Emotional intelligence: The new science of interpersonal effectiveness

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the newest branch of psychology. It has perhaps broken all records of growth in the field of behavioral sciences. Academically, it has become the research focus of some of the world’s leading psychologists. In business, it is growing into a multimillion dollar training industry. Multinational corporations and the world’s giant industrial groups are realizing that emotions play an equally important role as intelligence in enhancing corporate performance. Daniel Goleman, who popularized the concept, argues that the contribution of emotional intelligence to effective performance at work is as much as 66 percent for all jobs and 85 percent for leadership jobs (Goleman, 1995). Research output from industry also shows considerable support for the concept. Management practitioners all over the world, however, are only beginning to understand what EI is, how EI develops in a person, and what tools, techniques, and methods are available to develop emotional intelligence. The pages that follow explain the current insights on EI derived from both academic research and feedback results received from EI trainers engaged in emotional intelligence training.