According to the The World Economic Forum, Emotional Intelligence is one of the top-ten, must-have job skills of the twenty-first century. And that doesn’t surprise me in the least. Here’s why…because the difference between success and failure as a leader often comes down to one’s ability to relate to people. It’s all about relationships. The lack of emotional intelligence is usually pretty easy to recognize. It’s the manager that throws a tantrum when things don’t go his way or is quick to throw one of his people under the bus in a meeting. It’s the coworker who shares way too much at the wrong time, it’s the leader who lacks empathy–asking you to sacrifice your family time, while he leaves early, and then claims the credit for your hard work. It’s anyone who lacks the ability to control their emotions and have empathy for others. You will recognize it pretty quickly with most people–and let’s hope that that person isn’t a key stakeholder in your life or work. Most people readily recognize people who have emotional intelligence in abundance. They are authentic, they are usually good listeners, and they attract people to them–you just want to be around them because they bring out the best in others. They’re safe. Our Guest To unpack the value of emotional intelligence, our guest today is Phil Johnson. Phil is an author and the creator of the Master of Business Leadership program which focuses on emotional intelligence. For the past 22 years, Phil has been an executive coach assisting executives and organizations to bet on themselves by developing better leaders and stronger teams with EQ. What You’ll Learn On today’s episode, we talk about What exactly is Emotional Intelligence? Is it something that people are born with or can it be developed? Just how important is it? Can you put an economic value on it? What’s at risk if I don’t have it? How do emotionally intelligence people inspire trust How a lack of emotional intelligence causes one to try to steal energy from others? How emotional intelligence helps me to connect to what really matters