Once upon a time good grades were all that counted. Times have changed. Ever wonder why that guy who dropped out of high school is at the helm of a multi-million dollar company while a certified “genius” mops floors at the local high school? The difference could be what is known as Emotional Intelligence (EI).

Daniel Goleman, in Working with Emotional Intelligence, describes emotional intelligence as “the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships."

A set of competencies that differentiate individuals with Emotional Intelligence has been identified by Goleman. The competencies fall into four clusters:

Self-Awareness: Capacity for understanding one's emotions, one's strengths, and one's weaknesses.
Self-Management: Capacity for effectively managing one's motives and regulating one's behavior.
Social Awareness: Capacity for understanding what others are saying and feeling and why they feel and act as they do.
Social Skills: Capacity for acting in such a way that one is able to get desired results from others and reach personal goals.

For a person to have effective social skills, they must have command of the first three clusters. Competency in the last cluster drives organization performance. This is what effective leaders use to inspire organizations to greatness, that salespeople use to build strong and profitable customer relationships, and that employees who deal with customers every day use to delight customers.

Find out what your Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ) is with this quiz!