• Goleman, Daniel: Inteligencia ecológica. Barcelona : Kairós, 2009

Después de los éxitos de Inteligencia emocional e Inteligencia social, Daniel Goleman introduce el revolucionario concepto de inteligencia ecológica: la comprensión de los impactos ecológicos ocultos y la determinación de mejorarlos.

Independientemente de que seamos un simple consumidor, el jefe de compras de una empresa o un director de producto, el conocimiento del impacto ecológico de lo que adquirimos, fabricamos o vendemos es fundamental para tomar decisiones más acordes con nuestros valores y, así, influir positivamente en nuestro futuro y en el del planeta.

Para los consumidores, la inteligencia ecológica es la llave que nos permite inclinar la balanza del mercado hacia ingredientes, tecnologías y diseños que respeten nuestros valores. Para las empresas, la inteligencia ecológica significa modificar los procesos industriales teniendo en cuenta sus consecuencias medioambientales. Para el empresario del siglo XXI el reto consiste en lograr la “transparencia radical” del producto. De esta manera, el mundo del comercio puede ir corrigiéndose, no sólo en nombre de la responsabilidad, sino también en el de su búsqueda del beneficio, desbloqueando al fin el viejo antagonismo entre los objetivos de la empresa y los del interés público.

Inteligencia ecológica aporta las claves necesarias para convertirnos en jugadores activos en determinar el curso del planeta, de nuestra salud y de nuestro destino común.

- Web de Daniel Goleman

- Obras de Goleman en la biblioteca

“La inteligencia emocional es dos veces mas importante que las destrezas tecnicas y el coeficiente intelectual para desarrollarse eficazmente dentro de la gerencia de una gran o pequeña empresa…”

Con este precepto Daniel Goleman, nos explica la importancia de su teoria de la inteligencia emocional, para ello la lectura de este libro es de vital importancia para todos aquellos que algun dia quieren obtener cargos gerenciales o tambien posicionarse dentro de uno.

Para poder descargar el Libro Completo, Haga Click Aquí

El determinar si el hombre es bueno o malo por naturaleza se convirtió en uno de los debates más longevos, polémicos e interesantes de la historia. Desde el siglo XVII  el filósofo ingles, Thomas Hobbes, aseguro que;

“El hombre es malo por naturaleza” y “que la vida en nuestro estado natural, ausente de cualquier gobierno fuerte, es “desagradable, brutal y breve”, una guerra de todos contra todos”.

Uno de los primeros pensadores que se animaron a refutar las ideas de Hobbes, fue el también ingles John Locke;

“El hombre es bueno, es la sociedad quien lo ha corrompido”.

En este post y basándome en “La inteligencia Social” de Daniel Goleman, apoyaremos, con argumentos, la idea de que; no somos tan malos como Hobbes pensaba.

Empatía es un término muy joven, apenas en 1989 la palabra Einfüblung fue traducida por primera vez al ingles (y de ahí al español). La traducción literal es “sentir dentro”, es decir, que empatía es la capacidad que tenemos para “ponernos en los zapatos de alguien” emocionalmente:

“En la psicología de hoy en día, la palabra “empatía” es utilizada con tres sentidos diferentes: conocer los sentimientos de otra persona, sentir lo que esa persona siente y responde compasivamente a la aflicción de otro. Estas tres variantes de empatía parecen describir una secuencia 1-2-3: te veo, siento contigo y entonces actúo para ayudarte” (Goleman 88).

La empatía es entonces una característica del ser humano (no es exclusiva de nuestra especie) que debe ser tomada en cuenta para este debate, por lo general la desarrollamos desde pequeños, cuando un niño le pregunta a su madre:

-¿Por qué llora ese niño? Eso es empatía. “Virtualmente desde el nacimiento, cuando los bebes ven u oyen a otro bebé llorando angustiado, comienzan a llorar, como si ellos también estuvieran angustiados. Pero rara vez lloran cuando oyen una grabación de su propio llanto. Después de los catorce meses de edad, los bebes no sólo lloran cuando oyen llorar a otro, sino que tratan, de alguna manera, de aliviar el sufrimiento del otro” (Goleman 84)

Por diferentes razones hay niños a los que les cuesta más trabajo generar esta cualidad, depende en gran medida del entorno en el que te desarrolles, si vives cerca de la violencia seguramente tu capacidad de empatía será menor, pero esto se debe a otra ley natural del ser humano; “nos adaptamos para sobrevivir”, en un barrio rudo, hay que ser rudo (Mentes criminales. La falta de empatía un cáncer en la sociedad).

Lo anterior nos dice que; la naturaleza nos provee de una capacidad para preocuparnos por los de nuestra misma especie, son las circunstancias de la vida y la sociedad las que determinan nuestro nivel de empatía.

Para terminar este trabajo que demuestra que Goleman se inclina más por la postura de Locke en este debate, los dejo con un ejemplo en donde el mismo Hobbes demuestra empatía por el sufrimiento de otro:

“Un día, caminando por las calles de Londres se encontró con un viejo que pedía limosna. Hobbes, conmovido, inmediatamente le dio una limosna generosa.

Cuando un amigo le preguntó si habría hecho lo mismo de no haber una máxima religiosa o principio filosófico sobre ayudar a los necesitados, Hobbes respondió que sí. Su explicación: sintió dolor cuando vio la aflicción del hombre, y así como darle la limosna al hombre aliviaría en parte su sufrimiento, “también me alivia a mi” (Goleman 90).

Muchos me preguntan cómo pueden impactar su entorno, como pueden contribuir a la construcción de una mejor sociedad. Creo que desde la educación y desde la casa, en verdad se puede hacer mucho. Todos los que tenemos contacto con niños pequeños y jóvenes podemos ayudar enseñando, promoviendo y predicando con ejemplo de preocuparnos por los demás, de interesarnos por sus problemas y su sufrimiento: “Cuando nos concentramos en nosotros mismos, nuestro mundo se contrae mientras que nuestros problemas y nuestras preocupaciones crecen. Pero cuando nos concentramos en los demás, nuestro mundo se expande (Goleman 83).

José Manuel Guevara S.

Fuentes:

Goleman, Daniel. La Inteligencia Social. Editorial Planeta 2006.

