Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Coleman
Summary
One of the most impactful books I’ve ever read that totally flipped my understanding of success. Coleman uses hard data to demonstrate that IQ, a commonly held word we use to describe how smart someone is, has no correlation to how successful a person will be. Rather, that’s determined by their emotional intelligence
Rating: 4/5
Notes
2 skills that matter significantly: team building and adapting to change
Higher IQ children = lower IQ children in terms of success
IQ does not equate to workplace success
Expertise is common sense plus the skill/experience gained in a job
5 elements: self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy and adeptness in relationships
Pattern recognition distinguished top performers in business, the big picture thinking
- Influence, team leadership, political awareness, self confidence and achievement drive
Being a successful executive involves leading people more than IQ
Don’t diminish the value of intangibles: people around you, trustworthiness
Emotional awareness: recognizing your feelings and why, known it’s affecting your performance and awareness about the values and goals
Follow your inner sense and always take time for yourself
Self assessment:
- Aware of strengths and weaknesses
- Reflective, learning from experience
- Open to candid feedback, new perspectives, continuous learning and self development
- Able to show a sense of humor and perspective on themselves
One of the biggest problems with people is self-awareness
Never lose your self-confidence and conviction
Ability to understand self-confidence directly correlates w/ success
Self-control:
- Manage impulsive feelings and distressing emotions
- Think clearly and stay focused with pressure
- Stay composed, positive and unflappable in tough moments
Remember to stay calm even in the most stressful situations
Never stop changing/adapting
Collaboration leads to innovation and you have to be able to execute on ideas
Initiation & implementation allow workers the creativity to think and come up with ideas
Key is to find a flow state where the challenge is part of the fun
Being emotionally present at work and not getting ahead of yourself
Most successful companies share a single minded passion for innovation and the business
Passion for feedback and need to constantly evolve
Support employees in what they want to do (organizational commitment)
You need to make sure the collective mission of the firm is clear to employees
Always give credit to the people around you because they’re the reasons for success
Initiative without empathy can be destructive
You need to understand the customer’s perspetive when selling the business
Understand your customer and accept feedback and a willingness to evolve
Need to develop personal relationships with everyone at your company
You need to be able to read everyone in an organization
You always subconsciously influence the emotions of those around you
Good emotions spread more powerfully than bad ones
When negotiating, it’s important to understand when to use facts and when to use emotions
Use the networks of local leaders to be able to spread your message
Involve everyone and their opinion in the decision making process
Cooling down after conflicts:
- First, calm down, tune into your feelings and express them
- Show a willingness to work things out by talking over the issue
- State your point of view in a neutral language
- Try to find a resolution both sides can embrace
Think about how to implement change and get employees on your side
In leadership, nice guys finish first
Organize events outside of work to really get to know people
Constantly ask yourself is you’re staying up to date w/ innovation and let young people be leaders
When evaluating venture investments, pay particular attention to the team and how they work
Team chemistry is more significant to success than any individual’s IQ
Cultivate informal relationships, seek our mutually beneficial relationships, build rapport and make/maintain personal friendships among work associates
You need to maintain and cultivate relationships (not just a one time thing)
Make teams fast, focused, friendly, self-confident and fun
Team leaders lead best when they present their opinion after everyone else
5 simple secretes of success: rapport, empathy, persuasion, cooperation and consensus building
Everything in an organization is political so make sure to involve the decision makers
When giving feedback, always discuss the strengths first before the limitations
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Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
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Free E-book download here
