Values at Work - Emotional Intelligence
Copyright Jack Mixner. 714 449 1040. www.mixnerstrategy.com
Cooper focuses on recognizing and improving your emotions at work. He hypothesizes that better emotional control and understanding will lead to greater success at work and in life.
An interesting tool in the back of his book lets you score yourself and decide what needs more attention. Point of view is important. This is work related, although it appears that applying what you learn about your work environment will improve your life overall. Personal pressures and emotional literacy play a large part.
The values section (Cooper, page 337) is useful. Three statements are:
- "I can see pain in others even if they don't talk about it.
- I am able to read people's emotions from their body langauge.
- I act ethically in my dealings with people."
You grade yourself from it describes me very well to it describes me not at all.
Strategic Implications
What's the value of all this? Understanding yourself is a good first step. Understanding the needs of your team is a useful second step. Put them together with an understanding of your customer, and you will likely feed the growth of your company. Not a bad goal if you think about it. All it takes is understanding, patience at the right time and responding using not only intellectual intelligence, but emotional intelligence as well.
Reference
Cooper, Robert K. and Ayman Sawaf. Executive EQ Emotional Intelligence in Business. Orion Business Books. 1997.