Well, as I just mentioned to someone who asked about the cruise…

“Cruise went BEYOND my wildest expectations, met a ton of people, and must admit, the Cruise Ship environment was a GREAT bonding ‘framework’ as we spent those hours together, sharing, learning, and getting to know each other well…” (Me, 2009)

So as I got this Tweet via TweetDeck (as again, I’m trying to ILLUSTRATE the value of the medium to some stragglers in my FB list…)

Ryan Wynia

@RyanWinya: Hey Francisco! live show tonight if you can catch it! 6PM central! http://ow.ly/EmTo #BYOBSHOW

So I went there… and here’s what I found!

“We’ll be joined by a special guest, Kittie Watson, PH.d. One of Firebone’s key strategic partners, Kittie’s expertise in organizational communication, strategy, coaching and leadership has impacted Fortune 500 corporations such as SonyBMG, Entergy and Pfizer. Kittie creates opportunities for stimulating dialogue, innovation and change for clients across the globe. She has helped clients develop compelling messages around strategy and is focused on building more inclusive cultures. She designed several thought-provoking diversity initiatives including The A.R.T. of Diversity, ROI: Including and Valuing Talent, Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, and Filling the Pipeline: Women in Leadership. Watch the show live streaming or listen live streaming at 560WIND.com” (BYOB.COM, 2009)

And of course, here are the links…

Here… save you the clicking OUTSIDE the “Facebook Experience”… (thinkin’ of Mike Haines!)

http://byobshow.com/?page_id=2

and/or (above is UStream)… Read More

http://www.560wind.com/

(Gotta admit, AM sounds ‘great’ when streamed!… saved my day in terms of the #Gators game being PPV OR only at ESPN360.com)

And yeah, why not? more of what I saw/found at Ryan’s Blog…

Spindle Neurons - Mapping the Social Brain

Here… let me save you the jump over there… BUT do put it on your calendars! (your Neurons SHALL appreciate it!)

“Who you are won’t reach anyone if it doesn’t take root at a behavioral level within the organization. Brand culture is the sociological rituals and organizational style that bring brand beliefs, values, promise and personae to life. Culture is a continual process that involves senior management, management, and employees in every aspect of the organization to structure people, process, and technology for enduring brand success. When a brand consistently makes it from the board room to the break room, it reaches the fingerprints of an organization so every touch with stakeholders is distinctively, uniquely a hallmark or the brand.” (ibid, 2009)

Gotta love the DEPTH of some of my new #Tweeps!!!!…

[SPINDLE NEURONS DANCE THE CHACHA WITH 'EM MIRROR ONES!.... SAAAAABOR!]

Need I say more? LOGON! and CALL IN!

Madrid España, algún día del mes de marzo 2007. Para aquel entonces yo me encontraba estudiando en la Universidad del Rey Juan Carlos como parte de un intercambio universitario. El campus al que yo asistía estaba en Vicalvaro a 40 minutos en metro, aproximadamente, de Sol (Centro de la capital española). A lo largo de casi dos meses, cada vez que yo quería ir al centro de la ciudad o a visitar a una amiga, debía tomar el metro. Con mp3 a la mano y audífonos bien colocados me desconectaba de mi entorno escuchando alguna de las playlist durante todo el recorrido.

Un día, a punto de salir del piso (departamento que alquile por algunos meses) me percate de que el mp3 se había quedado sin batería. Yo sentía que necesitaba algo en que ocuparme durante mi viaje en metro, pensaba que si iba solo con mis pensamientos, en algún momento el viaje se volvería largo o aburrido. A sí que tome el libro que estaba leyendo en aquel entonces, “Ensayo sobre la Ceguera” de José Saramago.

Subí al metro, busque un asiento, abrí la mochila, tome el libro y empecé a leer. A los diez minutos llegue a la que, desde mi particular punto de vista, es la parte más dramática de la obra de Saramago; Aún en cuarentena, las mujeres estaban por hacer su primer viaje al otro cuarto para conseguir comida. Las palabras del autor causaron emociones que se vieron reflejadas en mi rostro inmediatamente. Cuando seguramente un expresión cercana al miedo a pareció en mi rostro, escuche:

-¿Qué estás leyendo?

Me tarde unos segundos en reaccionar, pero al fin, baje el libro y vi enfrente de mí a una señora de 60 años aproximadamente,  una tímida sonrisa y un semblante de tranquilidad, ella repitió:

-¿Qué estás leyendo? ¿Por qué haces esos gestos? A lo que respondí:

-“Ensayo sobre la ceguera”. La señora esbozo otra sonrisa y me pregunto en qué parte del libro iba, yo respondí. A partir de ese momento no volví a abrir el libro, casualmente la señora también iba a Sol, así que hicimos todo el viaje juntos, platicando e intercambiando puntos de vista, primero sobre “Ensayo sobre la ceguera” y después de muchos temas más. Durante media hora más sostuve una agradable plática de literatura, cultura y  créanme, que aprendí mucho.

Daniel Goleman dice en su obra “La inteligencia Social” que los humanos: “estamos fabricados, conectados para relacionarnos…Durante esos enlaces neurológicos, nuestros cerebros se entregan a una danza emocional, una danza de sentimientos” (Goleman 9). Todos los días que yo subía al metro con mi mp3 e ignoraba a todas las personas concentrado en mi música, mis pensamientos y mis problemas, estaba impidiendo conectarme con otros individuos. Al no socializar, negaba una parte de mi naturaleza humana:”somos el animal social par excellence” (Goleman 85)

En la actualidad es bastante común encontrar personas que prefieren conectar con la música, con la computadora, con los videojuegos o que se aíslan socialemente obsesionándose con su trabajo. Por un lado esto es peligroso, los humanos necesitamos de una cuota de sentimientos y contacto social que la tecnología no nos puede dar: “no nos pueden abrazar o besar por internet”.

Por otro lado, nos estamos perdiendo de una de las cosas más increíbles que tiene la vida: “Vincularnos con una mayor parte de la humanidad”. Así como yo aprendí de literatura, cultura e historia de España gracias a la señora con la que platique en el metro, todos podemos aprender algo del taxista que hoy nos lleva al trabajo, del mesero que nos atiende o del abuelo, que muchas veces solo saludamos y no escuchamos. Lo que podemos aprender cada individuo solo espera la oportunidad de ser escuchado.

José Manuel Guevara S.

Goleman, Daniel. La Inteligencia Social. Editorial Planeta 2006.

