The process of leading others to attain a goal is known as leadership. Leaders must use emotional intelligence to understand themselves and their workers better to achieve more excellent results. In leadership, emotional intelligence (also known as emotional quotient or EQ) allows you to interact with your team and work with others. The way you interact with others can set the tone for your leadership style. Leaders who lack emotional intelligence cannot relate to or comprehend people, which leads to decreased employee engagement and turnover. Emotional intelligence is a set of noncognitive skills, abilities, and competencies that enable people to control and manage their emotional reactions to events and stresses. It is defined as comprehending and managing your own emotions and recognizing and impacting those around you. Researchers John Mayer and Peter Salovey first came up with the concept in 1990, but psychologist Daniel Goleman popularized it later in his book “Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ”. According to Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence is –
‘The capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves and our relationships.’
Emotional intelligence is a powerful tool that can help you accomplish your objectives, improve meaningful work relations, and build a healthy, productive workplace and corporate culture and is recognized as a vital aspect of effective leadership.