Emotional Intelligence Quick Book, The
[SSC-273268]

This book is what its title implies. It is a quick overview of what emotional intelligence (EQ) is all about. For many years it has been known that there was more to being successful than just one?s intelligence scores. Over the years people have been trying to tease out what those other factors might be. The authors suggest that besides intelligence, personality and emotional intelligence play key roles. There is some overlap between the three factors, but these are only minor.

Only recently have we been able to get a picture of what is happening in the brain with MRI imaging. However, there have been naturally occurring accidents and diseases that knocked out certain functions of the brain that have given scientists some clues. The authors describe how a man survived a piece of steel piercing his brain, and how it affected his ability to make decisions. He could rationally figure out the pros and cons of each option, but he couldn?t decide which was best. His ability to tap into his emotions to make decisions was impaired.

Unless trained to do so, most of us just respond emotionally without giving pause to the consequences. Basic EQ is just good manners that your parents constantly reminded you about. (?Say ?thank you? to Grandma for her gift.?) Ann Landers and Dear Abbey have made careers out of telling people how to act.

The authors divide EQ skills into: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. (Goleman has five factors: self-awareness, mood management, self-motivation, impulse control and people skills. When reading EQ literature you will find that almost every book has its own list of EQ factors.)

As a result of investigation into EQ it is found that there is a high correlation between success and EQ, while IQ is relatively unimportant. The book quotes statistics proving the authors? point. You need a basic level of intelligence and technical skill to do your job, but to be truly successful, you need to have high EQ skills. While IQ is relatively fixed for life, you can dramatically improve your EQ skills with training.

To help people improve their EQ skills the authors have developed an Emotional Intelligence Appraisal that people can take on line. The book give the web site and a key that you can use to take the test. I took the test but was not impressed with it. It asks a series of 28 questions that ask you to evaluate your performance in each of the four areas. You get the test free with the purchase of the book. You can take the test again but have to pay a $20 (US) fee. The idea being, you can go back later for a fee to see how much you have improved.

The problem with the test is that it asked you to evaluate yourself on such questions as: how socially aware are you. If you knew that, why do you need to take a test? It makes a good check list, but it really doesn?t objectively determine your EQ. The test can be taken as a group so that you get 360 feedback, i.e. other also rate you as you rate them. This is better, assuming that you haven?t picked your worst enemies as your evaluators. I have been using Test Your Emotional Intelligence by Robert Wood and Harry Tolley. It has a series of tests that gives situations with multiple choice responses. Even here it is possible to figure out the best response even though that is not the one you actually use.

The rest of the book gives lots of examples of good emotional responses, even within your intimate relationships and as parents.

The book does give a good overall picture of emotional intelligence as an introduction but is not really meant as a training manual for the individual or a leader.

The authors? company TalentSmart do have EQ related materials, including Emotional Intelligence PowerPoint (see separate review), for leaders as well as their own EQ certification program.


Jack Falt (Idealist, Authentic Blue, Chart-the-Course, INFJ, Ennea-9) leads an ongoing group in Ottawa called Appreciating Differences that studies temperament, interaction styles, cognitive processes, and the enneagram, applying them to a wide variety of topics. He was a former board director of OAAPT and writes many of the book reviews for their newsletter Tell~A~Type. He can be reached by e-mail at jfalt@trytel.com