“Comienza a manifestarse la madurez, cuando sentimos que nuestra preocupación es mayor por los demás que por nosotros”

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Para nadie es un secreto que la forma como vemos e interpretamos el mundo viene determinado por la cultura en que nacemos y los “valores” que nos inculcan desde pequeños. Aunque a decir verdad, cada día compruebo que lo que hacen es adoctrinarnos. Y en esa tarea participan por igual y diligentemente la familia, la escuela, la iglesia, la comunidad y como no, los grandes medios.

Hasta cierta edad, (aunque algunos mueren sin darse cuenta) uno cree que es libre y  que sus convicciones y creencias son legítimas. De hecho, no son pocos los mitos que nos venden como verdades irrefutables. Después se entera uno, que todo era un tremendo cuento. Ahí es cuando comienza la verdadera formación.

En mi caso, debo reconocer, que hasta que me gradué de una universidad de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, mi visión del mundo era bastante ingenua y sobre todo romántica.

De toda esa cantidad de copias que me toco leer para acceder al titulo de Psicologo, no recuerdo autores que realmente me hayan impactado. Salvo Skinner con su Walden II no puedo decir que alguna de las estrellas de la psicología haya influenciado en mi pensamiento.

Ya después de graduado fue que vine a descubrir a un Psicologo y pedagogo colombiano que hoy considero pieza fundamental en mi formación, es de esos “especímenes” que rara vez brotan por estas tierras, sobre todo en el gremio de la psicología. Me refiero a Miguel de Zubiria Samper.

Alguna vez había escuchado de él porque se trataba de uno de los fundadores de un instituto dizque para niños “superdotados”, esos que, debido a su genialidad, supuestamente debían recibir una formación especial, diferente a la masa adoctrinada del sistema educativo formal.

Confieso que esa idea me parecía bastante odiosa, la interpretaba como una cuestión medio elitista que en vez de admiración causaba escozor. Por eso en ese entonces, De Zubiria no me decía nada.

Pero no fue sino hasta que hice un diplomado en la Fundación Internacional de Pedagogía Conceptual Alberto Merani, cuando conocí al De Zubiria que hoy tiene su cuota en mi autodidacta formación.

Hasta entonces había sido muy tímido mi acercamiento a la pedagogía, de hecho, conocía muy poco sobre modelos pedagógicos. Sin embargo, tan pronto empecé a indagar sobre Pedagogía Conceptual, quede impregnado y hoy es determinante en mis actos educativos, aprendí a leer de una forma mas sistemática, a sacarle mayor provecho a la lectura.

Reconozco su influencia también en mi afán por formar Seres Humanos competentes afectivamente y talentosos. Comparto igualmente su cruzada por invitar a los padres a convertirse en unos verdaderos FORMADORES de sus hijos. Aunque aquí tengo un problema por resolver, ya que he visto que mientras las personas sigan siendo esclavos de un sistema que les obliga a trabajar para sobrevivir en detrimento de la unidad familiar, poco será lo que se pueda hacer. Pero bueno, eso es harina de otro costal.

Cuando terminé el diplomado en el Merani (que por cierto no aprobé, porque según ellos no contaba con el perfil de un pedagogo conceptual, aunque debo “agradecerles” que por lo menos me dieran certificado de asistencia, así fuera por ventanilla) procedí a comprarme la obra (15 libros) del que denomino el segundo De Zubiria. Aquel que se diò cuenta de que el talento y el genio no es una cuestión genética, sino, de identificación, desarrollo y cultivo que toma años en perfeccionar. Aquel que se volcó sobre la dimensión afectiva del ser humano y que hoy le apuesta al posicionamiento de una pedagogía y psicología afectiva tan necesaria por estas tierras.

Para entender este cambio recomiendo leer “El Mito de la Inteligencia” una especie como de acto de contrición en el que expía sus culpas intelectuales.

A través de De Zubiria conocí a ALVIN TOFFLER. Así, con mayúsculas por que su obra es monumental. Es una lastima que en la academia no le muestren a uno este tipo de autores, a veces pienso que los psicólogos vivimos de espalda a la realidad, mas afanados  por nuestra propia subsistencia y por servir dócilmente a los que buscan personal barato para satisfacer sus “metas empresariales”

No pretendo echar vainasos, pero no hay labor mas alienante que la de los reclutadores de personal, esos que revisan hojas de vida a granel y que luego de desechar terminan picando en sofisticadas maquinas donde van a parar las ilusiones de cientos de desempleados.

Pero bueno, estábamos hablando de mis guías intelectuales.

Decía que conocí a Toffler por intermedio De Zubiria. Y que grato me ha resultado este descubrimiento, tan es así, que me di a la tarea de devorar toda su obra, y tanta ha sido su influencia que hoy hablo dizque de “COMPETENCIAS DE TERCERA OLA” en una clara alusión al paradigma pregonado  por este autor.

Digamos que para tener una comprensión más sistémica de la sociedad es necesario estudiar su obra. Desde “El Shock del Futuro” hasta “La Revolución de la Riqueza” pasando por “La  Tercera Ola”, “El Cambio del Poder”, “La Política en la Tercera Ola” y “Las Guerras del Futuro”.

Llama la atención que toda la obra de Toffler tiene una consistente línea teórica. Es como un gran libro dividido en varios tomos y publicado a lo largo de 40 años de producción intelectual.

La tesis es muy sencilla. La humanidad ha pasado por tres grandes periodos de evolución y desarrollo. Una Ola Agrícola, una segunda industrial, y la que estamos viviendo, que él denomina como la Tercera Ola o del Conocimiento o de la Información en la que internet es determinante. No pretendo hacer una profunda reseña de su obra, lo que me interesa es dejar constancia de su influencia sobre mi pensamiento.

Casi que en la misma línea, pero más profundo y propositivo se encuentra Jacque Fresco. Un autentico REVOLUCIONARIO del conocimiento. Un verdadero visionario, el cual es muy probable la historia lo juzgue tan grande como lo fueron los arquitectos de esta sociedad industrial agonizante.

A decir verdad, conocí primero a Toffler que a Fresco, pero ambos están íntimamente relacionados. Aunque no veo en la obra del primero una clara alusión al advenimiento de una economía basada en recursos, la cual es la propuesta del segundo. De acuerdo a mi análisis, Toffler plantea una tercera fase de la civilización pero incluso en el marco mismo del capitalismo. En cambio Fresco, es muy claro en afirmar que la solución a los patologías sociales que padece la sociedad de hoy (pobreza, guerras, desempleos, hambre, miseria y largo etc) no son políticos ni ideológicos, sino técnicos.

