Working with Emotional Intelligence

Rating:
Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: Daniel Goleman followed up his bestselling classic Emotional Intelligence with this equally classic sequel that focuses on how emotional intelligence is applied in the workplace. Insightful and richly detailed, Goleman's work educates and inspires without ever sounding trite or sappy, like some annoying quick-fix scheme. If you are leadership bound and think success is all about strategy and technique, this will provide some very useful insights into what people really think about managing and being managed. The most intriguing sections focus on the application of emotional intelligence at work, but it would be pretty useful at home, too (if we could just get out of the office). If you think that you don't need to be more aware of the emotional undercurrents all around you, we warn that you need to read this most of all.

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Summary: The definitive work on the subject
Review: Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, has been a big buzzword lately. In the wake of Enron and Worldcom, it's obvious that brilliance is not enough. So what is?

This book is a practical manual for how to apply emotional intelligence at your workplace. It is written by the godfather of the field, which is the source of it's credibility. This book is more applied than his prior work (Emotional Intelligence) and a little easier to understand and apply than his latest work (Primal Intelligence).

Coming out of reading this, you should have an understanding of the difference between analytical and emotional intelligence, as well as how to define and measure competencies in the latter. Additionally, you should have ideas on how to apply this in your team.

Although it's very practical in nature, the book is based by solid research. Goleman is a researcher at Case Western, and his research passes several levels of academic rigor. (Think of it as similar to "Good to Great" in that light)

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Looooooooong and repetitious
Review: I read and read and read and read and, well you got the point. I think is too much of the same. It is very strong the first half, but the other half took discipline to finish.

Rating:
Summary: A mostly excellent application of previous ideas
Review: Since the publication of Daniel Goleman's first book, Emotional Intelligence he has generated a remarkable industry around the topic. In this book from 2000, Goleman applies the ideas of his previous book to the workplace. Why should executives bother with this soft stuff? According to research cited by Goleman (see the summary in Appendix 2) almost all of the abilities that distinguished stars from average performers were emotional competencies. While pattern recognition and "big picture" thinking were correlated with outstanding performance, cognitive abilities in general - above a certain threshold - did not have significant correlation. "Emotional intelligence" refers to a set of competencies that characterizes how people manage feelings, interact, and communicate. Building on previous work by others, Goleman characterizes emotional intelligence as being founded on five personal and social competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Empathy, and Social Skills. Each of these five is further analyzed into 12 personal and 13 social competencies such as Accurate Self-Assessment, Self-Control, Initiative, Developing Others, Influence, Conflict Management, and Building Bonds.
Unlike IQ, we can continue to improve emotional intelligence. Working With Emotional Intelligence is not a how-to book in the usual sense. It will help any executive understand the importance of EI in all its diverse aspects as well as showing examples of strong and weak EI in individual and organizational contexts. Improving is not easy work. Goleman explains the neurological basis of much of EI, including the role of the amygdala (which can make us impulsive and which affects our resilience under stress) and its interaction with the prefrontal lobes (which together also affect the ability to adapt to change), and the role of the catecholamines adrenaline and noradrenaline (which allow us to distinguish good stress from bad stress). Goleman looks at "empathic design" (p.139ff) and the contagious effects of emotions on groups, among other important applications in the workplace. He also provides a three-page list of "Guidelines for Emotional Competence Training". Although parts of Working With Emotional Intelligence will strike you as the obvious dressed up with stories, you can extract some important information by scanning through this book. In an age of record levels of job stress (according to an October 2002 study), any words of wisdom on this subject deserve a hearing.

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Summary: The emotional competence framework
Review: The author suggests five competencies in which we can manage ourselves:

Self awareness (Emotional Awareness, self-accessment, self-confidence)

Self Regulation (Self-Control, Trustworthiness, adaptiblity, innovation)

Motivation (achievement driven, commitment, initiative, optimism)

Empathy (understanding others, developing others, service oriented, politically aware),

Social skills (influence, conflict management, leadership, catalyst, building bonds, collaboration and cooperation, and team).

The book's frame-work focuses on the five competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Empathy, and Social skills.

I liked the personal stories illustrating the positive effects of soft skills. The storie sources came from friends, associates, and research cases.

I disliked the conclusions drawn from the stories suggesting confidence in cause and effect of EQ results.

I liked what Dr Goleman was advocating about the importance of people skills: social radar, arts of influence, and collaboration and teams.

I disliked lack of detail methodology to achieve the desired results. I felt there was too much contrast between IQ verse EQ. The book provides a strong case argument for an investment in Emotional Intelligent.

One shocking point the author makes early in the book, states that the top 1 percent of the Emotionally Intelligent in the IT field are 1200 percent more productive. I would have liked to read more cases studies about these observations and conclusions for his study. That statement alone sparked a ton of curiousity about EQ. I'm very interested in learning how effective IT managers are in accessing the emotional needs of their employees and customers and how to implement EQ to improve performance.

