It’s hard to overstate the importance of Emotional Intelligence (EI). And even harder to say precisely how much it influences our success in navigating situations, relationships and careers. Daniel Goleman – one of the godfathers of EI responsible for its popularisation in the 1990s – explains it matters more than IQ in such realms as love and leadership. He knows a thing or two about EI, so let’s agree EI matters – a lot!
We have seven big ideas about EI for you in this booklet. At the back there are links to things you can read, watch or listen to if you want to dig deeper. But before you dive in, here’s a simple summary of what EI is all about:
A set of emotional and social skills that influence the way we:
› perceive and express ourselves
› develop and maintain relationships
› cope with challenges, and
› use emotional ‘information’ effectively