Gracias a Toffler y luego a Fresco, pude superar la dicotomía entre izquierda y derecha, la verdadera lucha política será entre quienes insisten en mantener el sistema tal y como esta, con todas sus aberraciones y patologías; y quienes nos empeñamos en la construcción de una nueva civilización guiada por un nuevo paradigma mas acorde a nuestras realidades actuales y futuras.

Quien no tenga una apertura de pensamiento y no esté preparado para despertar, abrir los ojos y tomar conciencia de lo aberrante del sistema en el que vivimos, no puede acercarse a Jacque Fresco. No lo entendería, sus sólidos y contundentes argumentos en contra del sistema monetario y de instituciones como la religión y la política podrían revolver los estómagos de más de uno.

Por el contrario, si usted es conciente que vivimos en un sistema que nos adoctrina y manipula soterradamente desde nuestra cuna hasta nuestra tumba, pues Jacque Fresco es el personaje adecuado para conocer como funciona la maquinaria de este sistema y lo más importante, como se debe actuar para ayudar a despertar conciencias.

La influencia de Fresco y su obra sobre mi formación intelectual es absolutamente determinante. Al punto de considerar muy seriamente la posibilidad de difundir sus propuestas e incluirlas en mi proyecto de vida.

Aunque hay un aspecto en el que no estoy de acuerdo con Fresco. Según su análisis, para que una economía basada en recursos se convierta en una alternativa viable a la economía monetaria, esta última debe colapsar. Pienso que se hace necesario un modelo económico de transición y es la economía altruista, específicamente una economía de donaciones una buena opción.

En fin, todavía estoy aterrizando, pero el puerto es demasiado atractivo.

Otro personaje cuya obra –primera empírica y después teórica- me ha impactado considerablemente es Muhammad Yunus, Premio Nobel de Paz y fundador del Banco Grammen. A mi juicio el más importante Emprendedor Social del mundo. Sus dos libros, “El Banquero de los pobres” y “Un Mundo sin Pobreza” son una fuente de inspiración para dedicar la vida a la creación de empresas sociales que tenga como propósito el cumplimiento de objetivos sociales que vayan más allá de la maximización de beneficios y el mero afán de lucro.

De hecho pienso que las empresas sociales, de la mano de la economía altruista y la economía de las donaciones pueden convertirse en puntas de lanza hacia la construcción de una civilización que opere bajo una economía basada en recursos.

Jacque Fresco, Mohammad Yunus, Alvin Toffler y Miguel de Zubiria, son mis cuatro grandes guías intelectuales. Sin embargo, muy cerca suyo y con sobrados meritos, también bebo de la fuente de Daniel Goleman y Andrès Perez Ortega, un emprendedor aguerrido digno de admirar quien esta posicionando en España y de paso en América Latina una filosofía propia de Tercera Ola, El Personal Branding o Marca Personal. Concepto que me ha resultado bastante enriquecedor y apropiado para estos tiempos en los que diferenciarse y dar lo mejor de si al servicio de los demás se convierte en una necesidad de supervivencia.

Por ultimo, hay unos personajes cuyo trabajo gira entorno a la sociología de la red que yo denomino como “Guerreros del Conocimiento”. Jóvenes de 30 y 40 años que están revolucionando la forma como se produce conocimiento y sobre todo, como se comparte ese conocimiento. Autores que han dado su obra al Dominio Publico y buscan algo mucho más trascendente que el metálico. Sin duda alguna, su obra será de gran aporte para mí y para quienes a través mío llegue a ellos. (Entre estos guerreros destaco a David de Ugarte, de quien estoy aprehendiendo todo lo relacionado con las redes distribuidas y la sociología de la redes)

Mi generación tiene dos opciones. O cumple su tarea como replicador del sistema y lleva una vida dócil al servicio de instituciones caducas como la religión, la política y el sistema financiero; o por el contrario se empeña en despertar primero, en salir de esta MATRIZ tan potente, y ayuda a despertar a los demás en una lirica batalla intelectual por la construcción de una nueva civilización que deje un mundo mas vivible para nuestras próximas generaciones.

Finalizo (por ahora) diciendo que tal y como lo señala Fresco “el conocimiento es emergente” esta en constante evolución, por lo tanto, es muy probable que a esta lista de influencias intelectuales se sumen mas guerreros que contribuirán con mi formación y tendrá su cuota en todo lo que pueda llegar a “producir” intelectualmente en los 60 años de vida que me quedan (si es que la parca no me recoge antes de tiempo)

Ca în fiecare an, în luna noiembrie ne întâlnim la Gaudeamus! În perioada 25–29 noiembrie, adică de miercuri până duminică, vă aşteptăm la standul Curtea Veche Publishing, în Pavilionul Central, în acelaşi loc ca şi până acum. De miercuri până vineri ne găsiţi între orele 11:00–20:00, sâmbătă în intervalul orar 10:00–20:00, iar duminică între orele 10:00–16:00. Ne întâlnim cu drag, la Curtea Veche!

 După cum v-a obişnuit deja, Curtea Veche Publishing oferă şi de această dată reduceri substanţiale şi promoţii, special gândite pentru a vă satisface dorinţele şi pentru a acoperi cât mai multe domenii de interes. Veţi putea achiziţiona volumele preferate cu discount-uri ce ajung până la 50%. De asemenea, venim cu noi pachete de cărţi cuprinzând mai multe titluri dintr-o colecţie (cum ar fi seria Jamie Oliver), pachete pentru care veţi beneficia de scăderi consistente de preţuri. Iată deci o ocazie excelentă de a vă completa biblioteca proprie cu titlurile preferate, cu atât mai mult cu cât veţi avea la dispoziţie volume ale căror preţuri încep de la 3 lei.

Curtea Veche Publishing le aduce cititorilor săi, la Gaudeamus, volume ce reprezintă noutăţi editoriale absolute. Sunt cărţi ce s-au bucurat de un mare impact internaţional – originale, îndrăzneţe, adevărate piese de colecţie. Vom continua seria apariţiilor din colecţia Daniel Goleman, ce s-a bucurat întotdeauna de un mare succes, cu un nou volum: Inteligenţa ecologică. Volumul Tăiţei chinezeşti, semnat de Ma Jian, ne prezintă China comunistă ca o bucătărie în care se amestecă ingredientele din care va rezulta o istorie crudă, anecdotică şi suprarealistă.

