Emotional Intelligence

I know I've touched on this before but it's worth revisiting.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict.

AKA Interpersonal/Intrapersonal Intelligence.
Attributes of Emotional Intelligence include:

Self-awareness – You recognize your own emotions and how they affect your thoughts and behavior, know your strengths and weaknesses, and have self-confidence.
Self-management – You’re able to control impulsive feelings and behaviors, manage your emotions in healthy ways, take initiative, follow through on commitments, and adapt to changing circumstances.
Social awareness – You can understand the emotions, needs, and concerns of other people, pick up on emotional cues, feel comfortable socially, and recognize the power dynamics in a group or organization.
Relationship management – You know how to develop and maintain good relationships, communicate clearly, inspire and influence others, work well in a team, and manage conflict.

Folks who lack Emotional Intelligence? Donald Trump and his ilk, the idiots that I briefly worked for at a small print company fall into this boat too (Pro Tip: Smiling when you tell me that I’m a lazy slag is NOT a motivator AND, given that I was working faster and with greater accuracy than most of your other employees, makes you look even more stunningly clueless and breathtakingly fatuous).

We’ve all had a boss, co-worker, friend, relative and/or acquaintance who just can’t seem to make a point without bellicose insult, without sneering condescension.

Telltale signs that you lack emotional intelligence from the Harvard Business Review:

• You often feel like others don’t get the point and it makes you impatient and frustrated.
• You’re surprised when others are sensitive to your comments or jokes and you think they’re overreacting.
• You think being liked at work is overrated.
• You weigh in early with your assertions and defend them with rigor.
• You hold others to the same high expectations you hold for yourself.
• You find others are to blame for most of the issues on your team.
• You find it annoying when others expect you to know how they feel.

I’ve one addition to that. You feel that everyone should write, behave, believe and emote just like you.

There’s a list of things at the link that you can do, should you recognize yourself in any of the above points.
Being an emotional dumbfuck doesn’t doom you to failure. After all, there are many forms of intelligence. There are ways to make up for this lack, like the blind person who has more finely tuned hearing or the deafie with higher visualization skills. BUT being self aware and able to control your outbursts will, sure as Bast made little black cats, get you a lot further in this long life.

Emotional Intelligence—GET SUM!

Words for the Day:
Bellicose: adjective—inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile; belligerent; pugnacious.
Pugnacious: adjective—inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent; combative.
Self-Aggrandizement: noun—increase of one's own power, wealth, etc., usually aggressively.