Apparently in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11, rescue dogs faced a massive challenge.  But it wasn’t the rubble and death that affected them:  It was their handlers’ distress.

While some would balk at the comparison, managers might consider their work teams much like these amazing dogs.  The rescue dogs are highly trained, highly skilled, dedicated workers — and after 9/11 they proved themselves to be astoundingly resilient and perseverant.  And, as do workplace teams, the managers’ moods had a significant effect on their performance in the short and long term.

We can make the same analogy, perhaps even more pointedly, about a teacher and classroom, parent and children, or even friend and other friends.  Emotions are, fundamentally, signals of risk and opportunity.  We transmit these messages unconsciously, automatically, and continuously — and our emotions affect those around us.  Be they human, or canine.

In this interview Terry Gross asks Cynthia Otto, who worked with rescue dogs at ground zero, about how the dogs were affected by the experience.  Otto explains that the dogs were not particularly traumatized by the rubble or sirens or even broken bodies — but that as those stressors played on the handlers, the dogs became stressed by their managers’ distress.

We tend to think of emotions as something internal — private — and our own business.  When we learn more about the way emotions actually function between people (and even between species), a different picture emerges.

If we add an understanding of emotional capital — the fact that feelings have a bottom line value in brand, talent, and customer experience — then this transmission of emotion because an essential ingredient in the meaning of leadership.

As business becomes more complex with globalization, new generations, and the accelerating pace of innovation, the value of “emotionally intelligent leaders” is gaining ground.  This presents an opportunity, especially for women:  A new analysis of over 24,000 leaders and workers from all over the world shows female leaders, statistically, have an edge in three key areas of people-leadership: 

(1) EQ is made of numerous component parts, Females are particularly higher in some – but not all;

(2) the largest gap is in the capacity to predict the emotional consequences of actions allowing women to be more strategic with feelings;

(3) In key aspects of EQ, women in leadership roles are even further ahead of their male counterparts, suggesting that these differentiators may be essential for females to advance their careers.

For both females and males, the new data suggests important opportunities for leveraging strengths to become more effective at people leadership.

 

Emotional intelligence (or EQ) means being smarter with feelings — accurately appraising emotional data, and using that data to optimize decisions.  A growing body of evidence shows these capabilities are tied to improved leadership, effectiveness, relationships, decision-making, health, and wellbeing; which helps higher EQ leaders create greater economic and societal value (see www.6seconds.org/case).

While women and men alike have challenges in accurately identifying, managing, and applying the data and energy contained in emotions, a common perception is that women are more “tuned in” when it comes to feelings.  Numerous studies show that “Ms. Average” will have a slightly higher EQ score that “Mr. Average.”  A new analysis confirms this result, but presents three key new findings that are essential for understanding these gender variations.

1: EQ Components

Just as cognitive intelligence, measured by IQ, is made of many components, EQ is multi-dimensional.  Various theoretical models of emotional intelligence posit slightly different components of the construct, but all recognize a dimension tied to accurately appraising emotional data, one tied to managing or integrating that data, and a dimension of application.  In the Six Seconds Model of Emotional Intelligence, we structure these into a three-step process for putting EQ into action:

• Awareness is “Know Yourself” – accurately assessing emotional data.
• Management is “Choose Yourself” – consciously selecting emotional response.
• Direction is “Give Yourself” – purposefully applying emotion toward significance.

In these three dimensions, analysis of 24,436 people from around the globe shows women have a slight edge in all three.  In the Know Yourself area, Ms. Average scores 1.8% higher than Mr. Average – but only 0.4% higher in the Choose Yourself area (see Figure 1: EQ and Gender, Overview).

The implication is that women tend to be slightly more self-aware will not be a surprise.  It’s important to note that these scores are normative, approximately distributed on a bell curve, which means that among the 12,236 women in this sample, roughly 7,300 will be near the middle.  Some 1,800 will be much higher on EQ, and approximately the same number will be much lower.  The same is true for the 12,200 males in this group.  This means that any given female is not necessarily higher on EQ than her male counterpart, but on average, women are stronger in this domain.

 

 2: EQ Dynamics

Within the three component parts of the Six Seconds Model are eight specific, learnable, measurable competencies.  Looking at this more detailed view, it becomes apparent that women have a stronger EQ capability in certain areas of emotional intelligence – where men (on average) have more strength in other components.

The greatest single gender gap is in a competency called “Apply Consequential Thinking,” which enables people to pause and evaluate the costs and benefits of their actions before they leap.  This requires blending both tactical/factual information and human/emotional data to make a decision that will work – and work well with people.  Females (on average) score 4.5% higher in this crucial area, suggesting they could take a more considered approach and “look before they leap.”

Females also score noteably higher on the two self-awareness competencies:

• “Enhance Emotional Literacy” means identifying and understanding feelings.
• “Recognize Patterns” means acknowledging frequently recurring reactions.