Misha Glenny, autorul cărţii Crime fără frontiere, şi Tvrtko Vujity, autorul cărţii Călătorii în infern, vor fi prezenţi pentru lansarea volumelor lor şi pentru întâlnirea cu publicul român – la Gaudeamus, unde îi aşteptăm pe toţi cititorii noştri!

I remember in August of 2004 when I had my first miscarriage, I learned something new. Alright, so this Blog offers more than a few painful big-life events. Good news is that it ain’t over to the fat lady sings and fortunately since I’m a touch plump these days and known to warble on occasion in the shower, maybe the bad-ol-days are nearly over. For now it feels like a completely new life to me.

But what I learned that miscarriage summer was about emotional intelligence. Distracting myself from the intensity of experiencing a miscarriage, I focused on completing my masters thesis instead. Yes, I had been researching for a while, but I finished writing the 140 page petite book in two months. When the woman who was my partner at the time, plus her newborn daughter, and her other nine-year-old daughter returned from their annual summer stay in Germany where they were visiting grandmother, I was ecstatic to see them again. A few days later, I worked from the afternoon and long into the night finishing last minute details on the thesis.

The next morning I woke the family up and we all drove to Hayward, CA first to drop off my finished thesis and then continuing to Monterey to visit my parents. Felt great to complete that project! I was hired one week later at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco and have been teaching there plus DeVry University ever since, cobbling together a pretty decent salary since combined I’m working at least full-time–usually a little more.

And I remember running across Daniel Goleman’s book titled Emotional Intelligence (1995) as one of my research sources. How ecstatic I was to read in that book that the Dali Lama and a well-known scientist collaboratively agreed that previous brain research no longer stood up. Before, the brain was perceived as static, providing each human only so many brain cells to work with. Do the math. Aging means trouble for anyone if this perception were true. Turns out, though, that the brain actually develops new brain cells all along and these are flexible to new learning. Welcome neuroplasticity onto the scene. How powerful I thought to witness anyone change a life simply by learning something new or by changing behavior. Either activity potentially creates different–even new–neurons.

The argument in my thesis essay was simply that students experiencing considerable life challenges before they arrive to a writing classroom, might benefit more from a class integrating assignments linked to the community–sometimes called service-learning. Perhaps old neurons would fire up and maybe even change when challenged by a familiar environment–urban life–while trying to advance at a relatively new skill–writing. Completing the thesis was incredibly fun and hard–kicked my butt and yet I finished. Pregnant again two months later, my second miscarriage kicked in and that had me scrambling emotionally. But I had learned enough while writing the thesis to recognize how my old emotions could change in the future.

Right now I’m engaging in the awesome book Shift Your Mood by Rik Isensee. I write engaging because although the text is only one-dimensional, the words on the the page are interactive. He provides step-by-step guiding tips in each chapter for redesigning yourself experiments. They work! Right now I’m working on letting my guard dog out more often from the kennel where I’ve had her chained for a long, long while. She was created in response to all kinds of life events since I was two-years-old until today where having a guard dog was incredibly useful to stay safe. But today my life is abundantly safe, meaning good ‘ol Fido there can take a hike. Or at least stroll down the block more often. And this is possible because “neurologists have discovered that the brain is capable of far more change than we originally thought. This neuroplasticity–the ability of neurons to create new pathways–suggests that our emotional reactions are not limited to previous patterns, so we can expand our range of responses” (Isensee 4). I’m inspired by the new research and my truly authentic second chance here. For example, this weekend I’m dipping into those cold Pacific Ocean waters because I have always dreamed of learning how to surf.

“Un estudio de la consultora Ernst &Young sobre cuatrocientas compañías de todo el mundo reveló que el 85% de los fraudes cometidos en empresas lo llevan a cabo los propios empleados. El 55% de los actos fraudulentos correspondían a directivos” (Martínez 173).

Son muchos los motivos por los que un ser humano puede mentir o engañar: codicia, ambición, lucha de poder, necesidad, amenazas y placer (solo algunos individuos disfrutan la acción de engañar a los demás, depende directamente de sus niveles de empatía y de la educación. También se puede volver una adicción).

A sí como existen motivos, también existen factores que facilitan e inducen al fraude o el engaño, el principal es: pensar que nunca nos van a atrapar. Dicho lo anterior, la primera regla para evitar el fraude o el engaño es tomar medidas para prevenirlo, ya en los anteriores trabajos sobre este tema hemos revisado algunas estrategias y acciones que nos pueden ayudar.

Para los que son empresarios, es fundamental que se preocupen por su capital humano: “Para el empleado, las crecientes exigencias de productividad y calidad, de adaptación a las nuevas tecnologías, de control, de rendimiento, de formación continua, de asumir más responsabilidades y más tareas son cada vez mayores, y no van siempre acompañadas de contraprestaciones económicas justas” (Martínez 172).  Muchas veces somos nosotros los que propiciamos el engaño, el ser humano suele ser bastante leal cuando recibe un buen trato, cuando se siente parte de una empresa, de una misión y visión, cuando siente que existe una preocupación por su bienestar.

Daniel Goleman hace un interesante ejercicio en su libro “La inteligencia Social”, donde nos habla de cualidades que debe tener un buen jefe: Saber escuchar, alentador, comunicativo, valiente, sentido del humor, muestra empatía, decidido, asume responsabilidad, humilde y comparte autoridad. Sé que es complicado reunir todas estas características pero hay que hacer un ejercicio y preguntarnos ¿Cuáles tengo y cuáles no? Ser un buen jefe va mucho más allá de evitar el fraude, pero si no lo haces por el bien de tu capital humano, hazlo al menos por saber que esto le puede traer muchos beneficios a tu empresa. Es importante no confundir estos atributos, uno nunca debe ”bajar la guardia”.

Otro error de algunos jefes y empresarios es dejar pasar los pequeños engaños por creer que son insignificantes: “ Aunque al pensar en el fraude empresarial se puede imaginar en primera instancia que nos estamos refiriendo a grandes desfalcos o a conductas delictivas importantes, lo cierto es que la empresa debe reaccionar ante las conductas fraudulentas por pequeñas que estas sean, ya que si no lo hace cabe preguntarse dónde está el límite y hasta dónde llegarán los comportamientos deshonestos” (Martínez 173). Claro que no se trata de despedir a la gente por un pequeño error de criterio o ética, hay que valorar la situación pero lo más importante es; crear una cultura de honestidad en la empresa.

