Why is Emotional Intelligence Important?
May 19, 2021
There’s a section in chapter three of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry titled “The Impact of EQ” that shares some statistical that nearly knocked me out of my chair:
“How much of an impact does EQ have on your professional success? The short answer is: quite a lot! It’s a powerful way to focus your energy in one direction with a tremendous result. We’ve tested EQ alongside 33 other important skills and found that it subsumes the majority of them, including decision-making and communication. Your EQ is the foundation for a host of critical skills - it impacts most everything you say and do each day. EQ is so critical to success that it accounts for 58 percent of performance in all types of jobs.”
I’ve read a few books and numerous articles over the last several years that provide answers to the question Why is Emotional Intelligence Important? When I read something suggesting that emotional intelligence, or EQ, accounts for 58% of performance in ALL types of jobs, I can’t argue it’s importance! The challenge I’ve run into with nearly everything I’ve studied has a lack of specific, immediate action steps I can take to intentionally develop my own level of emotional intelligence…
Not only do tangible results pay the bills in most instances within our free-market society, at least for now, that’s exactly what I was programmed to deliver in the first 20 years of my career. So anytime I read or learn about something today, it’s always through a lens focused on how I can apply this right away so I can perform better tomorrow than I did today. (I know, I probably wouldn’t survive long in a gubermint job…)
Seriously though, I enjoy learning about different concepts as much as anyone. If you’ve read more than just a few of these messages, you know how much I like taking just about any kind of assessment I can get my hands on; I suppose that dates back to the years of behavior-based safety where I was looking for anything I could find that would help me develop a better understanding of why people did what they did…
In addition to reading Emotional Intelligence 2.0, I’ve listened to it on Audible at least 3 or 4 times start to finish. If you’re not familiar with it, I’d suggest checking it out at some point. Bradberry shares some incredibly eye-opening ideas that make a strong case for why each of us should make building emotional intelligence into every aspect of what we do, both personally and professionally. After going through the content so many times, I did have some clarity on what to look for over the course of time as I developed more emotional intelligence but I couldn’t put my finger on what I could do right away to see the immediate results I was hoping for!
Thankfully though, I also had another perspective I was able to tie to this that I could apply to get the immediate results I love so much and have a practical way of sharing with the organizations I work with. Over the next few posts, I’ll do the same with you here!
