EQ in Four Questions
David Caruso, Ph.D., one of the founding fathers of research and practice with regard to Emotional Intelligence, once commented about the plethora of EQ models and assessment tools: “Emotional intelligence is sort of a Rorschach, it means whatever you want it to mean.” Got a favorite theory? Call it EQ and make sales, because EQ is hot! But those of us who want to help clients achieve sustainable behavior change know that our methods need to have a strong scientific foundation for our work. Otherwise, our efforts become pretty much trial and error. Clients shouldn’t have to pay for expertise without foundation. There are three models of EQ which, in my opinion, have made serious efforts to build adequate theory, which has then been tested by rigorous and extensive research. I usually write about the model measured by the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0, which defines EQ as a set of…