Companies care about emotional intelligence more than technical knowledge (cognitive intelligence), but why?

The answer is hidden in the definition of “Emotional Intelligence,” which means to be able to recognize, express, and control your emotions. It also includes the ability to work with others.

Recognizing and controlling your emotions is not for drama but to understand what influences your feelings and how you can channel them for the better. For instance, you can use your fear to know if you successfully get of your comfort zone, and the same fear can also tell if you are too far from your comfort zone, which might hurt more than benefit. People who comfortably get out of their comfort zones will succeed more than those who don’t. Emotional intelligence, hence, can help significantly in this journey.

Those with high EQ will be better technically than others, but why? Simple:

  1. They will take criticisms better, which helps them with technical growth.
  2. They will take on more challenging tasks, which helps them with technical growth.
  3. They will explore unknown territories of products or domains, which helps them with technical growth.
  4. They will work with others to learn from them, which helps them with technical growth.

There are possibly more reasons. But, also these people work better with others, and it is requisite for today’s world as the problems we solve increasingly get more complex; therefore, it is getting harder for one person to be the hero of the day.

Let’s get back to the book. How can you increase your self-awareness, which improves your EQ tremendously: A straightforward way is to keep a journal of behaviors you want to change.

One quick tangent here. Our subconscious can be refined with suggestions, and it is our subconscious that affects us the most. The good news is that it cannot distinguish the real from the imaginary. Thereby, we can suggest behavioral changes to our subconscious by imagining them. For example, if we are scared, we can imagine different behaviors we could exhibit in the same situation, and the subconscious won’t notice if the stimuli are coming from imagination or the real world.

This tangent is because constantly keeping a journal of our behaviors and suggesting ourselves different behaviors will gradually change our internal responses to certain situations for the better.

Emotions represent the strength of the signal of our message. To increase the strength, the message must be wrapped in the right emotions. EQ will help you determine the right emotions because as you master your own emotions, you will be better understand how others feel, which leads us to empathy.

Empathy will also help us create a stronger connection with others. As you treat them by incorporating their emotions into your actions and reactions, it will open doors in people’s hearts that are closed when it is only the reason you knock on.

When teams are operating with EQ, they will be more creative. Creativeness requires a more comprehensive look at the world that includes emotions and reason and an honest attitude to the weaknesses and strengths of one’s character. Also, working with others will give you different perspectives that will boost your creative thinking.

I recommend everyone the proper understanding of EQ. We recommend the engineers w/o calling it EQ but more under the umbrella of “soft skills.”