Las acciones deshonestas varían y pueden ir desde un importante ejecutivo que da información confidencial a la competencia, hasta la secretaria que utiliza el teléfono para hacer llamadas de larga distancia, todo representa un costo para la empresa.

Hoy en día se han desarrollado sistemas y técnicas de entrevista que permiten detectar  un empleado deshonesto, estas entrevistas están basadas en el análisis de la comunicación verbal, no verbal y la psicología. Las técnicas pueden ir dirigidas a cualquier nivel en la empresa.

Siempre es importante valorar las consecuencias, pros y contras, que va a tener el tomar una medida de este tipo: “El riesgo que se corre es que pueden generar desconfianza en el empleado y crear la impresión de que se les vigila, contribuyendo a empeorar el clima laboral y resultar contraproducentes” (Martínez 178).

Como veíamos al principio de este post el principal factor que induce al engaño o fraude es: el pensar que nunca nos van a atrapar. La mejor manera de prevenir el fraude es que los empleados estén consientes de que se están tomando medidas para erradicarlo.

José Manuel Guevara S.

Fuentes:

Martínez Selva José María. La psicología de la mentira. Paidos 2005.

Det blir ett kort och inte så jättebeskrivande inlägg om min dag idag, för jag är vääääldigt trött.

Men jag kan åtminstone meddela att jag har varit mycket flitig idag.

Direkt efter min frukost började jag skriva på mitt projektarbete. För tillfället omfattar den 15-16 sidor. Resultatdelen är än så länge 5 sidor lång. Men imorgon ska jag lägga till fakta från andra källor också, för idag har jag i stort sätt bara använt mig av Daniel Golemans “Känslans intelligens”, för det är den som det står mest i om EQ  och det känns mest som om alla andra författare har kopierat det han har skrivit…

Men det känns i alla fall bra och nu är jag mycket trött. Så jag tror inte det blir något mer skrivande idag, utan jag fortsätter imorgon och på måndag.
Det jag inte riktigt förstår är vad man ska skriva på diskussionsdelen? Ska det bra vara några frågor? Eller mina egna tankar och funderingar? Hur många rader eller sidor ska den omfatta?

Hej då!

Here is an excerpt from an article Harvard Business Review’s Bronwyn Fryer posted at the Harvard Business bog. If you wish to read the complete article and/or sign up for daily alerts, please visit dailyalert@email.harvardbusiness.org.

Is listening important? “Yes, of course,” you say. But then why would anyone pay thousands of dollars to hear someone speak, and then not listen?

I recently attended the PopTech conference in Camden, Maine, a mind-bending affair attended by several hundred idea junkies, each of whom paid several thousand dollars to (ostensibly) hear what really smart people like Daniel Goleman, Dan Ariely, and Michael Pollan had to say.

* * *

The authors — who conducted several in-depth studies on listening skills — offered some tips for what they call “efficient listening,” by which they mean that the listener doesn’t wander off onto mental side-roads while someone else is speaking. They found that “good listeners regularly engage in four mental activities, each geared to the oral discourse and taking place concurrently with that oral discourse.” Those four processes are:

1. The listener thinks ahead of the talker, trying to anticipate what the oral discourse is leading to and what conclusions will be drawn from the words spoken at the moment.

2. The listener weighs the evidence used by the talker to support the points that he makes. “Is this evidence valid?” the listener asks himself. “Is it the complete evidence?”

3. Periodically the listener reviews and mentally summarizes the points of the talk completed thus far.

4. Throughout the talk, the listener “listens between the lines” in search of meaning that is not necessarily put into spoken words. He pays attention to nonverbal communication (facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice) to see if it adds meaning to the spoken words. He asks himself, “Is the talker purposely skirting some area of the subject? Why is he doing so?”

If you wish to read the complete article and/or sign up for Harvard’s daily alerts, please visit dailyalert@email.harvardbusiness.org.

s Review’s

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Resumen del libro de daniel goleman
Por qué algunas personas parecen dotadas de un don especial que les permite vivir bien, aunque no sean las que más se destacan por su inteligencia? ¿Por qué no siempre el alumno más inteligente termina siendo el más exitoso? ¿Por qué unos son más capaces que otros para enfrentar contratiempos, superar obstáculos y ver las dificultades bajo una óptica distinta?

El libro demuestra cómo la inteligencia emocional puede ser fomentada y fortalecida en todos nosotros, y cómo la falta de la misma puede influir en el intelecto o arruinar una carrera.

La inteligencia emocional nos permite tomar conciencia de nuestras emociones, comprender los sentimientos de los demás, tolerar las presiones y frustraciones que soportamos en el trabajo, acentuar nuestra capacidad de trabajar en equipo y adoptar una actitud empática y social, que nos brindará mayores posibilidades de desarrollo personal.

En un lenguaje claro y accesible, Goleman presenta una teoría revolucionaria que ha hecho tambalear los conceptos clásicos de la psicología, que daban prioridad al intelecto.

Descargar aqui

This has got to be one of my favorite topics – emotional intelligence. Anyone every heard of it? It’s the kind of intelligence that relates to the capacity of someone to acquire and apply emotional information. It is one aspect of something that has been coined as EQ. We will talk about some of the other aspects of EQ later this week.

Emotional Intelligence is a term developed by psychologist Daniel Goleman. He stated that strong emotions are a “call to action” if you will. He also helped to point out the link between emotion and motivation, indicating that the core attribute of a high EQ was the ability to manage and effectively utilize one’s emotional responses.

This is particularly true with gifted children – a population we have already described as being very emotionally intense. If we want these children to be as gifted in their emotional domain as they are in other cognitive areas of their lives, learning to manage emotional reactions is certainly a key.

The impact of a strong emotional intelligence on children is profound – as emotions themselves impact every single aspect of human life. Health, learning, behavior, relationships – every one of these domains are influenced by our emotional competencies. Children in environments that nurture emotional intelligence have been found to have a better frustration tolerance and engage in fewer self-destructive behaviors. Especially true for our intense kiddos.

