Seventh Sense - Reviews

Why do many professionals sometimes stop in their careers as head of department, while others - also far from stupid, but more open to the world - take one career after another? Or does one person constantly fail in his personal life, while the other quickly creates a happy cell of society?

SENSITIVE AND SUCCESSFUL

It would seem that there are two people with a high IQ level, similar external data and education, but life goes on differently. Things are not going my way? Fate? There is always an excuse, but not everything is so simple. In 1995, Harvard professor Daniel Golemanintroduced the concept of "emotional intelligence" in his book of the same name (EQ) - a factor that affects our lives no less than intelligence in its usual sense. According to the American, "emotional intelligence is a person's ability to interpret his own emotions and the emotions of others in order to use the information received to realize his own goals." That is, in order to resolve a particular situation in life, it is important to take into account not only the logic of events, but also feelings, emotions - our own and others'. It is difficult to argue with this, in our time, the one who feels the mood of others is more likely to be considered smart, who knows how to find the right word at any given moment.

But what about those who don't have high EQ levels? The author suggests developing it by observing your emotions, trying to remember the situations in which you experience them. It will take time, of course, Goleman says. But it takes the same time to become wise, which is a characteristic trait of a person with developed emotional intelligence. One cannot but agree with the author on this. In any case, the book is worth reading if only because Goleman was the first to loudly proclaim EQ. It is written rather lightly and is addressed mainly to those who aspire to become a leader at work, which, in general, is quite typical for a society brought up on careerism in the spirit of the "American Dream".

THINK ABOUT BAD

For those who like to study the subject thoroughly, the authors of the book "Emotional Intelligence 2.0" Travis Bradberry and Gene Greaves have identified four components of this concept - two intrapersonal characteristics of a person and his social competence, which affect the level of EQ. The first is the ability to remain receptive to your emotions and to control the details of your behavior. And the other two are social sensitivity (sensitivity, empathy, etc.) and the ability to manage relationships with people.

Intrapersonal characteristics are important in order to be able to most clearly assess your capabilities in certain cases, to understand what motivates you in a given situation and how (with the help of what people, actions) to most accurately influence these motivational “buttons”. And self-management is the idea of how you will react in the situation proposed by life in order to positively and flexibly manage your emotions. At the same time, self-management in the field of emotional intelligence is not just the ability to suppress your explosive emotions when something annoys you. According to the authors, returning to emotions that cause discomfort helps to better master them. That said, "you must be willing to accept the discomfort associated with focusing on potentially negative feelings." Although there is still, in my opinion,it is necessary to separate cutlets from flies: some people will really benefit from this concentration, while others - with a weaker nervous system - will just grab the machine. The authors are confident that even thinking about the nature of self-perception already raises your EQ level. The rather dry text of this book with numbers, diagrams and tables dilutes the comparison of data on measuring the EQ level of people and what colleagues say about them. The latter, as it were, confirm the thoughts of the authors that emotional intelligence really plays an important role in how others perceive you. At the end of the book, the authors provide several strategies for building relationships with people correctly. It's easy to test them yourself. Despite the fact that some of them will seem "sycophant" and "overly pretentious",they work great and do not make the subject suspect you of pursuing specific goals.

HARMONY ME AND WE

Jeanne Craig's book “Emotional Intelligence. Think, calculate, win "against the background of the first two, it seems written for a wider circle of readers. Simple vocabulary and focus not so much on winning leadership at work, as for building harmonious relationships, first of all, with yourself and the people around you in everyday life. In her opinion, in life “we are faced with the action of two opposite forces: the desire to develop our own I and the opposite desire - to be part of the group. When I develop my I, what I want, who I am, is revealed to me … I develop my talents and interests, I follow my whims and desires. When the power has the opposite direction, I want to become part of a couple or a group, so I am faced with the need to know what you want, negotiate, cooperate, make compromises. " It is precisely this balance of interests with the help of various practical advice (some of which,however, they may seem banal and well-known, such as not leaving unfinished business for later), this book teaches aphorisms and cases from life. After reading it, it becomes clear with the help of what actions to develop your EQ and become a successful person in professional, social and personal life. The only drawback of the book is that it does not teach how to motivate yourself for these actions, how to force yourself to manage your emotions and not get annoyed over little things. And this is perhaps the most important thing in our life.how to motivate yourself for these actions, how to force yourself to manage your emotions and not get annoyed over trifles. And this is perhaps the most important thing in our life.how to motivate yourself for these actions, how to force yourself to manage your emotions and not get annoyed over trifles. And this is perhaps the most important thing in our life.