Why millionaires rate emotional intelligence

I'm researching emotional intelligence (EQ) for an upcoming talk and thought you might be interested in some of my early findings given the significant impact it has on business relationships. 

In the The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley, 733 multi-millionaires were interviewed and asked to rate the factors (out of 30) most responsible for their success.

The top 5 were:
- Being honest
- Being well disciplined
- Getting on with people
- Having a supportive spouse
- Working harder than most people

IQ was 21st on the list. 

This suggests that successful entrepreneurs and professionals believe that emotionally intelligent behaviours are a driving force of their success. 

And that these behaviors are more important than their IQ. 

Another interesting point is the gender split on EQ. Steven Stein and Howard Book reference an emotional intelligence assessment called EQI 2.0 in their book The EQ Edge. 

Thousands of people have taken this test and it evidences that there isn't a significant difference in overall EQ scores between men and women. 

However, when you dig further into the components that drive an overall EQI score, there are some interesting observations. For example, on average women have higher scores in social responsibility and empathy and men have higher scores in stress tolerance.

This further promotes the case for diversity at all levels. And unlike IQ, EQ can grow, so it's something we can all work on!

Interested to hear your views on EQ - any other books/ articles you recommend I take a look at?

Wishing you all the best

Kat

P.S. This is the 104th weekly blog!! That means today is the blogs 2nd birthday - whoop whoop!! Thank you so much for sticking with us and sharing your ideas and successes :). And cheers to the year ahead!