Improve Your Performance - Control Your Emotions

Emotional Intelligence.

If you have never read the book “Working With Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman, you should pick up a copy. This book belongs in your library. When I am mentoring new managers, this is a “must” read.

What is emotional intelligence?

It is:

- managing feelings so that they are expressed appropriately and effectively

- learning how to handle emotions and impulses in a mature way

- learning open communication that is effective

There are five elements:

1. self-awareness

2. motivation

3. self-regulation

4. empathy

5. adeptness in relationships (social skills)

Here are few things that Daniel Goleman taught me:

1. IQ has zero or even a negative correlation to someone’s eventual career success.

2. Expertise is a baseline measurement for competence. How you do your job and other competencies that you bring to your expertise determines performance.

3. Emotional intelligence skills are synergistic with cognitive ones in that top performers have both.

4. The reason why people do not reach their full potential is emotional incompetence.

5. The most convincing and powerful arguments speak to the heart as well as the head.

6. If someone is deficient in social skills, they will be inept as persuading and inspiring others.

7. If someone has little self-awareness, they will be oblivious to their own weaknesses and lack self-confidence that comes from certainty about their strengths.

I checked Amazon.com  and you can pick up a copy of the 2000 edition for $12. That is a phenomenal return on investment.