“Traditionally, we’ve assumed that leaders have high IQs, are gregarious, and have dominant personalities,” Cote says. But his study indicates that “being able to process other people’s emotions” may be just as important. Aspiring leaders, Cote suggests, would do well to foster the abilities that make up emotional intelligence. According to author Daniel Goleman, who coined the term in his bestseller of the same name, emotional intelligence means the ability to perceive, use, understand, and regulate emotions. The Rotman School of Management teaches emotional intelligence as a fourth-year elective course and in its MBA program. Courses based on EI are offered in many corporate settings. Google started teaching an EI-based course, Search Inside Yourself, at its headquarters in 2007. This year SIY is being offered at Google campuses around the world.
