How many times have you encountered a person who seemed to always have high strung emotions? You know who I’m talking about; the ones who relate every stressful situation back to their own feelings, regardless of the relevance. The ones who simply cannot take constructive criticism from anyone, no matter how necessary it is. The ones who are ready to dish out a slew of insults at every opportunity, but feel unjustly attacked if the recipient responds in kind.
When you think about how to describe those kinds of people, successful is rarely a word that comes to mind. These people tend to be needy and difficult to get along with. They tend to be unmotivated and lacking in consideration of others.
As it turns out, statistically, the most successful people are those with a high level of emotional intelligence. Unsurprisingly, emotionally intelligent people embody the characteristics opposite to those mentioned above. An emotionally intelligent person is empathetic; they can understand others’ feelings and see how they’re responses might affect others. They are self-regulated; they do not let their emotions control them or their responses. They are self-aware; they understand their own emotions, strengths, and weaknesses and they take responsibility for them. They are motivated; they receive feedback and work to improve on their shortcomings. Finally they have excellent social skills; they get along with others and make great team members.
Not only are emotionally intelligent people more desirable to be around, but they also make up 90% of high performing employees and the vast majority of successful leaders.
