E.I VS. I.Q... B.S?

Emotional Intelligence (EI).

The HR and OD professionals whose paths I have crossed throughout my career, when presented with the term, either smile acceptingly, or furrow their eyebrows in disgust. The fact is (or seems to be) that the business case for Emotional Intelligence has been made over and over again for the past 10 years and is likely linked to positive organizational outcomes.

There have been times where perceiving the emotions of a manager, colleague or employee had been so glaringly clear to me, while others in the room remained oblivious to these signs and messages - at times, behaving in ways that exacerbated the already tense emotional environment.

I felt like Ray Kinsella standing in my cornfield wondering why nobody else can see the 1918 White Sox playing baseball. Do they just not see it?

This speaks to the great divide in human abilities that lies between the head and the heart - or more technically (as put by Daniel Goleman), between cognition and emotion.

The concept of EI is not a new one. In 1943, Wechsler wrote,

"The main question is whether non-intellective, that is affective and conative abilities, are admissible as factors of general intelligence. (My contention) has been that such factors are not only admissible but necessary. I have tried to show that in addition to intellective there are also definite non-intellective factors that determine intelligent behavior. If the foregoing observations are correct, it follows that we cannot expect to measure total intelligence until our tests also include some measures of the non-intellective factors."

In 1990, Salovey and Mayer coined the term Emotional Intelligence, and described it as,

"a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and action."

Since then, countless studies have related EI with work performance. Like anything, EI ought not to be the sole measure used to predict performance, but some have deemed it to have far more importance than IQ or technical expertise in a management or leadership role.

I certainly agree that a persons ability to manage their own emotions and identify and perceive the emotions of others provides the foundation for the social and interpersonal competencies that are critical for success in almost every job.