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EI is a powerful predictor of success in work and personal life
Successful people have many things in common, and one of the traits they share is a high degree of emotional intelligence (EI). So what is emotional intelligence, and why is it so important to you? In a nutshell, it represents your ability to comprehend emotions in yourself and others. It is your capacity to recognize feelings and use this knowledge to motivate, inspire and direct. Emotional intelligence has two components:
1. Understanding and managing your own emotions.
2. Understanding and promoting positive relationships with other people.
The concept was first identified in the 1930s as "social intelligence," or the ability to get along with others. Psychologists continued to develop the theory through the decades, and in 1995 it gained widespread attention with the publication of Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.
What is the difference between IQ and EI?
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) are two separate and distinct aspects of who you are. They are completely independent of each other-you can't predict one simply by knowing the other. It is possible to have high emotional intelligence with a low IQ or conversely to have a high intelligence quotient and be clueless from an EI perspective. My wife, Bobbie, often uses the expression: "Some of the smartest people do the dumbest things." How true.
Does a high IQ help drive career success and performance? Surprisingly, the intelligence quotient is not so strongly correlated to achievement as you may assume. Emotional intelligence is a far more valuable predictor of success. Experts attribute to IQ only about 20% of the credit for life success. A high IQ is a key attribute of those who are selected for the initial pool of college applicants, job candidates and similar groups, but differences in IQ are not powerful predictors of success among those who make it past the initial intelligence threshold for their career.
In professions demanding the highest level of IQ-and therefore setting the intellect bar high for participation in the field-IQ has weak predictive power. A study of Harvard grads in professional disciplines found that entrance exam results (roughly equivalent to IQ) had no correlation...
