A cogent defense of the benefits of emotional intelligence.
A guide for developing emotional competencies.
In his fifth book on the topic of emotional intelligence, Goleman teams up with psychologist Cherniss, co-founder, with Goleman, of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. This time, the authors draw on a “rich research bounty” to present their understanding “of the competencies that translate emotional intelligence into effective action,” within families, communities, and organizations. The authors distinguish between “flow,” which they characterize as a heightened state of full absorption, and an optimal state, which they describe as an experience of “feeling good, agility in solving dilemmas as they present themselves, and full attention on what we’re doing.” In an optimal state, an individual draws on the competencies of EI: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social interaction. Emphasizing the value of EI in the workplace, the authors have found that it serves individuals in many occupations, including selling, conducting research as part of a team, coaching and mentoring, teaching, working in health care, and providing technical support. “Every company (and every family, for that matter) represents a unique culture, which includes its particular ways of referring to the EI skill set,” they write. “But there’s surprisingly wide agreement that everyone needs emotional intelligence.” Business leaders have revealed that they prize EI as much as cognitive ability, creativity, and a strong sense of purpose. Drawing on scientific studies and anecdotal evidence, the authors offer guidance for developing EI, such as managing stress, developing resilience, and, especially, boosting one’s capacity for empathy. Emotional empathy, they assert, is at the heart of EI. The authors recognize that EI has become integrated in much literature focused on effectiveness, engagement, and thriving at work. Readers already familiar with the authors’ previous works, or similar self-help books, will find no surprises in this latest reminder.
A cogent defense of the benefits of emotional intelligence.Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9780063279766
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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