Have you ever experienced a struggle or hardship in your life? Can you remember a time that you felt so overwhelmed with emotion that you found it difficult to function or carry on with everyday tasks? We’ve all heard of IQ or intelligence quotient, which denotes the amount of human intelligence someone possesses. Alternatively, emotional quotient (EQ) is defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions, or rather the amount of emotional intelligence someone possesses. However, the downfall of most goals that we aim to attain are the emotions that can get in the way of those very same objectives. These emotions can at best slow us down and at worst stop us in our tracks altogether, hindering us from maintaining and succeeding in our personal and professional goals. As business leaders, this is not only something we weren’t taught ourselves, but something we never learned how to help others in our charge overcome in order to obtain the goals we’ve set out either.
To some of us, the very concept can sound both incredible and incredibly improbable. I would go as far as to argue that many struggles and failures we experience in our lives and as a society exist because of an overarching challenge in our communities to deal with those emotions. Of the many things I learned throughout my time serving in the Air Force, managing and leading multiple businesses, and the interpersonal dynamics we naturally encounter in life from childhood thru adulthood, there is nothing more profound than the constant strengthening of my own EQ.
In order to have a better understanding, let’s outline the four basic components of EQ: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management. Self-awareness can be understood as the knowledge of your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Social awareness deals with your ability to empathize with others. Self-management refers to dealing with your own emotions in order to adapt and overcome obstacles throughout your life. Relationship management teaches intentional communication to foster healthy relationships.
In future articles, we will explore each of these in more depth. I urge you to study on your own, as EQ is the first thing I credit for my personal and professional successes as well as a major contributor to why I am still alive today through my own journey to mental wellness.
This article was written by Shaun Damico, a US Veteran and current Chief Operating Officer at Heart of Texas Eye Care in Dripping Springs. He has a passion for leadership and affecting a culture of innovation and empowerment.