It is not Intelligent Quotient; it is all about Emotional Quotient – because a 4.0 will never be enough

As an ideal college graduate, your Intelligent Quotient, or IQ, differentiates you from the bottom 90. But the truth is that Emotional Quotient, or EQ, plays a more prominent role. The book “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” underlays EQ practices that this article discusses.  

Emotional intelligence is essential for effectively corresponding with project management conflicts. It provides skills necessary for the economic market. EQ is divided into two categories: self-competence and social competence. 

Self-competence has to do with one’s self-awareness. Self-awareness is not limited to knowing fun facts and the history of your life, going beyond being familiar with your emotional responses. Emotions have patterns and trigger points that we can recognize to understand ourselves. It also has a logic part that explains the occurrence and origin. Awareness of your emotions increases the probability of not being easily influenced. As written in Emotional Intelligence 2.0, “83% of top job performers exhibited high self-awareness.”  

Self-competence also includes self-management. What you are aware of is what you can control; self-awareness leads into self-management. Self-management is determined by “what happens when you act or do not act?”  In a workplace environment, our reactions are formal and composed. The intervention of robust emotional responses hinders our ability to manage. Self-management teaches control over impulsive reactions and tendencies. It promotes logical overreactions. When there are more prolonged intervals between reaction and response, more self-management is involved. As written in Emotional Intelligence 2.0, “Managing tendencies over time and applying skills in a variety of situations.” Self-management gives us space to practice leadership skills such as observations and confidence, a fundamental component of EQ. 

Social Competence, on the other hand, focuses on others rather than the self. Just as self-competence stems from self-awareness, social competence stems from social awareness, a necessary skill for influencing others. Notice how your role model has a tremendous amount of influence. The key to being influenced is by being involved in the happenings of daily life and circumstances. Leading and initiating situations require active listening and observing. The more you listen and observe, the more you can pick up on emotions and decide in advance how to respond and react. As written in Emotional Intelligence 2.0, “Social awareness is your ability to accurately notice emotions in other people.” It is insightful to point out how observations should not lead to overthinking and overanalyzing. No one needs to become a fortune teller to be emotionally intelligent. Emotionally intelligent people are better at interpreting motives and actions. No element of prediction or control is involved. 

Both self and social competence must be acquired to gain an elevated level of emotional intelligence. A focus shift from intelligence to emotions can be discomforting but discomfort requires not to be ignored or suppressed. We should leap into our discomfort and feel all emotions to become more self-aware. Acknowledging and feeling all your negative emotions is also one of the strategies to gain self-competence. It requires feeling all uncomfortable emotions in terms of recognizing them mentally but also looking for physical cues that occur subtly. As written in Emotional Intelligence 2.0, “You are physically aware of an emotion long before you mentally are.” Next time when you get triggered by unreasonable questioning or mean remarks, recognize your physical reactions by taking a closer look at your muscle tensions. 

Our strengths are in our ability to respond and react efficiently to influence rather than to be influenced, which contributes to enhancing our emotional intelligence. It is not IQ that will set you apart, but more so your ability to utilize your intelligence with your emotional intelligence that will demonstrate your true potential.