January 25

Those of you who can do math will notice that this is before my second class. I just did the homework assigned for it. We had to read a 9 page piece about "emotional IQ" which the LAS website referred to as EQ. The piece was written with three columns per page, like a brochure. This layout makes me a little annoyed. They're having us read a brochure? It's too long to be a brochure, though. Anyway, we have to post on the discussion board about this. The button labeled "Post a New Discussion Topic" gave me pause, but, since it was the only button, I assumed this was how we were supposed to post our mini essay. Our prompt was this:
"What Makes a Leader? Emotional Intelligence, or EQ.


How can you tell if someone has high emotional intelligence? How can you recognize it in yourself?


Provide two examples of instances when you have witnessed (in yourself or in others in your daily work or school life) those skills described as integral to the concept of Emotional Intelligence (as defined by Goleman reading). Give one example of self-management skill, and one example of relationship management skill. Be very specific as to how the example relates to specific components of Emotional Intelligence (self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy or social skill).


Come to our next class prepared to contribute these examples (or others) as part of a discussion on Emotional Intelligence."

It's entirely possible that I took a screen-shot of the webpage with this prompt and edited it using Paint.

Paint is the editing program of kings and the king of editing programs.

Also, it may seem that we're saving paper by posting these online but we are also required to bring our musings to class, on a laptop or on paper. Laptops are heavy, so I'll be printing mine. I'm figuring most others will be too.
Anyway, I'm sure you're all wonderfully curious about the reading itself. It was "What Makes a Leader?" by Daniel Goleman. While I was reading, a few things caught my eye.


"How can one recognize self-awareness?" This question makes me sad that someone decided this brochure was worthwhile to read.

"There is an old-fashioned word for the phenomenon: maturity." I was unaware that maturity was old-fashioned. Perhaps I should refer to it as Goleman does in the previous sentence, “Emotional intelligence increases with age.” Then again, I think I'm not emotionally intelligent enough to want to give up my word. I'm not old enough for that yet.

"That story illustrates two other common traits of people who are driven to achieve. They are forever raising the performance bar, and they like to keep score." We should all keep score. About everything. Ever. This is emotional intelligence.

"As anyone who has ever been a part of one can attest, teams are cauldrons of bubbling emotions." Especially those teams with women on them! People are so difficult with their emotions and their needs...

"Social skill, rather, is friendliness with a purpose: moving people in the direction you desire, whether that's agreement on a new marketing strategy or enthusiasm about a new product." Silly me. I thought social skill was being well versed in interacting with people. It's a good thing I read this article and learned my mistake.

"That doesn't mean they socialize continually; it means they work according to the assumption that nothing important gets done alone." If people look like they're working alone, they will not get as much done as if you help them. They love it when you stand about an arm's length away, squinting at their computer screen and offering helpful advice when they mess up.

"For instance, socially skilled people may at times appear not to be working while at work." Clearly, socially skilled people are working even when they're joking and seem to be becoming closer to people around them. Secretly, they don't like anyone and every smile, every laugh is forced and painful

"It would be foolish to assert that good-old fashioned IQ and technical ability are not important ingredients in strong leadership." This seems to almost contradict everything else this brochure has said. Almost. I'm glad they told us this flat out. Wait a minute. I thought we weren't being old fashioned. What happened to that?

In closing, there were several pictures in this brochure and many of them looked creepy.  It was almost like someone wasn't using emotional intelligence to empathize with the viewers of the pictures.