Class of 2013: Emotional Intelligence Matters

Here’s a bit of heresy to send you on your way in life. You’ve been told throughout your academic years that your grades and your IQ are crucial for life success. That’s not the whole truth.

Your intellect does matter – to an extent. It determines what kind of job you can hold – how much cognitive complexity you can handle. You need an IQ of roughly 110-115 to be a professional or a top executive.

But after you are in that position, your intellect has little to do with how successful you will be, or whether you will emerge as a leader. The reason is what’s called the "floor effect": everyone else you are competing with is about as smart as you are.

Once you’re in your job, what will matter more for success is how you manage yourself and handle your relationships. That’s called emotional intelligence.

Daniel Goleman

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