How can parents and other adults assist in nurturing the emotional intelligence of our kids? Based on current research, as well as some research we will discuss in future posts, the following five domains hold the key to enhancing a person’s development of emotional competencies:

1. Self-awareness.  Dr Phil and others have constantly said “You can’t fix what you don’t know, or won’t acknowledge”.  This is particularly true in the emotional domain.  The first step towards really understanding and developing emotional maturity is being able to recognize one’s own emotions from moment to moment.
2. Self-monitoring.  Once you, or a child, can recognize the moment-to-moment feelings, the next step is managing the emotions.  This includes being able to diffuse and recover from things that are upsetting.
3. Self-motivation.  Emotions are always a call to action in one way or another – a signal that some type of movement or behavior is needed.  Building strong emotional intelligence means being able to harness that power – that call for action – and using it to achieve goals.  Self-motivation requires self-control.  And self-discipline.
4. Empathy.  This refers to the ability to not only understand what another person may be feelings, but to really feel what the other person feels.  For children to development empathy, a critical aspect of emotional intelligence, they need to be at a developmental stage of being able to see the world as separate from themselves.
5. Relationships.  Human beings are social creatures by definition.  Strong EQ requires the ability to empathize.  And, to take that one notch further – to be able to manage the emotions in others through social skills and leadership.  To be able to inspire others.

Over the next few weeks we will explore these five domains more fully – in the hopes of creating a path towards building the emotional intelligence of ourselves and out children.

In Fierce Leadership: A Bold Alternative to the Worst “Best” Practices of Business Today (published by Broadway Books in 2009), Susan Scott devotes a separate chapter to each of six “worst” best practices, juxtaposed with her recommended replacement (indicated in bold face). Here are three, accompanied by my own brief comments:

Susan Scott

Comment: In the “culture of candor” that Warren Bennis, Daniel Goleman, and James O’Toole describe in Transparency, 360-degree face-to-face feedback would be a common, everyday practice.

Worst “Best” Practice: Hiring for Smarts
Fierce Best Practice: Hiring for Smart + Heart

Comment: Cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence are not mutually-exclusive. As Warren Buffett once observed, “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.”

Worst “Best” Practice: Holding People Accountable
Fierce Best Practice: Modeling Accountability and Hold People Able

Comment: I have observed in numerous organizations the problems that result when workers are either have no idea what the model is (if there is one) or have a model they do understand and do not respect it. During exit interviews of highly-valued employees, two of the complaints they most frequently mention are that (a) expectations for their performance were never made clear to them and (b) the criteria for measuring their performance were either unclear or applied unfairly and inconsistently.

EQ: Duygusal Zeka;

1980 yılı sonunda Amerikalı iki psikolog, Yale’den Peter Salovey ve New Hampshire’den John Mayer empati, bilinç ve duygusal denetim gibi insan özelliklerini bir araya toparlamak için etkin bir yol arayışı içine girerler.
Birden karşılarına “duygusal zeka” adında akademik çevrelerce bilinmeyen bir tanımlama çıkar. Daha sonra The New York Times yazarı ve psikolog Daniel Goleman bu kavramı en fazla satış yapan kitabına başlık olarak verir. (Emotional Intelligence; Why it can matter more than IQ)

Şimdilerde bu kavram her yerde kullanılmaya başladı. Magazinlerde “kendi duygusal aklınızı keşfedin” başlıklı testlerde, çeşitli senaryolarda karşımıza çıkar oldu.

yazının devamı—>

Örneğin; uçağınız aniden kötü bir sarsıntı geçirdi; bu durumda…

a- film seyretmeye devam ederim.
b- acil durumda uygulanması gerekenleri uygularım.
c- a ve b’de belirtilenlerin birazını yaparım.
d- bilmiyorum, hiç karşılaşmadım.

tipi sorularla hazırlanan toplam 200 puanlık skorun duygusal bir “dahiyi”, 25 puanlık skorun ise bir “neanderthal” i tanımladığı duygusal sınırlamalara yöneldi. Duygusal zeka ilk olarak akademik çalışmalarda yakalandı; fakat 90′lardan itibaren psikolojik bir sır olma yolunda ilerliyor.

Günümüzde salgın hastalık gibi çevremizi saran vahşi cinayetleri, yürümeyen evlilikleri ve gençlerin uyuşturucuya bağımlılıklarını düşük ahlaka ve karakter çöküşüne bağlamak biraz aptalca ve savunmacı olur. Bu hastalıkları duygusal ve psikolojik bozukluklara bağlamak ise o kadar da yanlış olmaz. Duygusal zeka düzeyini geliştirme olanağı gençleri aynı zamanda yaşamın zorluklarına karşı hazırlama fırsatını da doğurur. Öfkeyi kontrol edebilme, başkalarıyla iletişim kurabilme insanın gelecek başarısı için soyut zekanın ölçülmesi olan IQ sonucundan daha iyi bir gösterge değil mi?

Eğer belirleyici ise, duygusal zeka hakkında iki büyük soru karşımıza çıkar. Duygusal zeka gerçekten anlamlı bir şekilde ölçülebilir mi?
Ölçülebiliyorsa, çocuklardan bu zekayı geliştirebilmeleri için gerekli olan becerileri öğrenmeleri beklenebilir ve duygusal zeka eğitim sistemlerindeki bozukluklar giderilebilir.

“Duygusal zeka” savunucuları, bu soruların yanıtları konusunda hayli iyimserler. Sadece, kavramı IQ gibi rakamsal bir çubuğa indirme de değil, aynı zamanda “marshmallow testi” gibi tahminleme gücü yüksek olan bir aracı olduğundan duygusal zekanın ölçülebilir olduğuna inanıyorlar.

60′larda Stanford’dan psikolog Walter Mischel 4-5 yaş çocuklarından oluşan bir gruba marshmallow (sünger-şeker) verir; 15-20 dakika sonra geri döneceğini, şeker yemeyi bu sürenin sonuna erteleyebilirlerse 2. marshmallow ile ödüllendirilebileceklerini söyler. Yıllar sonra Mischel şeker yeme isteğinin önüne geçebilen ve yemeyi erteleyebilen çocukların, bu şekerleri ilk seferde yiyen çocuklardan duygusal, sosyal ve akademik açıdan daha başarılı ve mücadeleci olduklarını gözlemler.

