Emerging Research on Emotional Intelligence

Every month, I share matters close to my heart, stimulating ideas, and some useful tips and leads – all having to do in some way with emotional intelligence. Think of this as news to use.

Let's dive in...

Entrepreneurs Prosper With Emotional Intelligence

Which matters more for success in a startup: your IQ or your people skills?

Both matter to some degree, of course. But a massive study of more than 65,000 entrepreneurs found their emotional intelligence seems the key to their success: emotional intelligence was twice as important as their mental ability, according to an article the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.?

Of course any entrepreneur needs adequate cognitive smarts to master the field their business is in. But emotional intelligence matters even more.

There are several ways emotional intelligence can be particularly important for an entrepreneur’s success.

For instance, research at Harvard Business School finds that employees are higher performing on days they are focused and engaged, feel good, and connect well with those they work with.

In my new book Optimal: How to sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence we build on this, showing why and how emotionally intelligent leaders are able to create the workplace environment where great days are more frequent.

On the same hand, studies at Yale show that the mood of a group or team goes up or down depending on the mood of the leader, as does their effectiveness as a team. This matters, of course, because entrepreneurs’ success depends to a large extent on the excellence of their team.?

Third, there’s how you react to the inevitable setbacks and obstacles any entrepreneur encounters along the way. Managing your own turbulent emotions is a key part of emotional intelligence.

The entrepreneur who can keep his or her upsets under control while marshaling a positive outlook can radiate a contagious calm and help everyone keep their eye on the goals that matter most.

Last, the second half of emotional intelligence – empathy and social skills – means an entrepreneur can network smoothly and lead that all-important core team more effectively. Being a leader who inspires everyone else means people will give their best for you. And as every entrepreneur knows, handling relationships skillfully makes success more likely.

Onward...

Why We love Bosses Who Tune In to Us

What marks a boss whom people want to stay with?

According to a recent survey of more than 1000 working men and women by consultancy Ernst & Young, a large majority of employees (More than 80%) say empathy from their boss boosts their morale, efficiency, creativity and innovation, job satisfaction, collaboration, and productivity – and this, in turn, seems to boost company revenue and lower turnover.

This aligns with the findings from a more detailed study of how people feel at work, done by researchers at Harvard Business School.

Those findings, which I summarize in my new book Optimal , show that people’s best days at work spawn more creative thinking, satisfaction, productivity, good feelings and positive connections with their co-workers – pretty much the same list.

A key hidden factor here: whether people love or hate their boss. When I’ve asked business groups around the world to describe one quality of a boss they liked or despised, being empathic was one of the main distinguishers.? If you feel your boss understands you and your feelings, you feel more connected -- and in turn, all the benefits these studies found will be more likely.?

But there’s another reality at play: whether or not you trust your boss to care about you.?

In the Ernst and Young survey , while a leader’s empathy was found crucial, a majority of workers also said they distrusted a boss who seemed to empathize but didn’t show in their actions that they cared – for example, by following through on promises.?

Next Up...

Bonus Q&A: EI for Leaders, Teams, and Organizations

When Optimal launched last month, my co-author Cary Cherniss and I hosted a live reading and Q&A via Zoom to celebrate the book’s release.?

In case you missed it, here’s the recording from that webinar (passcode is 7u.@i.+R).

We received so many thoughtful questions from you, and unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to address them all.

Thank you for taking the time to submit your questions. We decided to record a Bonus Q&A to address them. And we’ll share our insights as a three-part video series.

Here’s the first one focused on emotional intelligence (EI) for leaders, teams, and organizations. Stay tuned for part two: developing and practicing EI.

And Also...

Upcoming Events and Podcast Appearances

I love sharing — and learning about — emotional intelligence and well-being with other advocates, thought leaders, and practitioners.?

Want to stay connected and engaged?

Here’s what I have coming up this month:

• EQ Live with Joshua Freedman: The Era of Uncertainty. Register here to join me and my long-time colleague, Joshua Freedman of Six Seconds, in a lively dialogue about global trends, EI, and insights from Optimal on February 15.

• Living a Joyful Life Summit. In this free 5-day event that starts February 21, I’ll join presenters such as Jack Kornfield, Maria Shriver, Dan Harris, Tami Simon and more in sharing tips and best practices for achieving greater life satisfaction, boosting well-being, and aligning with purpose and meaning.

• Podcast Features: I’m also looking forward to in-depth conversations as a guest on the Briefings Podcast, Intelligence Squared , CultureCode , Positive Leadership Institute , and more. Stay tuned for when these episodes go live.?

To Close...

Recommended Reading

• Becoming Gandhi: My Experiment Living the Mahatma's 6 Moral Truths in Immoral Times by Perry Garfinkel
• Wherever You Go, There You Are (30th Anniversary Edition) by Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Leading to Succeed: Essential Skills for the New Workplace by Wagner Denuzzo