Coming soon · Book Profile
Working with Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence, not IQ or technical expertise, is the most crucial factor for achieving star performance and leadership success in any job.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
In a rapidly changing world of work, the old rules for success no longer apply. This book reveals the new yardstick by which we are all judged: emotional intelligence. Drawing on decades of research from hundreds of organizations worldwide, Daniel Goleman makes a powerful and data-driven case that personal qualities like self-awareness, self-control, empathy, and social skill are far more important for excelling at work than raw intellect or technical know-how. He argues that while IQ and expertise are threshold competencies that get you in the door, it is emotional competence that distinguishes star performers from the average, especially in leadership roles. The book provides a clear framework of 25 emotional competencies, illustrates them with compelling real-world stories, and offers a scientifically-grounded new model for how anyone can learn and develop these vital skills to boost their career, improve their organization, and find greater fulfillment in their work.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- An ambitious and intelligent professional, manager, or leader who wants to excel in their career and become a top performer.
- The problem
- Despite having strong technical skills and intellect, their career has stalled or is not advancing as quickly as they'd like, and they see others who seem less qualified get ahead. They feel frustrated, confused, and undervalued, suspecting there's a hidden set of rules for success that they were never taught.
- The plan
- Understand why emotional intelligence is twice as important as IQ and technical skills for star performance.
- Learn the 25 specific emotional competencies that differentiate top performers.
- Assess your own strengths and weaknesses in these crucial competencies.
- Follow a new, proven model for learning and developing your emotional intelligence.
- Apply these skills to become a more effective individual, team member, and leader.
- The payoff
- Becoming a star performer who is recognized and promoted for their effectiveness. · Developing into an inspiring and highly effective leader who builds successful teams. · Navigating organizational challenges with ease and confidence.
See our guide
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Additional reading
- The Nicomachean Ethics · Aristotle
It provides the philosophical challenge that frames the entire book: the quest to manage our emotional life with intelligence.
- Frames of Mind · Howard Gardner
The book's theory of multiple intelligences, particularly the 'personal intelligences,' is cited as a key precursor to the concept of emotional intelligence.
- Civilization and Its Discontents · Sigmund Freud
Referenced to illustrate the historical and societal need to enforce rules from without to subdue and domesticate our inner emotional excesses.
- Learned Optimism · Martin Seligman
The research on optimism and pessimism as explanatory styles is central to the chapter on motivation, showing how a positive outlook contributes to success.
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience · Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The concept of 'flow' is presented as the ultimate state of harnessing emotions in the service of performance and learning, representing emotional intelligence at its best.
- Bowling Alone · Robert Putnam
Cited as an acclaimed analysis of the fraying American social fabric and the decline in 'social capital,' providing a societal context for the book's concerns about social corrosion.
- I and Thou · Martin Buber
The book heavily uses Buber's philosophical distinction between 'I-You' (authentic connection) and 'I-It' (objectification) as a central framework for understanding the quality of relationships.
- The Prince · Niccolò Machiavelli
Provides the historical and philosophical basis for understanding the 'Machiavellian' personality type, one of the 'Dark Triad' of socially malevolent characters discussed in the book.
- A Secure Base · John Bowlby
Bowlby's foundational work on attachment theory is central to the book's discussion of how early parent-child relationships create a 'secure base' that shapes a person's relational style for life.
- The Roots of Evil · Ervin Staub
This book, by a psychologist who designed reconciliation programs in Rwanda, is cited to explain the psychological forces that lead to genocide and the 'Us vs. Them' mentality.