Emotional Intelligence and Gender Inequality - Redux

In September 2013 my blog on Sheryl Sandberg caused an uproar in feminist cyberspace.  Sandberg’s most famous quote is “A truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran half our homes.”  My argument based on the Humm-Wadsworth model was that a 50/50 split is genetically impossible but a split of 2:1 is feasible.  To say the feminists did not agree was an understatement.

Recently Tracom published a blog Are Women Held Back By a Lack of Confidence? It does make you feel a little better when your views on gender inequality are supported.  You feel a lot better when the people arguing that gender inequality is genetically based are all female.  The Tracom blog argues that it is both the level of testosterone and that women are almost twice as likely to suffer from depression and trait anxiety which causes the difference.  According to Tracom women score lower on self-assurance and self-composure compared to men and confidence is more predictive of career success than competence.  According to the blog men tend to overestimate their abilities by approximately 30% while women underestimate their abilities.  Mathematically this equates to a 2:1 split.

The blog then goes on to advocate that the key factor to success is self-confidence.  Confident people view the world more positively and are more likely to persevere through challenges.  For example, research shows that those with high self-confidence view challenges as deserved opportunities to learn and grow, while those with low self-esteem view challenges as chances to fail.  Confident people also set more ambitious goals and persist longer on difficult assignments, which opens up more opportunities. Moreover, they choose occupations that support their interests, which leads to greater job satisfaction.

Tracom suggest that to build your self-confidence you strike power poses.  Doing this so for two minutes increases your level of testosterone (the dominance hormone) and lowers the level of cortisol (the stress hormone), while low power poses do the opposite.  Another strategy is to analyse and challenge your self-talk.  We speak to ourselves endlessly, using hundreds of words every minute.  For many people this self-talk is full of self-criticism and fault-finding which then reinforces the lack of self-confidence.

I would also argue that self-confidence is strongly influenced by genetics.  The key Humm Component is the Politician.  Politicians are driven by the desire to win and are chock full of self-confidence. They seek power and are steadfast, decisive and forceful. They are very good in arguments and very persuasive. Politicians often become managers in large organisations. They can be assertive and argumentative, and are very good with words. Politicians are so aggressive that they are frequently nicknamed tigers.  Blanche d’Alpuget, wife and biographer of Bob Hawke, calls this fighting spirit the warrior instinct and maintains that all successful leaders have this drive in their personalities.

The good news is if you understand how the personality of the Politician works you can begin to emulate some of the characteristics and build your self confidence.  All seven components are dissected in my books available at www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com

How to Help Someone Develop Emotional Intelligence – I think not

I recently read the following article from Harvard Business Review website by Annie McKee: How to Help Someone Develop Emotional Intelligence.  The article made the following points:

• EI is difficult to develop because it is linked to psychological development and neurological pathways created over an entire lifetime.
• The first step of developing EI is to help people find a deep and very personal vision of their own future.
• The second step is to help them see how their current ways of operating might need a bit of work if that future is to be realized.  McKee recommends using a 360-degree feedback instrument like the ESCI (Emotional and Social Competency Inventory) or a Leadership Self Study process (as described in the book, Becoming a Resonant Leader of which she is a co-author along with Richard Boyatzis.)
• Step three is to carry out a gap analysis.
• Step four is to develop a learning plan and then implement it.

I must confess I disagree with this approach which strikes me as very time consuming and requiring a lot of one-on-one face time.  I also wonder if it will work in today’s environment of flattened organisations and increasing use of technology; it certainly will be more difficult to implement in the future.  Finally will you actually get emotional commitment using this methodology?  Boyatzis himself has noted that millions (perhaps even billions) of dollars are spent by organisations and governments on training for leadership and organisational change but actual change achieved by the training is very low.  He has argued that the reason for this was that too many of the courses taught a logic based methodology for leadership which he said was doomed to failure.  According Boyatzis rational arguments come later, but it is emotional commitment that results in real behavioural change.  Only when leaders connect emotionally with their followers does true change happen.

I think there is a much better way and that is to use temperament.

People drive performance, emotions drive people, but it is temperament that drives emotions.

Emotional Intelligence is achieving self- and social mastery by being smart with core emotions.

