Bus 610 - Ashford - Week 2 Discussion 1

Describe the cognitive and non-cognitive abilities relating to Emotional Intelligence. Provide an example of how you might use EQ in your daily life. Respond to at least two of your peers for this posting with suggestions that might work for them within their daily lives.

We use cognitive abilities to think, study, and learn. Our reasoning, judgment and perception are cognitive skills that usually can be measured objectively. Non-cognitive abilities like self-esteem, self-confidence, and motivation have a strong emotional component and would be much harder to measure. An effective leader needs a good balance of both.

In an article for Forbes, Mike Myatt (Myatt, 2012) claims that it is impossible to become a great leader without being a great communicator. Myatt goes on to describe the difference between being a great talker and a skillful communicator. The idea expressed by Myatt is that good communicators need to learn how to focus on others to achieve better communication results.

This idea is similar to the concept of "emotional intelligence" that psychologist and author Daniel Goleman discussed and brought into wide use with his 1995 book of the same name. In an article for the Harvard Business Review Goleman takes his first steps in applying this concept to business.

Goleman researched approximately 200 large, global companies and found that while the qualities traditionally associated with leadership (intelligence, toughness, determination, vision) are required for success, they are insufficient. He discovered that “truly effective leaders are distinguished by a high degree of emotional intelligence” (Goleman 2004).

He goes on to state that “without it, a person can have first-class training, an incisive mind, and an endless supply of good ideas, but he or she still will not be a great leader” (Goleman 2004). He explains the chief components of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and...