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The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Business

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The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Business

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2410603
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02/04/2024, 09:24 The Importance Of Emotional Intelligence In Business

FORBES LEADERSHIP

The Importance Of
Emotional Intelligence In
Business

Nov 25, 2020, 07:20am EST

GETTY

The reason a high degree of emotional intelligence is increasingly


valued and sought-after by employers and individuals is that it
has such a deep impact on everything a person does. It’s a way of
thinking and acting that allows one to be more aware
andunderstanding of all those around him or her, leading to
better and more beneficial actions and interactions.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/11/25/the-importance-of-emotional-intelligence-in-business/?sh=28610d094525 1/5
02/04/2024, 09:24 The Importance Of Emotional Intelligence In Business

Whatever your field, station in life or situation, there is no one


that heightened emotional intelligence cannot help. In business,
academia and our personal lives, an improved EI can have a
profound effect. For those looking to create ongoing changes in
life and business, dedicated work on emotional intelligence is a
key element in transformation, not only for themselves but for
those around them as well.

What are emotions?

Before going on to a discussion of how we improve our emotional


intelligence, let’s talk about emotions.

Emotions are processes. They are functions of the brain having


three separate components: awareness, experience and response.
The basic characteristics of emotions include:

• Sometimes visible on the face.

• Often caused by external or internal stimuli, such as receiving


good or bad news, or internally, such as recalling something from
the past.

• Production of physical changes — either energizing or draining


— in the body.

• Facilitators of communication as visible cues signal what a


person is feeling which helps others to understand what is going
on.

When we begin to experience an emotion, physical changes in our


bodies take place. Those changes are typically physical responses
to an opportunity or threat. My favorite example — and
potentially experienced by everyone in business — is sweaty
palms in response to delivering a speech or meeting some
important person.

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Our responses — like sweaty palms or even pupil dilation — are


independent of our conscious control. We can’t manage them. It
is only after the results of those involuntary responses manifest
themselves as feelings that we become aware of them, e.g., feeling
frightened as a result of experiencing the emotion of fear, etc.

Physical responses and our reactions to them enable us to


respond to stimuli in whatever fashion might be appropriate
under the circumstances. This is all governed by our individual
experiences, cultures, education, genetics and other factors. It
should go without saying that because we are all products of
different experiences, not only is it common for individuals to
experience the same stimuli with different intensities, but also to
respond differently to the same stimulus.

Small animals and other less sentient beings who respond to


stimuli only in a visceral manner can survive and thrive in a
perfectly satisfactory manner without making the leap from
emotions to feelings. For humans, however, our emotions,
feelings and memories all affect how we see the world, how we
live — and work — as well as how we plan for the future. Thus we
need to use all the tools at our disposal to become aware, monitor
and regulate our emotions and feelings. This means that
emotional intelligence training is obligatory for the person
seeking to enjoy a fully-lived, well-planned and managed life.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/11/25/the-importance-of-emotional-intelligence-in-business/?sh=28610d094525 3/5
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The History Of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence, to a greater or lesser degree, has, of


course, existed as long as there have been people. However,
awareness of what defines emotional intelligence is of fairly
recent origin. Exploration of the idea began as a part of trying to
determine how emotions can help us think and make decisions.
Thus instead of separating emotions from cognition, the
relationship between the two was recognized and emotional
intelligence began to be seen as an integral part of problem
resolution and decision making. With the advent of MRIs, we can
actually see these changes taking place in the brain as it receives
and responds to stimuli.

Early on, researchers realized that emotions and cognition had to


be viewed holistically so as to achieve a balance between the two.
One of those researchers, Daniel Goleman, introduced the term
emotional intelligence in his book Emotional Intelligence: Why It
Can Matter More Than IQ. Not only was Goleman a pioneer in
popularizing the term, but he also promulgated the now widely
accepted view that emotional intelligence, although based on
hard science, is a soft skill that with practice can be measured and
improved. As a result, untold multitudes of people have studied
emotional intelligence in order to better understand their own
feelings as well as those of others, improve awareness generally,
and acquire better and more reliable information. The application
of the practice extends to the business world.

This practice requires the power of our minds and a great


demonstration of that power can be found in Tahitian culture. In
this culture, the emotion of sadness does not exist. Tahitians of
course experience all the same feelings as the rest of us. However,
for whatever reason, but undoubtedly associated with their

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culture, when they experience the emotion of sadness, it does not


result in feelings of sadness. Instead, the feeling they experience
is akin to the kind of fatigue the rest of us associate with having
the flu. They have trained themselves not to experience the
feeling of sadness, even though they certainly do experience the
emotion of sadness. They simply translate it differently.

What all this shows us is that feelings are constructed and thus
can be manipulated and managed. However, without emotional
intelligence training, few of us consciously do this. What little bit
of it that occurs is either learned or not learned in a hit or miss
fashion from our parents and other influential individuals as
we’re growing up and going through life.

Understanding how emotions are constructed widens your


horizon of control. By understanding your own emotions as well
as those of others, you empower yourself to act in a proactive
manner rather than a passive one in order to select among several
different responses to stimuli. This can help you in your career as
well as your life overall. When you realize that your brain is using
your past to construct your present, you can invest energy in the
present to cultivate new experiences and thus have a dynamic
impact on your future.

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