Self-Mastery = Awareness + Management (Steps 1 & 2 as defined by Goleman)

Social Mastery = Empathy + Social Skills (Steps 3 &4 as defined by Goleman

However the key to emotional intelligence is understanding your core emotions compared to your transient emotions.  Your core emotions are driven by your temperament – what you are genetically born with.  Based on a study of 11,000 identical twins nature is around twice as important as nurture.  I have found the Humm-Wadsworth model of seven core emotions the most practical tool for people to use and once understood (it takes only a day) dramatically lifts their emotional intelligence.  If you want to learn about the Humm download a free white paper on using Emotional Intelligence in either selling or management .  http://www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com/eq-free-white-papers/

My e-books available in Kindle format explain the technique in more detail.

Does Personal Intelligence really exist?

This is a review of a recent e-book that I purchased from Amazon and posted on its website.

Personal Intelligence: The Power of Personality and How It Shapes Our Lives

John Mayer is widely recognised, along with Peter Salovey as the co-inventor of emotional intelligence.  They published their seminal article in 1990 arguing that some people understood a logic about emotions and used it to promote their well being while to other people this remained a mystery.  The concept of emotional intelligence was then popularised by Daniel Goleman in his 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence: Why it matters more than IQ.  Mayer and his colleagues then went to develop the MSCEIT, which is the most widely used test of Emotional Intelligence if also the most widely criticised.

In this book Mayer argues that there is another intelligence known which he describes  personal intelligence which enables people to analyse both their own and other people’s personalities. 

Mayer begins by noting that the first obstacle to proving the existence of personal intelligence is the widespread belief among academic psychologists that personality is an illusion does not matter.  Instead of personality it was argued that people adjust how they act in different situations and what was important in determining a person’s behaviour was the social influences.  This became known as the situationist perspective and was widely accepted following the publication in 1968 of Personality and Assessment by Walter Mischel, famous for the Marshmallow Study.  The support for this argument was a variety of studies that purportedly demonstrated personality had little effect on a person’s behaviour.  The problem was that subsequent studies concluded the same result with social influences!

In 2007 Mayer began to develop a theory of personal intelligence.  Mayer first defines “intelligence” as “a group of related activities that are invoked (1) when the problems involved are valued; (2) only some people can solve them and, (3) the ability to do so leads to specific accomplishments.”  In his book he then provides an excellent summary of the development of intelligence modelling and testing beginning with Binet in 1905.  The first IQ tests evaluated verbal intelligence but in 1939 David Wechsler developed his perceptual intelligence tests.  The high correlation between the two tests provided support for a general intelligence factor g and a measure of that in an IQ score.

Howard Gardiner in the early 1980s then proposed his theory of multiple intelligences which became widely accepted particularly by educationalists even though empirical support was lacking.  Gardiner’s model was the driver for concept of Emotional Intelligence but Mayer is the first to admit that EQ concept, which is about feelings, was wrongly extended into discussions about character.  Instead Mayer argues that there is a ‘personal’ intelligence which allows people to analyse the personalities of themselves and others.  He and colleagues have gone on to develop TOPI or the Test of Personal Intelligence.  Again it suffers from the basic paradox as the MSCEIT.  Although promoted as an ability test, the MSCEIT is unlike standard IQ tests in that its items do not have objectively correct responses. Among other challenges, the consensus scoring criterion means that it is impossible to create items (questions) that only a minority of respondents can solve, because, by definition, responses are deemed emotionally "intelligent" only if the majority of the sample has endorsed them.

Mayer then argues for the existence of Personal Intelligence throughout the book with a series of case studies.  The range of studies is very interesting and quite staggering but comes across as several reviewers have noted as fragmented.  Also in many of the examples I kept thinking that they did not demonstrate Personal Intelligence but General Intelligence.

My real problem with the book is that it makes no mention of temperament – what are the core emotions in your personality that you are genetically born with.  Based on a study of 11,000 identical twins nature is around twice as important as nurture in the development of personality.  I have found the Humm-Wadsworth Temperament model of seven core emotions the most practical tool for people to use.  (The five most common Humm components correspond with the Five Factor Model.)  For example you can take a demo version of the TOPI test here.  If you are familiar with the Humm the TOPI test is very easy to answer. 

If you want to learn about the Humm download a free white paper on using Emotional Intelligence in either selling or management .  http://www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com/eq-free-white-papers/

My e-books available in Kindle format explain the technique in more detail.

Are EQ skills important for managers?