 

On the other hand, men have an advantage in “Navigate Emotions,” which enables people to harness the insight and energy of feelings to move forward intentionally:  Responding rather than reacting.  This is also the lowest-scoring area for women in the sample, suggesting that more often females will find their emotions in charge rather than proactively and mindfully working with emotion. 

That said, because of the female edge in “Enhance Emotional Literacy” and “Apply Consequential Thinking,” it’s likely that “Ms. Average” will have the capability to understand and evaluate emotions better that “Mr. Average.” So if she applies these strengths (rather than trying to just push emotions away), females could more quickly move toward mastery.

“Increase Empathy” is another area where females are scoring higher – which aligns with typical societal expectations of female nurture.  In the workplace, this translates to an important competitive advantage in the ability to influence and engage others.  But, higher empathy paired with lower navigation can lead to emotional overwhelm.

 

3: Leadership Differences

Within the global sample, 6,236 respondents are in a senior leadership role (40% of these are female).  Because emotional intelligence is correlated with career success, we know that people in higher-level roles will generally have higher EQ – and this is confirmed in this dataset.  In terms of overall EQ, the gender gap widens from 1% to nearly 2% with female leaders pulling further ahead.  Looking at individual competencies, the mix of gender gap changes in important ways.

For example, one of the areas that appears to be most powerfully linked to career progress is “Pursue Noble Goals,” the capability to put purpose into action.  In Figure 2, above, males have a slight edge in this competency, but in Table 1 we can see that for those in leadership positions, there’s essentially no gender difference.

Table 1: Changing Gender Gaps for Leaders

Competency	Gap for All	Gap for Leaders
Enhance Emotional Literacy	2.34	3.69
Recognize Patterns	1.48	2.25
Apply Consequential Thinking	4.68	5.55
Navigate Emotions	-1.91	-1.16
Engage Intrinsic Motivation	-0.74	-0.30
Exercise Optimism	0.31	1.81
Increase Empathy	3.17	2.81
Pursue Noble Goals	-1.21	0.04

(negative numbers mean females score lower / males score higher)

Figure 3, below, shows the scores of females and males in leadership roles.  It can be compared with Figure 2.

 

For those in leadership roles:

In “Enhance Emotional Literacy” and “Apply Consequential Thinking” the gap widens among leaders, suggesting that female leaders are especially insightful in the emotional domain and even more careful in their responses (compared with the general population).

The dynamics are also shifting in “Exercise Optimism,” a competency that facilitates a proactive, solution-oriented approach.  Among the general population, females are not significantly ahead of males.  Among leaders, however, the gap widens as the average female scores over 1.6% higher.  As is shown in Figure 3, this becomes the 2^nd highest competency among female leaders, providing a resource for solving problems and generating energy.

Between job levels, the only area where males are starting to close the gap is “Increase Empathy.”  In the general population, males score over 3% lower than females, but among leaders it’s only a 2.6% difference (but females in leadership are still considerably higher in this area).  This is also one of the lowest-scoring areas for male leaders, suggesting an important opportunity for the relatively few empathic male leaders to stand out.

 

Conclusions

This analysis provides important insight into the opportunities for females in the workforce, and for those concerned with developing organizational leadership.

First:  Women who want to advance their careers need to tap into the capabilities to Pursue Noble Goals and Engage Intrinsic Motivation, the two competencies where those in leadership have the biggest advantage.

Second: In developing EQ strengths, “Ms. Average” should prioritize Navigating Emotions while capitalizing on stand-out strengths of Enhancing Emotional Literacy and Applying Consequential Thinking.

Third:  If it’s true that the skills of emotional intelligence are increasingly important in an increasingly complex marketplace, then males who want to compete will take heed.  Males, especially in leadership roles, must increase self-awareness and reduce impulsivity.

The bottom line is that as the value of emotional intelligence continues to be recognized, females have an important opportunity for creating added value and building workplaces where people thrive.

–

About the Author

Joshua Freedman is the COO of Six Seconds (http://www.6seconds.org), the global leaders in emotional intelligence development.  Six Seconds has offices in 11 countries, publishes seven validated individual and organizational assessments, and an extensive library of learning and development resources.  Freedman is one of the founders of the organization, and he is the author of two books on the business applications of the science of emotion, At the Heart of Leadership and INSIDE CHANGE. His web site is http://www.JMFreedman.com

About the Data

This data comes from the SEI, Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment, a normative measure of EQ skills; on the SEI, the median score is 100, with a standard deviation of 15, much like a traditional IQ test.  For this analysis, we used an international dataset collected primarily in corporate environments over the last five years in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East — in English, Italian, Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese *.  For this analysis, the data was scored using a special global norm to allow a more accurate comparison between the various languages.  (*The SEI is also available in French, German, Arabic, Japanese, and Bahasa Indonesia.)

