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The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

You Can’t Get These Odds In Vegas!

Imagine you’re in Las Vegas on business and as you walk through the casino of your hotel you notice a colleague motioning to you. He pulls you to the side and says that he knows a simple way to raise your odds of winning on any game from about 2% to 85%. Interested or at the very least intrigued? What if I told you about a strategy to increase your probability of personal and professional success up to 85%…would you be equally interested? If so then let me introduce you to Emotional Intelligence.

WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is our ability to handle ourselves well and to relate to, and interact with, others effectively. According to Daniel Goleman in his book, Emotional Intelligence, EQ is the most important indicator of a person’s success. He states that, “On average, close to 85 percent of a top executive’s success in leadership is attributable to Emotional Intelligence.”

No other element or combination of elements has ever proven more predictive of long-term success. Across all organizations, but especially in positions of leadership, an accurate measure of emotional intelligence among employees can literally mean the difference between a company’s success and failure.

THE FOUR DOMAINS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

  • Domain 1, Self Awareness includes the competencies of emotional self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, and self-confidence.

  • Domain 2, Self-Management includes the competencies of emotional self-control, transparency, adaptability, achievement, initiative, and optimism.

  • Domain 3, Social Awareness includes empathy, organizational awareness, and service.

  • Domain 4, Relationship Management includes inspirational leadership, influence, developing others, being a catalyst for change, conflict management, and teamwork/collaboration.

Mastery of these four domains starts with a healthy dose of self-examination and evolves through personal and social competence as well as empathic listening.

CASE STUDIES

A multinational consulting firm measured the EQ of senior partners on emotional intelligence competencies. Partners high in EQ were responsible for $1.2 million more profit each in their clients than low EQ partners. High EQ partners showed a 139% gain in profit (Boyatzis, 1999).

US Air Force reduced recruiter turnover from 35% annually to 5% annually by selecting candidates high in emotional intelligence. Total cost savings of $3 million per year on a $10,000 investment (GAO Archive).

THE MARRIAGE OF EQ AND BUSINESS

“In the fields I have studied, emotional intelligence is much more powerful than IQ in determining who emerges as a leader. IQ is a threshold competence. You need it, but it doesn’t make you a star. Emotional Intelligence can.”
— WARREN BENNIS, RENOWNED LEADERSHIP PIONEER, AUTHOR AND RESEARCHER

Emotional competence makes the crucial difference between mediocre leaders and the best. On average close to 90 percent of a CEO’s success in leadership was attributable to emotional intelligence. To sum it up: emotional competence is twice as important as purely cognitive abilities.

To learn more about how to measure and develop your Emotional Intelligence, contact Marc Schwartz at 214-906-6571.