Emotional intelligence, it’s a term that sounds….well….it sounds intelligent. But why should we know about emotional intelligence? What does it have to do with us? Isn’t this something that only scientist have to deal with, I mean it sounds so scientific and uninteresting! Well, that’s what I used to think, but recently I read an article about emotional intelligence and it was quite fascinating. I realized it’s really important for us to be aware of what emotional intelligence is, and how it affects basically every aspect of our lives, especially our careers.

Unless you live in a cave, in which case, you wouldn’t be reading this blog post, you will be affected by your emotional intelligence and the emotional intelligence of everyone you come into contact with. Of course, the most dramatic and direct effect will be with the people in your immediate family, co-workers and close friends. So what exactly is emotional intelligence? According to Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer, leading researchers in the field of emotional intelligence since 1990, emotional intelligence is the ability to control your feelings and emotions in a way that guides your thinking and actions.

You may be wondering what all this has to do with you and why should we know about emotional intelligence. Well consider this; everyone has a certain emotional intelligence. If you understand how a person’s emotional intelligence can affect how they react to people, this knowledge can help you understand why this person behaves in a certain manner.  Take for example your workplace. Have you ever wondered why some people seem to get along with everyone and other people cannot get along with anyone at all. Once you understand that how we are able to deal with our moods and emotion varies depending on what type of person we are, it is plain to see why some people get along so well in the workplace and others do not.

Research has shown that intelligence plays a large role in a person’s professional success. It can also play a huge role in their lack of success. It is also worth noting that just because a person has advanced into a high level management position does not mean that they have high emotional intelligence. Why should we know about emotional intelligence? Well, haven’t you ever worked for a boss who sometimes sounds like a two-year-old or four-year-old having a temper tantrum?  You are dealing with someone who has a low emotional intelligence. Having this knowledge does not always make it easier to work with this person, but at least you can understand why they are acting this way.

So why should we know about emotional intelligence? Because having this knowledge can help you deal with people you are working with and it can also serve as a reminder to yourself regarding having a proper attitude in the workplace. For example, if you work for a person who has high emotional intelligence, this person will be levelheaded, calm, and not prone to outbursts.  If you have low emotional intelligence, meaning you are unable to fully control your emotions, how long do you think it will be before your manager will get tired of dealing with you?

This happened just recently and the company my husband works for.  There was a woman who could not get along with anyone, she was cantankerous, argumentative and on top of that was not able to complete her work satisfactorily. The end result was that she ended up being getting fired. If her emotional intelligence had been more developed and she had been able to control her emotions, she would have been successful at her job and would never have been fired.

In closing, a question you should ask yourself is, “Do I get along with most people at work?

Need Theories

Championed by Abraham Maslow, the famed Hierarchy of Needs describes a pyramid of motivating needs that must be met before advancement to the next level, starting with physiological needs such as breathing, water, sex and food (though not necessarily in that order!), then safety needs such as warmth, shelter and security.

photo courtesy of Guillaume Brunet, Flickr

The pyramid continues upwards with love and belonging needs, through esteem, and capping out at self-actualization. A self-actualized person is someone whose “regular

Intelligence is an extremely broad subject. What we colloquially refer to as “intelligence