 

One of the basic facts about emotion:  Feelings motivate.

Fear motivates protection.

Anger motivates attack.

Joy motivates connection.

Disgust motivates rejection.

Trust motivates stepping forward.

Sorrow motivates withdrawing.

Surprise motivates stopping to asses.

Anticipation motivates looking forward.

There are myriad combinations of these expressed in thousands of words for feelings.

 

One of the basic facts about business life:  Meetings are… suboptimal.  

We have a lot of (probably WAY too many) fairly useless meetings.  They don’t GO anywhere, people leave having heard, but not feeling heard.  The leave with ideas but not meaning.

 

Put the two facts together:  

In your next meeting, how do you want people to feel?

 

If you consider that every meeting is an opportunity give a gift of emotion — emotion that will create some value for the person, the team, the organization — what gift will you give?

I was talking to a colleague about a project we’ll launch for her senior leadership team and the importance of framing this work in terms of strategic value.  In our work, normally that means, “How do we increase and leverage emotional capital to create enduring value?”  It’s about strengthening the leadership capacity to foster a vibrant organizational climate to deliver superlative value to clients.  Powerful, but I’d like to simplify… a lot.

My son, Max, has become very excited about fencing, and I explained to him that strategy means:

You’re at “point A” and there’s stuff going on around you.  You want to get to “point B”… so you make a plan and go for it… and then do it again.

So strategy boils down to four simple ingredients:

1. Where are we now?
2. What’s going on around us?
3. Where do we want to go and why?
4. How do we move forward?

The point of our consulting work is that if you actually want real answers to these questions, in addition to the business and rational side, we have to look at the human, emotional dynamics.

And… this is where it gets “un-simple” again.  Thinking about this as an expert on emotions, som several “minor” challenges emerge…

1. It’s hard to know where you are if you don’t have self-awareness and you only look at the surface of the situation.
2. What’s going on around is changing all the time, and if you’re not tuning in constantly, your plans fail before you start.  Especially in a VUCA environment *
3. When you’ve got 100 people, you probably have 200 destinations and 300 reasons why – somehow you must create alignment or entropy takes over.
4. You might have a logical, sensible plan on how to move… but people are not just logical and sensible.

* VUCA = originally a military acronym for conditions of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Yes, that’s another word for “these days” and it makes planning a wee bit harder.

Amazing how such a simple idea is so confounding.  The good news is that we CAN measure and plan for these.

PS.  Here’s a very brief article I wrote with a simple graphic that could capture strategy!

I was telling a friend about a recent meeting with a senior leadership team: “It was a great meeting because they immediately ‘got’ that the way they treat their people affects the way their people treat their customers.”

My friend (who is very non-corporate) laughed, “Even I get that!”

This seems like an incredibly obvious equation — Better Leadership Interaction = Better Employee Interaction = Better Customer Experience = Better Results.

If we recognize that this chain is largely about emotion, we could also write it as the chain of emotional capital:

Leader EQ -> Workplace Climate -> Customer Delight -> Win.

It’s a blinding flash of the obvious… and now we can MEASURE all these steps… yet it is phenomenally rare in organizational life.

Why?  Perhaps we get caught up in the flurry of “stuff to do” and quarterly pressures, and we forget that ALL leadership is people-leadership.  Perhaps we forget that ALL relationships are an emotional exchange — and that ultimately the value of an enterprise can be more accurately measured by emotional capital than by EBITDA.

Do you see organizational leaders following this “golden rule” (treat your employees as you wish your customers will be treated)?  Why doesn’t it happen more often?

Giving is an art, an essence of existence and a test of our character. It asks deep questions about our relationship to others, to ourselves and to time itself. To give well, appropriately and often is to establish a beautiful symmetry between the part of us that wishes to be generous and the part of the world that is surprised and happy to receive.

– David Whyte
from Readers’ Circle Essay, “Giving”
©2011 David Whyte

I just saw this quote on Facebook (thank you Tom Wojick) and it reminded me about this article: “The Paradox of Giving”

What do you truly want?  And what would you give to find that?

Emotional intelligence is a resource we all have, but it’s hard to use this capability without a process, a roadmap.  In the Six Seconds Model of Emotional Intelligence, there are three “pursuits” forming a process framework that enables people to be more effective by tapping the power and wisdom of feelings.  The first two pursuits are reasonably straightforward, albeit enormously challenging to accomplish consistently.  The third is a paradox that many find contradictory… yet it’s what makes the model transformational.

The more I think about this, the more I realize how powerful it is to shift to this way of being in the world.  Not an easy step, especially in a world that is so focused on taking and having.

It’s hard to summarize all the insights from the 24EQ Virtual Conference.  We’ve received hundreds of emails and several hundred people responded to our post-event feedback survey; many shared their key learnings there and I’ll attempt to synthesize it later.

