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Hi Team,

The countdown begins, only four weeks till Christmas!

This week I would like to explore a topic that my generation (Baby Boomers) is not exactly well known for excelling in, Emotional Intelligence or EQ for short. But luckily us Boomers are good learners and EQ is the biggest and most prolific subject area for "Self-Improvement". There are literally hundreds of books specifically written about EQ.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively and it directly affects everything we do in life. EQ can be broken down into four main capabilities,

1. Self-awareness, the ability to read and understand our own emotions and to recognise our own strengths and weaknesses. Also, having a positive level of self-confidence.
2. Self-management, having self-control and the ability to manage our own disruptive emotions. Also, the ability to motivate ourselves.
3. Social awareness, having empathy and the ability to read other people’s emotions and social situations. Knowing what is appropriate and acceptable behaviour in a range of social settings and in different organisations.
4. Social skills, this is the big one! Self-leadership, how effectively you communicate and your ability to manage conflicts and de-escelate disagreements. Also, how harmoniously you get along with others?

For me EQ is particularly important when I am recruiting new employees, and this is something that I have struggled with over many years and in trying to grow DDB. This is where the question "is EQ more important than IQ?" comes in and this question has become a hotly debated topic in many media channels and publications.

"Emotional intelligence is not the triumph of heart overhead. It is the unique intersection of both." 
 David Caruso

So, it turns out that both EQ and IQ are equally important and to be a high performing person in any field of endeavor you must have equal measures of Intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence. But this is much easier said than done; so next week I will outline several ways that we can all improve our EQ and also look at why "narcissism is the enemy of emotional intelligence".

So until next week,
"Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel", Unknown.

Thanks for reading and have a great week (with hopefully less extreme weather!)
David.