The document discusses emotional intelligence (EI) and its importance for career and life success. It summarizes that a survey found the most important qualities employers look for in graduates are interpersonal skills, ethics, leadership, perseverance, and knowledge - which are components of EI. EI involves being able to understand and manage one's own emotions and understand others. Several studies show EI may be a better predictor of job performance than IQ alone. The document recommends ways for college students to improve their EI, such as participating in extracurricular activities to practice social skills.

1. Redefining Intelligence
JoyLynn Saline
The National Association of Colleges and Employers
(NACE) surveyed 640 college recruiters to identify
the most important qualities looked for in college
graduates. The first was interpersonal skills,
followed in order by ethics and integrity, leadership,
perseverance,and knowledge.1 These “soft” skills are
components of emotional intelligence (EI) and play
an important role in career and life success.
Students can improve their lives by understanding the
following aspects of emotional intelligence: (a) What
is emotional intelligence, (b) Why EI is valuable to
employers, and (c) What can college students do to
improve EI.
Scholars have attempted to measure intelligence in
the past through the use of the Intelligence Quotient
Test; i.e., IQ scores.However,
several studies observe “that IQ by
itself is not a very good predictor
of job performance.” 2 IQ
overlooks personalqualities like
determination, trust, and respect
that attribute to success in
business. Intelligence is “the
aggregate . . . capacity of the
individual to act purposefully, to
think rationally, and to deal
effectively with his environment.”
IQ falls short of encapsulating all
aspects intelligence. 3
Emotional intelligence is “a form
of social intelligence that involves
the ability to monitor one’s own
and others’feelings and emotions,
to discriminate among them, and
to use this information to guide
one’s thinking and action.”4
IQ is an important tool to measure
an applicant’s qualification;
however, IQ alone is not a
complete measure of how an
individual may perform and thrive
in business.EI is a missing piece
to success that has been previously
unrecognized.5
The following three cases provide evidence that
emotional competency can affect (a) personal
performance, (b) group performance, and (c) over-all
productivity.
Personal Performance. A professorat the University
of Pennsylvania gave his freshman students a test
measuring their optimism. The scores were saved and
compared to the students’final grades in the class.
The outcome indicated that the professorcould better
predict their final grade through his test of optimism
than from their SAT scores. These findings suggest
that emotional intelligence is a greater indicator for
achievement than that of IQ tests alone. 6
Group Performance. A study at Yale University
selected groups of volunteers to act as managers who
were responsible for allocating bonuses to
subordinate employees. An actor
was placed among the group and
would demonstrate one of the
following emotions: cheerful
enthusiasm, relaxed warmth,
depressed sluggishness,orhostile
irritability. The results of the study
indicate that the emotion of the
actor affected the outcome of how
the bonuses were distributed. In
the occasions where the actor was
enthusiastic,the group would
“distribute the money fairly and in
a way that helped the
organization.”7
Productivity. Supervisors in a
manufacturing plant received EI
training and as a result the
company reported that accidents
declined by 50 percent, formal
written complaints reduced from
15 per year to three (a 500 percent
decline), and productivity goals
were exceeded by $250,000. EI
measurements in another company
discovered,“When the company
hired a special group of salesmen
who failed the normal screening
but scored high on optimism, the optimists outsold
the pessimists by 21 percent in the first year and 57
“IQ offers little to
explain the different destinies
of people with roughly equal
promises, schooling, and
opportunity. When ninety-
five Harvard students from
the classes of the 1940’s—a
time when people with a
wider spread of IQ were at Ivy
League schools than is
presently the case—were
followed particularly
successful compared to their
lower-scoring peers in terms
of salary, productivity, or
status in their field. Nor did
they have the greatest life
satisfaction, nor the most
happiness with friendships,
family, and romantic
relationships.”8
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Why is EI Valuable to Employers?

2. percent in the second year. The optimistic salesmen
outsold the average by 27 percent.” These studies
suggest that EI is an important factor in productivity.9
Emotional intelligence leads to greater life
satisfaction—not only in the work place, but in all
aspects oflife. John J. Liptak suggests that careerand
life success is composed of three important aspects as
seen in the Figure below.
Figure: Key skills needed forcareerand life success.
Data Source: John J. Liptak, Using emotional intelligence to
help college students succeed in the workplace (Journal of
Employment Counseling, Dec 2005, Vol. 42), p.175, Figure 1.
Graph: Courtesy of the author.
The figure illustrates that career and life success are a
combination of three skills. First, personal
competence skills, second,social competence skills,
and third, career and job search skills.10 Personal
competence skills refer to the ability of an individual
to identify and monitor their own feelings and
emotions.11 Social competence skills refer to how
well an individual can read others’emotions and
interact productively with other individuals. 12
Although universities should attempt to incorporate
activities in the class room that encourage the
development of EI,13 personalimprovement of EI is
the responsibility of the student. Liptak suggests that
the best way to increase EI is in the use of leisure
time to interact with other individuals and groups.14
“Participation in hobbies,in leisure activities, and in
clubs and organizations can provide excellent
opportunities for students to practice EI skills. In
addition, interactions with others on campus or in
residence halls can be opportunities to practice
interpersonal skills.” 15
High EQ can fuel productivity, develop group
cohesion,and improve personal performance. An
individual’s emotional competency is becoming a
valuable and powerful asset to managers; therefore,
students looking to set themselves apart from other
applicants should develop social and interpersonal
skills related to emotional intelligence. Improvement
can best be achieved through participation in
university activities and engagement with friends.
Endnotes
1. Liptak,JohnJ. 2005.“usingemotional intelligence to
help college students succeedin the workplace.” Journal Of
Employment Counseling 42, no.4:171-178.Academic Search
Premier, EBSCOhost (accessedMarch 4,2015)
2. Webb, Kerry S. 2009."WhyEmotional Intelligence
Should MattertoManagement: A Survey of the Literature." SAM
AdvancedManagement Journal (07497075) 74, no. 2: 32-
41. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessedFebruary 26,
2015).
3. Ibid., 33.
4. Ibid., 32.
5. Goleman, Daniel.Emotional Intelligence. NewYork,
NY: Bantam Dell, 2006.
6.Webb, Kerry S. 2009. "WhyEmotional Intelligence
Should MattertoManagement: A Survey of the Literature." SAM
AdvancedManagement Journal (07497075) 74, no. 2: 32-
41. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessedFebruary 26,
2015). p.34-35.
7. Ibid.
8. Goleman, Daniel.Emotional Intelligence. NewYork,
NY: Bantam Dell, 2006. p.35.
9. Ibid.
10. Liptak, JohnJ. 2005. “usingemotional intelligence
to help college students succeedin the workplace.” Journal Of
Employment Counseling 42, no.4:171-178.Academic Search
Premier, EBSCOhost (accessedMarch 4,2015).p.175.
11.Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence. New
York, NY: Bantam Dell,2006. p. P.41
11. Ibid.,117-118.
12. Abraham,Anne. 2006. “The Needfor the
Integration ofEmotional Intelligence Skills in Business
Education.” Business Renaissance Quarterly1, no.3: 65-79.
Business Source Premier,EBSCOhost (accessedMarch4, 2015).
13. Liptak, JohnJ. 2005. “usingemotional intelligence
to help college students succeedin the workplace.” Journal Of
Employment Counseling 42, no.4:171-178.Academic Search
Premier, EBSCOhost (accessedMarch 4,2015) p.173.
14. Ibid., 177.
What can college students do to improve EI?