Here’s a bold statement right out the gate:
EQ is More Important Than IQ for Business.
What’s EQ, you ask? Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is “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.”
Sounds fluffy, but it’s never been more important for the workplace. Currently, we’re experiencing record-breaking stress levels, according to an annual survey by the American Psychological Association. Increasingly, we’re operating in a business world that the military describes as “VUCA” – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, and people need to become more resilient than ever.
Thanks to the internet age, anyone can get information at a moment’s notice. Now, being smart is expected. IQ is table stakes. But the skills of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills just can’t be acquired by reading a couple of blog posts.
The research shows that EQ for employees is a no-brainer. 90% of the top performers have a high EQ. Additionally, they make $29,000 more annually than their low EQ counterparts. This is why employers are scrambling to improve their emotional intelligence training as part of their leadership and development programs. Want to learn more?
