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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