EQ - Emotional Intelligence: Its Importance to Economic Recovery

Previously, we examined the importance of the Thinking side of Leadership. With that established, we are now going to formalize it by calling it EQ, or emotional intelligence. Since many others have discussed it's importance, it justifies its own topic here.

One of the most important things learned from The Great Depression of the 1930's was that attitude was crucial. FDR went so far as to say that economic recovery was impossible without emotional recovery.

Noted Economist Alan Beaulieu in a recent webinar said we must, "lead with confidence and optimism, with the attitude that we can beat this business cycle." Nick Tasler of TalentSmart stated, "Peoples ability to control and use their emotions effectively is a profound indicator of their business success." It is estimated that 58% of an individuals job performance is attributed to high EQ.

In a recent study, TalentSmart found that, "70% of the most skilled business decision makers also score in the top 15% in EQ." They also found that leaders with a low EQ not only rank among the lowest, but also fail to recognize that their judgement is being tainted by their impatience, anger, or other strong feelings.

Let's compare traits of high & low EQ people:

Low EQ people tend to:

Speak out of frustration, even when it won't help the situation
Avoid others when bothered or stressed
Deny ownership of their emotions and their impact on their thinking
Instead of listening when they are challenged, they become defensive
Become task oriented instead of people focused
Ignore tension, hoping it will go away

High EQ people tend to:

Only speak out when it will help the situation
Keep lines of communication open even when frustrated
Accept ownership of their emotions and others' affect on them
Stay open to feedback & criticism
Show others by their actions and attitude that they care
Embrace the challenge of tension and facilitate positive expression of it

With all this in mind, what in general should we do?

Focus on emotional recovery by:
1) Being aware of our emotions
2) Set a positive tone
3) Show that we care

Now that we've sufficiently prepared for taking our organization through the proper steps to economic recovery with the proper EQ, we'll next examine the actions, or Doing side.