EI is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence has been defined as ‘’the ability to control and express our emotions’’ as well as ‘’the ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others.’’
Dr. Daniel Goleman, a famed psychologist who has written extensively about emotional intelligence, has indicated that for the most part, women have higher emotional intelligence than men. However, he insists that it’s not as black and white as we may imagine. He outlines the fact that several studies suggest that women are on average better than men at being empathetic and that when it comes to managing distressing emotions, men have proven to be better.
Because women tend to be better at emotional empathy than men, they are able to build rapport and chemistry with people easier – particularly in a work setting. As a result, it’s of the utmost importance that men are aware of the importance of emotional intelligence. Dr. Goleman and other psychologists stress the importance of not pigeon holing a person simply based on their gender – everyone is different.
Being emotionally aware is essential in all areas of your life. The more empathetic and understanding you are, the stronger your relationships will be. According to a recent study, emotional intelligence is responsible for 58% of your job performance. It’s also financially rewarding to be emotionally intelligent – the same study revealed that those with high levels of emotional intelligence make $29,000 more every year than those with a low EI. Davitt Corporate Partners created the infographic below that details all the areas in which a high EI affects your life. It also gives us some tips on how we can develop our emotional intelligence. Let’s take a look!
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Image courtesy of the author.
I don’t know who keeps spreading the notions that women are better at communicating – it doesn’t jibe with anything I have met in my life. From the patented memes that I am just supposed to know what is going on in her head without words – that is usually wrapped in a guilt bomb ( if you loved me you would know ….) to the passive aggressive bullsh#t that they pull when an argument is not in their liking to the office politique backslash in the corporate world. All of these I have only ever witnessed from women –… Read more »
Looking at it from the female perspective, which is like a cat trying to teach a dog to meow. The female is far more emotionally expressive, more emphatic then the average male. They are also, often, over the top emotional, while men tend to be less. it works to their favor sometimes, their disadvantage at other times – same as it does for us. That is not a dysfunction for men, it is nature for them, unless we judge them by the standards of another sub-group, and we know what we call that. We just seem to exempt ourselves from… Read more »
Amen to speaking our truth and being authentic, for ALL of us, it’s not us against them, it’s US with US.
We just all have to learn to be ourselves, to take off our masks, get real, come with respect and honor, be willing to listen, open our hearts, create safety, and do the dance from a conscious place, and start letting go of all these old stereotypes, we are SO much bigger than the past, and SO ready to step up our consciousness.