"Emotional Intelligence" - a Myth That Damages Leaders, Leadership Training and Maybe You as Well

I first wrote on this subject 6 months or so ago. Since then, my views have changed quite a lot. I now feel more than concerned that the whole concept of "EI" is doing much more harm than good. It's (for the most part) a tool for - perhaps genuinely motivated - 'experts' that is swallowed unthinkingly by HR departments, leaders and others... to their detriment. Although not to the detriment of the experts of course,

Common sense and DATA are simply swept aside in the righteous rush to 'do the right thing'. Hardly anyone looks at the facts that are accessible to anyone who is actually bothered to take the time to think and analyse before acting. I'd be prepared to bet that 90% or more of those who are involved in the EI business have REALLY read the information that's available.

Below are some quotes and references that might make them (and you) pause before accepting as the unbridled truth what almost certainly isn't a really accurate picture.

If you really want to 'do the right thing' for those you influence, those you lead and also yourselves then spend just a few minutes and then a few minutes thinking.

Thanks Mark

“The few incremental validity studies conducted on EI have shown that it adds little or nothing to the explanation or prediction of some common outcomes (most notably academic and work success).”

(Landy, F.J. (2005). "Some historical and scientific issues related to research on emotional intelligence". Journal of Organizational Behavior. 26: 411–424.)

'“(EI) Measures conformity, not ability” or “Knowledge, not ability”'

(Roberts, R.D.; Zeidner, M.; Matthews, G. (2001). "Does emotional intelligence meet traditional standards for an intelligence? Some new data and conclusions". Emotion. 1: 196–231.)

“In an academic exchange, Antonakis and Ashkanasy/Dasborough mostly agreed that researchers testing whether EI matters for leadership have not done so using robust research designs; therefore, currently there is no strong evidence showing that EI predicts leadership outcomes when accounting for personality and IQ”

(Antonakis, J. (2009). "Emotional intelligence": What does it measure and does it matter for leadership?. In G. B. Graen (Ed). LMX leadership—Game-Changing Designs: Research-Based Tools (Vol. VII) (pp. 163–192)”

“(EI) Measures personality and general intelligence – some research suggests that ability EI measures might be measuring personality in addition to general intelligence. These studies examined the multivariate effects of personality and intelligence on EI and also corrected estimates for measurement error (which is often not done in some validation studies). For example, a study by Schulte, Ree, Carretta (2004)*, showed that general intelligence (measured with the Wonderlic Personnel Test), agreeableness (measured by the NEO-PI), as well as gender could reliably be used to predict the measure of EI ability.”

(*Schulte, M. J.; Ree, M. J.; Carretta, T. R. (2004). "Emotional intelligence: Not much more than g and personality". Personality and Individual Differences.)

“Socially desirable responding (SDR) – ‘faking good’ - is defined as a response pattern in which test-takers systematically represent themselves with an excessive positive bias. This bias has long been known to contaminate responses on personality inventories.”

(Holtgraves, 2004; McFarland & Ryan, 2000; Peebles & Moore, 1998; Nichols & Greene, 1997; Zerbe & Paulhus, 1987 – full references not available)

“Research of EI and job performance shows mixed results: a positive relation has been found in some of the studies, while in others there was no relation or an inconsistent one”

(Joseph, D.L.; Jin, J.; Newman, D.A.; O'Boyle, E.H. (2015). "Why Does Self-Reported Emotional Intelligence Predict Job Performance? A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Mixed EI". Journal of Applied Psychology. 100: 298–342)

“Scientific inquiry depends on valid and consistent construct utilization, and that before the introduction of the term EI, psychologists had established theoretical distinctions between factors such as abilities and achievements, skills and habits, attitudes and values, and personality traits and emotional states.[58] Thus, some scholars believe that the term EI merges and conflates such accepted concepts and definitions.”

(Locke, E.A. (2005). "Why emotional intelligence is an invalid concept". Journal of Organizational Behavior. 26 (4): 425–431)