I disliked the lack of practical application. There was a disconnect between converting ideas of EQ into action. I felt the book focused too much on the principles of EQ, rather than the practical application of EQ. Basically he did not effectively answer the question, " How can I uses the EQ in my job to make a difference." I didn't get the opportunity to say "cool EQ works for me"

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: This book is rather long and boring. It presents much of the same information found in "Emotional Intelligence", and fills much of the rest of the space with vague generalization and even some indefensible platitudes like "the bigger the group, the higher the group IQ". However, despite the annoying tendency to run-on and assert vague and pleasant-sounding but questionable filler, the book contained enough "aha!" paragraphs to be a worthwhile read. There are some gems in this one, as long as you don't mind sifting through the sand.

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Summary: I read both and picked the Quickbook
Review: This book was recommended to me as a resource for emotional intelligence in the workplace. I was looking for something to give to managers here at my company and I also puchased the recommended title on this page, The Emotional Intelligence Quickbook. Working is alright and I can see how it was a good resource when it came out in 1998, but The Emotional Intelligence Quickbook is more up to date and far more practical. It also worked well for us because it comes with a free emotional intelligence test online.

Rating:
Summary: Success is based on how you apply emotional intelligence
Review: This is a wonderful book, and is truly an insightful look at what helps us to be successful in leadership positions in the workplace. The old model of senior management was based on owning all the information and knowledge and being able to understand what everyone does in fine detail, and was often the "promoted-up-through-the-ranks" type of leader. But with modern business involving so much change, and constantly shifting market demands and organizational structures, what worked well yesterday will not move the organization or your career ahead tomorrow.

The author uses as a platform the work on Emotional Intelligence, which unlike typically defined intelligence, focuses on the ability to apply emotional and inspirational information in a variety of social settings and through a vast array of relationships. It is this ability he concludes that predicts success in today's workplace.

Among the areas of discussion are five competencies in which our ability is revealed. The first is "Self Awareness" which includes emotional awareness, self-assessment, and self-confidence. How many times have we worked for or with someone who could not control their emotions and lacked the self awareness to understand how their actions impacted those around them? The importance of balancing performance while exhibiting the values of the organization through a positive culture has never been more in need. Many who have the intelligence to do the work, lack the emotional intelligence to build the relationships and culture needed to get the work done through others. The book explores these pitfalls and discusses suggestions for change.

The other areas are similar: "Self Regulation" (self-control, trustworthiness, adaptability, innovation), "Motivation" (achievement driven, commitment, initiative, and optimism), "Empathy" (understanding others, developing others, service oriented, politically aware), and "Social Skills" (influence, conflict management, leadership, catalyst, building bonds, collaboration and cooperation, and teamwork).

All of the five competencies are presented well, with examples and suggestions for improvement. Some reviewers have noted the lack of "scientific" type of analysis, but I feel that misses the point. The first hurdle to overcome if one wants to be as successful as possible is a basic awareness of the importance of interpersonal skills, and building strong working relationships with others. The opportunity for a purely autocratic style to operate in today's business is rare and therefore the majority of those leading businesses will need to focus on how they apply their EQ, not just their IQ.

This book does an excellent job at presenting what EQ success looks like and why it is important. It is not a step by step manual for improving one's business success, as that would ironically be an IQ approach. The book instead is a great eye-opener of the importance of emotions, and how we read others and interact with them. Highly recommended, and a great starting point for improving your ability to lead others in today's business environment.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Book For Academics
Review: While I found this a helpful and inspiring book, the academic and statistician in me found parts of it hard to take. In a popular book like this there is usually little detail about studies and methodology. But if there had been, it would have been a much more painful read and I would be complaining about that instead. Studies or not, though, much of it is just good common sense and rings true with my own experience of myself, other people, and the workplace. It is a well-written reminder of the qualities that distinguish people who are merely intelligent from those who are both influential and intelligent.

It seems to me that the concept of "Emotional Intelligence" might be better called "Emotional Competence," another term Goleman uses often and one that better distinguishes the qualities he is discussing from what we usually talk about as "intelligence" or "intellect."

For an older take on some of those qualities, readers might check out Aristotle's discussion of "magnanimity" in the Nichomachean Ethics. Emotionally competent people will be self-aware, self-controlled and self-confident to the extent justified; they will be highly ethical, trustworthy, and honest; they will be motivated; and they will be empathic and take genuine interest in the needs of others. (Aristotle might have some reservations about that last, and add that you need to walk slowly and speak with a deep voice.)

Goleman does not deny the importance of conventional intellectual or conceptual skills, but points out, as most of us have seen in our workplaces (and homes) that the ability to understand or come up with an idea is not always accompanied with the motivation and self-discipline to translate an idea into effective action, or to inspire or persuade others to help make that happen.

Academics in particular might benefit from this book--if they can willingly suspend disbelief--as a resource to improve teaching and advising and to work more effectively on research teams. The structure of college and university environments sometimes allows the emotionally incompetent more success than they deserve, but would probably also benefit more than other workplaces from faculty and administrators who can master the lessons of this book.