Emotional Intelligence 2.0

Book Review

A book by the title “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” is written by Dr. Travis Bradberry and Dr. Jean Graves. The authors are well known for their contribution to the field of emotional intelligence, as they have written numerous books, including the prequel to the current book, which is under review. They are also founders of a company called TalentSmart, which offers consultant services for numerous globally renowned companies and also conducts researches, some of which are referred in the current book. They take readers through an expedition, as they highlight and reflect the concept of emotional intelligence (EQ), which is a critical factor in the attainment of professional and individual success. The authors define emotional intelligence as an ability of people to identify, consider, and control their emotions as well as to recognize such emotions in others, and this ability appears as a result of combining self-awareness, social-awareness, relationship management, and self-management. The book extends beyond the information, which was presented by the previous edition, through the provision of a history and an outline, as it focuses on the encouragement of the reader to make an application of strategies in different areas, including self-awareness, personal management, management of relationships, and social awareness. The authors create a path that will enable readers to become aware and make strategies on the inclusion of an EQ plan format and a test.

The critical skills have been described by the authors in detail. They described self-awareness as an ability of individuals to make accurate perception of their emotions at a given moment, and understand their tendencies across diverse situations. It includes a situation, in which individuals remain in control of their typical reactions to different events, other people, and challenges. Bradberry adds that it is vital for people to have a keen understanding of their tendencies, as it assists them in providing quick sense of emotions, Rather than discovering deep and dark secrets of a person, it assists in developing of an honest understanding of what provokes an individual feeling. Self-management relates to whatever takes place when an individual acts or fails to act. It depends on self-awareness and it is the second major part of the personal competence. Similar views are raised by Chin, Anantharaman, and Tong, who state that self-awareness is an essential aspect of the personality of any individual. It is a person’s ability to use their awareness of emotions to remain flexible and to direct their behavior towards positive acts. It means that one is able to manage their emotional reactions towards different people and situations. Social awareness involves listening well and observing the occurrences around them. It involves interacting with others and getting a good sense of what others are feeling or thinking. Finally, there is relationship management, which is the ability of a person to use their emotions and those of other people in order to manage interactions successfully. It is also involves building a bond with other people.

The authors state that emotional intelligence is a foundation of critical skills. It promotes the ability of people to control their emotions. They add that approximately two thirds of people in the world are controlled by their emotions. They start by giving an example of a man, who fights a shark in order to save his life. Due to the man’s fear of the looming danger of being eaten alive, he becomes paralyzed and fails to fight back. However, if by chance he was given time, he would make a decision to retain control of his brain and consequently would regain control of his body. Consequently, his life would be saved. The technical nature of emotional intelligence is best described through a biological approach. It involves a journey that includes five senses of the human beings, and sends electric signals that have to travel through the body to the brain. These signals go through the body to the brain until they get to the spine, which is the entry to the brain. The authors go ahead to explain the movement of the signals in the brain until they get to the frontal lobe, where reasoning rationalism takes place. As such, they conclude that emotional intelligence entails ensuring that the feelings do not control the reactions prior to the moment, when brain gets an opportunity to fully process the information.

The authors give a description, involving a number of steps on how one can improve their EQ, which begins with taking a test that they have included on page 56 of the book. One ought to select a skill that they would like to improve, followed by the selection of three strategies. In addition, Shirkani is also in an agreement with them, because he states that one should find a mentor, who is well skilled in the specific area of their weakness. Moreover, they should remember the three Ps, which are progress, practice, and patience. The three Ps are also described by Tasic, Mohoric, and Duran. Finally, one should monitor the improvement, retake the test, and develop a new plan to improve another skill. According to the authors, emotional intelligence is the single largest predictor of the performance in a workplace, and it is also the strongest leadership and personal excellence motivator. 

The book is a must read for professionals and other individuals, who seek to improve their emotional intelligence. It has a number of advantages, among which is a fact that it is brief and focuses on the point, as well as that it comes with an authorization code to take an online assessment. It also assists the reader in the development of their own emotional intelligence action plan. Another advantage is that the book includes a brief review of the five core human emotions, and the manner in which they change in intensity. It also has numerous descriptions of scenarios and persons in the workplace environment, which demonstrate how each of the four core emotional intelligence skills is realized in practice. The book also contains strategies that have been proven through a decade of long efforts to make accurate measurements, and increase EQ. The strategies are trusted by upper stratum leaders in corporations globally. They are meant to enable an individual to capitalize on the skills that are believed to be responsible for more than 58% of the performance in all the professions and undertakings. The opportunity to take the test is cheaper than actually visiting an expert on emotional intelligence. Therefore, it offers a chance to the professionals and students to improve their emotional intelligence.

Relation to Class Topics

In class there was a description of emotions and moods, which people have, and their impact on the actions. It relates directly to the concept of emotional intelligence that is descried by Bradberry. The author addresses different aspects of emotions and moods and their involvement in the emotional intelligence. In summary the author describes emotional intelligence as an ability of an individual to take control over moods and emotions. Therefore, the success of any individual in developing emotional intelligence involves two factors. According to Bradberry, there is also a close relation to the situation strength theory, which indicates that the approach of personality translates into the behavior and relies on the strength of the situation. Similarly, Bradberry explains the importance of having a proper understanding and awareness of the society. In addition, individuals need to have an ability to manage the relationships that they have with others. As such, they are able to control their situation, which relates directly to the situation strength theory.

Additionally, part of the discussions in class entailed the attribution theory, which suggests that when people observe others’ behavior, they attempt to make a determination of whether the actions were caused by internal or external triggers. It is closely related to the concept of social awareness and relationship management. Being able to view others, to think about their actions, and to try to understand them requires a large part of emotional intelligence. Therefore, these factors, outlined by Bradberry, indicate a clear path of the attribution theory and its application in reality. Malle also describes the attribution theories and provides the details of different other theories, including the Heider’s theory, which analyzes attribution of outcomes and intentional actions, such as the causal factors and the reasons for acting. Another concept that emerges from the reviewed book is self-management, which is related to the sub-topic of perceiving vs. judging. Similarly to the description, given by the authors for self-management, it is described as an approach, which involves the way of structuring and scheduling time and work. It is a description that is also agreed by Bacon and Dawson, who state that self-management entails understanding of personal needs and the ability to manage them. It is evident that the emotional intelligence is an essential part of a person’s life, and it is necessary for leaders. Therefore, the emotional intelligence skills involve personal competence and social competence, which will promote people’s ability to understand their own actions, as well as those of the people around them.