Daniel Goleman: How To Optimize Emotional Intelligence

 

The expression, “emotional intelligence” is seamlessly embedded into our common vernacular – but it was Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking book a quarter century ago that first coined the idea & brought it to a mass audience. In his #1 bestseller “Emotional IntelligenceWhy It Can Matter More Than IQ” Goleman revolutionized how we think about human intelligence.

Along with Rutgers University psychology professor Cary Cherniss, Goleman has just taken a fresh look at how emotional intelligence has evolved over the past few decades, & has written,Optimal: How To Sustain Personal & Organizational Excellence Everyday.”

Tied to new research, Goleman reveals practical methods for using one’s inner resources to more readily enter an “optimal” state of high performance while also avoiding burnout.

There are moments when all of us achieve peak performance: An athlete plays a perfect game; a team has record-breaking quarterly results. But these moments are often elusive, & for every amazing day any of us has, we may also have a hundred ordinary or even unsatisfying days to follow.

As isolated peak experiences clearly fail to consistently produce excellent results, Goleman’s book answers the question: How do we sustain high performance, while avoiding burnout and maintaining balance? 

His book taps into how hundreds of people have built the inner architecture that repeatedly leads them to having good days – proving that emotional intelligence holds the key to everyone’s best performance.

Building on attributes such as self-awareness, a sense of meaning, emotional balance, high concentration and ‘flow’ states, Goleman demonstrates that it is in our optimal moments that our mental clarity shines. And when workplace leaders are equipped with this knowledge, they’re able to build a culture that additionally empowers employees to sustain their own high performance.

By Mark C. Crowley

Mark C. Crowley is the author of Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century which has been taught in 11 American universities. He is a global speaker, leadership consultant and thought leader on the topics of workplace culture and employee engagement.