The Importance of Emotional Intelligence at Homeland Security

Daniel Goleman describes emotional intelligence as "the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and for managing emotion well in ourselves and in our relationships (Goleman, 2000).” Goleman goes on to explain that emotional intelligence can be broken down into two core competencies. These competencies include personal competence and social competence. Personal

The book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, provides an alternative approach to how a person achieves success. This book does not focus on the conventional determinant of success, such as formal education and training, experience, and intelligence level (IQ). Although all these components contribute greatly to ones achievement of success, these factors are not the only factors to be considered in whether a person will be successful or not. This book focuses on the concept that it refers to as emotional intelligence (EQ), which is one’s ability to recognize and effectively understand his/her emotions in a productive and rational manner.

Emotional intelligence is the ability of a person to recognize and assess their, and others’ emotions. It enables an individual to distinguish between the different sentiments they exhibit and being able to label them. The theory of Emotional Intelligence (EI) was originally developed by psychologists Howard Gardner, Peter Salovey and John Mayer. Later, a science journalist, Daniel Goleman identified and came up with five domains of emotional intelligence:

Two psychologists, John Mayer and Peter Salovey, first introduced the concept of “emotional intelligence”, or EI, in a journal article in 1990 (Goleman, 2005). It was then popularized in 1995, with the book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman. Goleman posited that EI is as important, if not more important, than IQ in terms of success in academics, business, and interpersonal relationships (2005).

With the publication of Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence in 1995, the business world got an answer to a question that had been plaguing it for decades: “Why did some people of a high IQ struggle at managing teams while other leaders of lower IQ excel at it”? Goleman asserted that the traditional measurement of IQ (intelligence quotient) was not enough to determine a good leader. Schools and universities concentrated on developing the cognitive and analytical part of the brain, while the teaching of how the emotional side of the brain worked was ignored. Goleman defined this “emotional intelligence” of a human being as a set of competencies that distinguish how one manages

This paper will examine the author’s current strengths and weaknesses associated within the emotional intelligence skills which are: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management, and a number of associated competencies such as self-control, adaptability, and self-confidence by analyzing the author’s Emotional Intelligence Appraisal. The paper will provide the audience with an action plan for each emotional intelligence skill which needs improvement and will consist of a number of strategies that will improve the author’s overall emotional intelligence skills.

Emotional Intelligence as defined by Satterlee in Organizational Management and Leadership: A Christian Perspective is “the ability of an individual to detect emotional cues and adapt his or her feelings and behaviors accordingly. Emotional intelligence consists of five dimensions: self awareness, self management, self motivation, empathy, and social skills.”

Emotional intelligence; also referred to as EI or EQ, is defined as, “a skill in perceiving, understanding, and managing emotions and feelings” (n.d.). The way I express myself, interact with others, demonstrate emotions and deal with stress on a consistent basis may lead to a high EQ, or low EQ, depending on my actions. I was able to take a self-assessment on the McGraw-Hill/Irwin website that provided a score for my emotional intelligence with specific areas of strengths and weaknesses included. Overall, I scored 87 out of 100 possible points, which ranks my score considerably high. Based on my results, I faired well in regards to understanding and managing my emotions in all areas of my life. Understanding emotional intelligence, and achieving a high score in similar assessments, may lead to rewarding results in many facets of life’s daily tasks and interactions. A person, who has developed a high emotional intelligence, will keep their emotions under control, strengthen relationships with those around them, and know their limitations.

As human beings, individuals are constantly exposed to emotions. It is in our nature to feel and be emotional as our emotions contribute to our humanity. Our ability to manage and be aware of these emotions and that of others is defined to be our emotional intelligence (Boyatzis, 2014). Essentially an individual’s emotional intelligence is related to how that individual handles themselves and their relationships in an emotional sense. This entails the ability to display emotional self-control, adaptability, empathy, and understanding for the emotions of others and of one’s self (Boyatzis, 2014). In relation to project management, emotional intelligence is strongly believed to correlate to effective management whist also acting as the foundation for all relationships. The key concepts surrounding emotional intelligence and its contribution to effective leadership is its association to an individual’s ability to not only inspire and motivate but to develop relationships, make decisions and effectively resolve conflict.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one’s own and others feelings and emotions to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action. (Salovey & Mayer, 1990)

“Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage our emotions and those around us, therefore, this quality gives individuals a variety of skills, such as the ability to manage relationships, navigate social networks, influence and inspire others. Every individual possesses different level, but in order for individuals to become effective leaders, they will need a high level of emotional intelligence. In today’s workplace, it has become a highly important

Emotional Intelligence is defined as a ‘type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, to discriminate among them and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions’ (Salovey and Mayer, 1990: 189). According to Goleman (2001), ‘emotional intelligence comprises of 4 key components which are, Self

The book “Working with Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman deals with the emotional assets and liabilities of individuals in organizations. Emotional intelligence is traits that go beyond academic achievement or IQ. As a matter of fact he points out that high academic intelligence can sometimes stand in the way of emotional intelligence. Broadly speaking, emotional intelligence determines how well we handle difficult situation, which cannot be solved by logic, but more by a “feel” for the situation. These attributes are very hard to measure, which is why many standardized tests, whether academic or for employment, fail to measure these attributes, even though these are the one which determine

In this write-up, attempt is made to provide conceptual clarifications on the subject matter, “Emotional intelligence”, an overview of the theories of emotional intelligence, including a brief discussion about how important the role of emotional intelligence can be in leadership, performance (both educational and work place settings) and in wellbeing.

This paper is aimed at evaluating my own emotional intelligence while subsequent parts of the paper will discuss how this emotional intelligence affects other aspects of human life like business, religion and politics. In this part of the paper, I will reflect on and demonstrate the skills and the knowledge needed to enable one to accurately see and understand the emotional strengths, weaknesses and nuances of other workers at the workplace.