I'm intelligent, aren't I?

There’s a new breed of intelligence in town. Forget those reels of doctorates and PHD’s and expertise. Business is about building relationships, communicating, working well with others on projects, and being adaptable.

As organisations are focusing more on retaining talent and driving employee engagement the talk of Emotional Intelligence (EI) is becoming hotter.

Research points to EI leading to higher levels of motivation, confidence, focus, as well as building positive business collaboration.

EI focuses on five areas which can impact your career as well as your personal life. It focuses on the ability to recognise and control one’s self-awareness, self-management, motivation and resilience, empathy and relationships.

So why don’t more business invest in educating and embedding this in the everyday culture?

And why do so many companies focus on it when you are thrust into a role of management or leadership as if it only matters to them?

And does the new business professional even know what this talk of Emotional Intelligence is all about and why it’s important to them?

If someone had given me a speedy lesson on the importance of Emotional Intelligence very early on in my career, who knows what wonders could have unfolded for me.

Looking back, I did not think about how my emotions had a direct result on the impression I left and the ability to build powerful, rewarding and collaborative relationships.

Shouldn’t we be supporting everyone to attain those levels of Emotional Intelligence as the new norm?