Dr. Goleman was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in recognition of his efforts to communicate the behavioral sciences to the public. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Mind & Life Institute and in 2003, published Destructive Emotions, an account of a scientific dialogue between the Dalai Lama and a group of psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers.

• Emotional intelligence consists of five skills: knowing what you’re thinking as you’re thinking it; handling your feelings so that distracting emotions don’t interfere with your ability to concentrate and learn; motivating yourself, including maintaining optimism and hope; having empathy; and social skills.

• Emotional intelligence is the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.

• In a study of skills that distinguish star performers in every field from entry-level jobs to executive positions, the single most important factor was not I.Q., advanced degrees, or technical experience; it was E.Q.

• I.Q. and academic skills are entry-level requirements for jobs of all kinds...but have little to do with how you’ll succeed once you get there. Emotional intelligence accounts for 90 percent of what’s required for leadership.

• People who are optimistic see a failure as due to something that can be changed so that they can succeed next time around, while pessimists take the blame for the failure, ascribing it to some characteristic they are helpless to change.

• Who does not recall school at least in part as endless dreary hours of boredom punctuated by moments of high anxiety?

• Women, on average, tend to be more aware of their emotions, show more empathy, and are more adept interpersonally. Men on the other hand, are more self-confident and optimistic, adapt more easily, and handle stress better.

• What counts in making a happy relationship is not so much how compatible you are but how you deal with incompatibility.

Are you trapped with the I.Q. that you were born with? Does your I.Q. define your destiny? Is there something that will have a greater impact on your success? Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence takes on these questions and more and is surely the best place to get started. This fascinating book will show you how to develop your emotional intelligence in ways that can improve success at work, in relationships, and in parenting.

Dr. Goleman argues that an I.Q.-only view is far too narrow and that a person’s emotional intelligence is a critical part of defining his/her success. He makes the case for emotional intelligence being the strongest indicator of human success and defines it with attributes that include self-awareness, empathy, personal motivation, altruism, and the ability to love and be loved by friends, partners, and family members.

Dr. Goleman uses discoveries from psychology and neuroscience to provide insight into your rational and emotional sides. He bases many of his conclusions on empirical data and scientific research and covers a wide variety of other topics, such as learned optimism and the theory of multiple intelligences. Dr. Goleman’s vivid examples demonstrate the crucial skills of emotional intelligence.

WEBSITE: www.eiconsortium.org