at work, at school, and in our personal lives. Let’s discuss the four main components of EQ: Self-awareness. Self-awarenessRefers to the ability of a person to understand how they are feeling from moment to moment. refers to a person’s ability to understand their feelings from moment to moment. It might seem as if this is something we know, but we often go about our day without thinking or being aware of our emotions that impact how we behave in work or personal situations. Understanding our emotions can help us reduce stress and make better decisions, especially when we are under pressure. In addition, knowing and recognizing our own strengths and weaknesses is part of self-awareness. Assume that Patt is upset about a new process being implemented in the organization. Lack of self-awareness may result in her feeling angry and anxious, without really knowing why. High self-awareness EQ might cause Patt to recognize that her anger and anxiety stem from the last time the organization changed processes and fifteen people got laid off. Part of self-awareness is the idea of positive psychological capitalPositive emotions such as hope and optimism, which result in higher confidence and resilience., which can include emotions such as hope; optimism, which results in higher confidence; and resilience, or the ability to bounce back quickly from challenges. Psychological capital can be gained through self-awareness and self-management, which is our next area of emotional intelligence.