Five reasons to develop emotional intelligence all levels

“I want you to stop me before I get out of hand.”

“But how do I know when–”

Don held up the drink he just poured.

“When I get to three. This is one.”

That scene was from one of the latest Mad Men episodes, where the main character Don Draper tells his secretary to stop him from drinking too much booze.

Of course, more inappropriateness ensues for the ad exec during the episode, along with the many other executives on the show.

What do you expect? It’s hyper-reality fiction circa 1965. These characters were written smart, but flawed emotionally.

Unfortunately there are still these types of leaders today, in reality non-fiction. Yes, there are many good folks leading others in engaged revelry as well, but it’s the negative drama that drives the media and us along.

There is hope, though. In the form of emotionally intelligent leadership.

I’m currently reading Steven Stein’s Make Your Workplace Great: The 7 Keys to an Emotionally Intelligent Organization.

Early on he highlights recent research his organization has done concerning “what keeps CEO’s up at night.”

The top three issues are:

  • Hiring the right people
  • Managing growth
  • Managing people

No easy task, especially if you’re a larger public institution with shareholders and board members and Wall Street body slamming you in the business bounce house. But even for firms without the added pressures, these issues can cripple a leadership team and a business.

You know what keeps me up at night, though?

Leadership at any and all levels that’s not personally responsible, self-led, emotionally self-aware and aware other others emotions, quick to assess and respond appropriately, in control of impulses in good times and bad, intellectually capable of soft skill development, flexible in the face of many moving parts in a non-stop world, and many other workplace nightmare scenarios.

Halloween is right around the corner. Why don’t we all be our well-balanced, trusted, authentic selves this year?

Developing our emotional intelligence at any and all levels:

  1. Provides an ability to use our emotions to better understand what is going on with our team members and how to best motivate them to achieve the work objectives.
  2. Provides us with tools to understand the emotions of our work partners, customers, and stakeholders to build strong relationships that will provide a fertile environment for a successful outcome.
  3. Helps us to appreciate the importance and timing of courageous truth-telling.
  4. Helps us anticipate and recognize some of the breakdowns that occur with people on a team and how to best avoid or deal with them.
  5. Helps us recognize the fine line between dealing with conflict and dealing with bullies or narcissist personalities.

These five reasons will help improve our ability to hire and manage people as well as managing overall growth.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” ~Charles Darwin

EI leads to greater adaptability. Really.

Be better and brighter.


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