While the proponents of Emotional Intelligence (including yours truly) are always saying how important it is, there are few studies you can actually point to saying that it is important.  However a recent analysis done by Korn Ferry: Korn Ferry Study Identifies Leadership Challenges Being Coached Most Often supports the argument that managers should learn to lift their emotional intelligence.

The study surveyed more than 200 coaches from around the globe who are part of Korn Ferry’s coaching network—professionals who listen to, guide, and counsel thousands of senior leaders. The coaches responded to questions about the challenges leaders face most frequently, which coaching interventions they use most often with clients, and what competencies they see as most essential for leading companies through complex and uncertain business conditions.  As part of the survey, respondents were asked to identify the top 10 most frequent coaching topics by level of leader.  Three levels of leader were analysed: C-Suite-Level leaders, Business Unit Leaders (SVP, VP), and Mid-Level Leaders (Senior Managers, Function Head).  The top 10 topics for each level were given but the average score for the top 3 topics are illuminating.

Interpersonal relationships, listening skills and empathy ranked first with an average score of 1.33, Influence ranked second with a score of 2.33 and Self-Awareness ranked third with a score of 2.66.

These three topics of course correspond to the three of the four components of Goleman’s definintion of Emotional Intelligence: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Empathy and Social Skills.

The Korn-Ferry article concluded “Coaches will have to move beyond the realm of the one-to-one, isolated coaching relationship. They will need to be engaged in and understand the business, the organizational and social systems and the dynamics of the senior team.” Such responses suggest that, beyond working with leaders to clarify vision and direction, coaches also should work with leaders’ broader teams to support shared meaning, coherent action, and agreed upon practices.”

I disagree with this conclusion.  What is important is that coaches have a systematic framework for lifting their emotional intelligence.  My own belief is that while people drive performance, and emotions drive people, the secret to lifting your EQ is realising temperament drives emotions.

However the key to emotional intelligence is understanding your core emotions compared to your transient emotions.  Your core emotions are driven by your temperament – what you are genetically born with.  Based on a study of 11,000 identical twins nature is around twice as important as nurture.  I have found the Humm-Wadsworth model of seven core emotions the most practical tool for people to use and once understood (takes a day) dramatically lifts their emotional intelligence.  If you want to learn about the Humm download a free white paper on using Emotional Intelligence in either selling or management .  http://www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com/eq-free-white-papers/

My e-books available in Kindle format explain the technique in more detail.

Decoding leadership: What really matters - it is IQ+EQ.

Google “Leadership” and you get some 500 million hits including some blogs by yours truly:

Why leaders need eagle eyes and Leaders are readers: What books should leaders read?  However there was recent article in the McKinsey Quarterly Decoding leadership: What really matters that I thought was exceptional.

The article reported a study done by McKinsey where the writers composed a list of 20 distinct leadership traits and then surveyed 189,000 people in 81 diverse organisations.  The numbers alone make this study compelling as most academic researchers are lucky if they can get 50 participants.  The list contains all the usual suspects, vision, collaboration, change management, etc.  However according to McKinsey four traits stood out.

• Solve problems effectively.
• Operate with a strong results orientation. Leadership is about not only developing and communicating a vision and setting objectives but also following through to achieve results.
• Seek different perspectives. Leaders who do well on this dimension typically base their decisions on sound analysis and avoid the many biases to which decisions are prone.
• Be Supportive. Leaders who are supportive understand and sense how other people feel.

The first two traits you rarely see in leadership lists and are really determined by your IQ.  You either have it or you don’t.  If you are not smart enough, yet become a leader, your decisions generally lead to your own down fall.  In Australia the saying is sandshoes to sandshoes in three generations but nearly every culture has some equivalent.  My favourite is the Italian: Barn Stalls to Barn Stalls in three generations.

The third and fourth traits are determined by your emotional intelligence particularly if it is fortified by a profiling system such as the Humm-Wadsworth.  Great leaders know the first big mistake generally made by poor leaders is to only hire people with the same personality traits as themselves.  If you know what are your strong and weak components you can recruit team members to compensate your own defects.

Also to be supportive you first need empathy and a profiling system is a terrific aid in helping you understand how other people feel.  Any tool is better than none but I still consider the Humm-Wadsworth the most practical for leaders to use.  If you want to read a comparison of the various profiling systems, download my free white paper, A Practical Tool to Lift Your Emotional Intelligence: The Humm-Wadsworth model of Temperament.