This is the first event we’ve done where we attempted to use Twitter actively (follow me @eqjosh) — to give a flavor of the event, I copied/pasted a search of Tweets on #24EQ below.  It’s long!  But bite-sized… and gives a sense of many key ideas that arose in the 24 hour program.  The most recent tweet is first.

Thanks to all these tweeters!

ellenfweber9:19pm via TweetDeck

Last night I was talking with Daniel Goleman about our upcoming webinar during the 24EQ Virtual Conference — his session is leveraging emotional intelligence to create environmental and business sustainability.  Here’s how to sign up – http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3471067055 – some seats are still available and the event is free. I highly recommend this!

Dan mentioned that people who are happier consume less.  Yet so often people talk about “retail therapy” and how shopping makes them feel better.  It reminded me of this photo I took this week at a mall here in Kuala Lumpur – shown to the right.  ”Shoes make me happy.  I’m superficial.  Whatever.”

But Goleman’s data suggests otherwise.  What do you think?  Can real happiness be found in a shoe shop?  ”I’ll take a pair of the gold slides, size happy…”

I suspect that people, especially women in this case, are being “sold a bill of goods” along with the shoes — with a pervasive message that the yearning we feel from a void in meaning and connection is a signal to shop.

Last week in Japan my translator asked, “when you say, ‘reflection,’ what do you mean?”  Midori said she couldn’t find a Japanese word that matched what I seemed to be talking about.

It’s something I love about travel — and about parenting — I have opportunities to look at something so familiar, so known, that I don’t know it.  ”Reflection” is a word I use often, it’s part of our Change MAP and central to the skills of Know Yourself in the Six Seconds Model.  But what does it actually mean?  Midori said that when she looked it up, “reflection” seemed to focus on something mirror-like, an image showing itself again in a smooth surface.  Apparently it comes from Latin “reflex” or “bending back.”  What does this have to do with noticing one’s own reactions?

When we look in a mirror, we see ourselves – not the real self, but an image that we can step back and observe.  Perhaps this is akin to a state of internal reflection:  Rather than being in the movie, we are watching the movie.  A process of noticing, of “bending back” to see oneself.

The paradox is that in the process of self-reflection, I believe we are trying to see what’s “more real” than what’s apparent on the surface.  Maybe though the lens of a mirror we’re able not just to see, but to study?

What do you think?  What does “reflection” mean in the context of self-awareness?  What does this internal seeing have to do with mirror-like-ness?

From a gift of jet lag, I’ve been up early the last few days and have enjoyed long walks around Ginza, here in Tokyo.  I love watching this huge city waking up.  Since the tsunami, Japan’s economy is slowly recovering. As in many places in the world in this “hopefully post-recessionary” period, it’s a challenge.  Particularly in light of their long rollercoaster of prosperity and challenge in the last decades, the current slow economy is weighing on people.

The complexities of global economic recovery are far beyond my scope, but what I know is that ultimately the fuel for all enterprise is human spirit.  And on my walks, I’ve seen many signs that tell me Japan is on track.

While there are certainly many very serious ways of analyzing the human side of economies, what I’m observing are “small” interactions that signal something deep and important about the future.

People greet strangers in the elevator.

It’s not everyone, but often strangers say hello, “O-hayo goziamasu” and bow.  In many big cities, there is a destructive level of dehumanization, people don’t see one another.  Here these small moments of greeting signify a deep cultural value for shared humanity.  When people remember that we’re all in the lifeboat together, that interdependence creates support and strength.

The workers in the garden perform calisthenics together.

In crisis, we tend to become totally task focused, totally results driven.  The heroic call to arms has value, but it’s not a sustainable.  These small rituals of “warming up” show a culture where the process is valued along with the product.  Yes, we need results, but economic success is a marathon, not a sprint.

People laugh at little.

Two people talk at once, or step into an elevator together, and they laugh – even giggle.  While Japanese business people tend to appear extremely serious (dressed in the ubiquitous black suit and somewhat stoic expression), joy is just around the corner.  People here have a ready smile, and this sparkle generates connection and energy.

Children are cherished.

There are not a huge number of babies here, but when you see one, it’s also easy to see the joy and regard young children are given.  People stop and smile and wave — and seem genuinely grateful for each new life.  This represents a fundamental optimism and valuing of the future, which is the catalyst for all change.

Lights are dimmed.

Over a year after the tsunami, here in this huge city, there are many lights and escalators left off, and aircon is set to a more modest temperature.  People are willing to sacrifice their person comfort for the greater good.  In the end, change requires not just good intention, but commitment.  It is work to make a better future.

 

It’s a fascinating place, and these is so much to say — but I hope these observations serve to spark your thoughts about signs of human spirit in the economy wherever you are walking.