Emotional Intelligence – Why it can matter more than IQ – Daniel Goleman – Review
Let me start with a bunch of case studies which will showcase the importance EQ carries in our day to day life, the pressing question however is, does it weigh well over the IQ component.
A successful advocate known for his compelling arguments and
high win percentage towards his clientele gets a tumour detected on his right
hemisphere. He undergoes a surgery to get the tumour removed along with a
certain portion of amygdala. In theory, it shouldn’t disturb his life a great
deal since the primary function of amygdala is towards detection of threat and
the subsequent flight or fight response. However, the advocate lost complete sense
of decision-making to a point wherein he couldn’t even decide fixing
appointment given a choice of dates. His IQ had compelling reasons for and
against both the dates which led to an endless indecisive swing between both the
dates. With just a small portion of EQ removed, IQ proves to be useless.
Let's take the case of Bell labs, which is world’s renowned scientific think tank
who hire engineers and scientist with top academic IQ. However, only 5% to 10%
of their resource pool happen to have exceptional output while the rest fall in
the average range. The reason points out to the fact that those with high social
skills develop a cordial relationship amongst their peers and outside their
group as well. When they needed support or critical information, the colleagues
or higher ranked resources were open to reciprocate while the low EQ engineers who lacked the relationship skill ended up being frustrated
on lack of support leading to an underperformance.
Bobby Crabtree’s real life story is also an interesting case
to understand wherein better emotional response could have avoided a disaster. Bobby
got back home late in the night and heard noise coming out of his wardrobe.
Assuming an intruder into his house, he picked up his gun and slowly moved towards
his wardrobe with his index finger firmly wound around the trigger. When he quickly opened the door, he
heard a scream and someone pounce on him. His primitive fight or flight reaction
took over in a fraction of a second and he pulled the trigger at close range
killing the victim. Ten seconds later his life turned upside down when he
realized that the shot killed his own daughter who was trying to play a
prank against him. Bobby wasn’t awarded any punishment but the guilt is enough
to drain him all his life.
During Vietnam war, American platoon was hunkered down on a
paddy field with a range of machine guns and weapons positioned for a bloody
fight. At the height of their tensions, six monks stepped on the berms and walked
straight towards the troop, exposing themselves in full but in absolute calm state
of mind. The most surprising aspect of soldiers reactions is that not a single round of
fire was shot at the monks, in fact the proclivity to fight was totally lost amongst
all soldiers atleast for that day. Clear evidence that emotions can be contagious
even though it’s contradictory.
An experiment with rats showcased a critical trait that’s pretty
much a buzzword in the 21st century, it’s called stress. A bunch of
rats where put in a cage and given electric shocks, post which their brain activity
pattern was observed. Extremely high levels of activity was witnessed in the right
hemisphere which is an evidence of stress. In a second scenario, one of the rats was
provided with a button that can be used to turn off the electric shock not just
for it’s own cage but for all other cages as well. When the brain’s activity pattern
was scanned in the changed scenario, the rat that had control to switch off
showed significantly lesser stress while the rest of the rats still exhibited
high levels of stress. In essence, stress is an outcome of a painful situation
with no control towards it.
A study was conducted on a group of 4 year old kids who were
given one marshmallow each and instructed to wait until their parents returned.
With a temptation infront of them and no one to oversee, only a few kids chose
to delay their gratification while the rest happily munched on the candy. As
the kids grew up and aged past their mid 30’s, the one’s who had the temperament
to delay their gratification invariable had a successful career.
Daniel Goleman discusses about mitigating information and
cognitive incapacitation during anger. He touches upon self efficacy in
successful sportsmen who have managed mastery over life’s events and a range of
emotional traits that can be contained or enhanced as per need.
During Daniel’s pitch towards emphasis on EQ rather than IQ,
he provides a deep statement that certainly resonates, “An individual who is
aware of his feelings is a better pilot of navigating life and equipped to take
better decisions right from jobs, choice of friends or partner. “
A lot of good takeaways but the book could have been concise
or brief with certain portions proving to be a drag. Moreover, the contribution
of exercise, yoga and meditation towards superior EQ is clearly missed.
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