Goleman, zevkleri erteleme yeteneğini, sorgulayan beynin dürtülere karşı kazandığı bir zafer olarak görür. Fakat bu, yeteneğin duygusal zekayı tam olarak belirlediği açıkça belli değildir. Marshmallow testleri, sonuçta diğer yeteneklerin de bulunduğu bazı karmaşık beyinsel davranışları gizlemektedir.

Mischel daha sonra başarılı çocukların, başka şeyleri de düşünebildiğini keşfeder. Bazılarının şeker yemektense şarkı söylediğini, ayaklarını yere vurduğunu, birbirlerine hikayeler anlattıklarını ve birisinin de elinde şekerle uyuya kaldığını gözlemler.

Bu sonuçlardan, istenilen davranışın ortaya çıkmasında, konulan ödülün mutlak etkisi olmadığı, bununla beraber bireyin karmaşık olan bilişsel yeteneklerinin de ortaya çıkan davranışı belirlediği görülür. Zevkleri erteleme yeteneğinin yanında, kendini bilme, dürtü kontrolü, güdülenme ve empati duygusal zekayı oluşturan yetenekler olabilir.

sünger şeker

Connecticut’tan psikolog Ross Buck ise duygusal zekanın IQ gibi ölçümesi fikrine karşı çıkar. Tanıdık biriyle kurulan iletişim yeteneğinin, bir yabancıyla kurulan iletişimden farklı olduğunu ve her ikisinin kendine özgü duygusal iletişim özelliğine sahip olduğunu iddia eder.

Psikolog Vasudevi Reddy bir çalışmasında, küçük bebeklerdeki utangaçlık ifadelerinin, sosyal bünyeye bağlı olarak farklılaştığını belirtir. Bebekler kafalarını çevirerek, kollarıyla yüzlerini kapatarak veya düz bakışlardan sakınarak utangaçlıklarını belli ederler. Fakat bu davranışları ne zaman ve ne sıklıkla yaptıkları kiminle ve kimlerle beraber olduklarına bağlıdır. Goleman, bu davranışların derecelerini çocuklarda ve gençlerde ölçülebilse bile, onlara bu davranışları kontrol etmeyi öğretmenin kolay olmadığını söyler.

Bu karışıklıklara rağmen, ABD ve Avrupa’da birçok eğitim ve psikolog özel olarak tasarlanmış programlarının yardımıyla duygusal yeteneklerini geliştirmeyi amaçlıyorlar. Davranışları ve tepkileri kontrol etmeyi öğreten dersler veriyorlar. Çocuklara trafik ışığı sistemiyle düşünmeleri öğretiliyor. Sinirden patlayacak durumda olsalar da önce kırmızı ışığı görmeleri, durmaları ve sakinleşmeleri; sarı ışıkta içinde bulundukları sorunu düşünmeleri; yeşil ışıkta ise ılımlı ve saldırgan olmayan bir çıkış yolu bulmaları öneriliyor. zayzay.wordpress.com

Aristoteles, “Herkes öfkelenebilir, bu kolaydır; fakat doğru insana, doğru derecede, doğru zamanda, doğru amaç için ve doğru şekilde öfkelenmek kolay değildir.” der.
Duygusal zeka kavramı insanlara entelektüel başarılarında duygusal yeteneklerinin önemini hatırlatmada yardımcı olabilir, ancak duygusal zekanın nasıl ölçüleceği ve geliştirileceği konusunda Aristoteles’in vardığı noktadan daha ileride olunduğunu söylemek mümkün değil.

Nu har jag äntligen läst ut den över 400 sidor långa boken “Känslans intelligens” av Daniel Goleman.

I efterhand blir jag nästan lite sur på mig själv att jag inte har lånat den här boken tidigare, för den har så mycket användbart för mig och mitt arbete. Men samtidigt blir jag glad över att jag tillslut fick tag på den och att jag har läst den innan jag har börjat skriva på min avhandling.

Jag skulle nästan kunna skriva hela mitt arbete med hjälp av bara den här litteraturkällan, men självfallet ska jag komplettera med information från andra källor.
Men jag vill åtminstone understryka att det är en jättelärorik bok som man MÅSTE läsa om man ska fördjupa sig i EQ. Goleman är som ämnet EQ:s guru eller något liknande.

Det positiva med boken är att den är väldigt lättläst. När jag själv fick syn på den blev jag lite avskräckt, just pga att den är så tjock. Men den är så lång mycket pga att nästintill allting exemplifieras. På så sätt förståd i varje fall jag allting. Man behöver dvs inte vara någon proffesor eller kunnig inom området för att förstå vad Goleman skriver om. Han har verkligen anpassat sin text för alla (i stort sätt).

Nu känner jag i alla fall att jag har läst tillräckligt mycket om mitt ämne för att kunna skriva ett bra arbete om det.

Jag uppdaterar bloggen senare och berättar hur det går med skrivandet!

Trevlig kväll /M

Idag är det torsdag och på denna dag hade jag tänkt hinna skriva en massa på mitt projektarbete. Detta är tyvärr inte fallet. Istället har jag ägnat hela min dag åt att läsa, det jag skulle ha varit färdig med för ca 2 veckor sen, enligt min planering.
Att min planering har spruckit lite beror bland annat på att Daniel Golemans bok “Känslans intelligens” har varit utlånad. Jag skulle ha fått tillgång till den typ nu men det har uppenbarligen inte skett. Och jag kunde inte börja skriva på mitt arbete innan jag hade läst den, för det var Goleman som “kom på” EQ. Eller åtminstone satte namnet på det.
Men istället för att sitta hemma och vänta tog jag saken i egna händer och märkte till min stora lycka att den boken fanns på Huddinges bibliotek. Så jag åkte dit i ilfart och lånade ut den tillsammans med en annan bok som heter ”EQ – livsnödvändig kompetens” skriven av Birgitta Kimber.
Denna bok var väldigt kort (48 sidor) och var en introduktion till ämnet. Trots det mycket användbar.

Golemans verk är däremot betydligt större i omfång, hela 424 sidor. Än så länge har jag tagit mig igenom 161 sidor och tänker läsa ut den ikväll.
Mina åsikter än så länge är att han naturligtvis har en massa vettigt att säga men jag irriterar mig ytterst på hans upplägg. Han har inte särskilt många mellanrum så det blir svårt att ”översiktläsa”.

Idag har jag även läst igenom ett examensarbete skrivet av en student på Linköpings universitet. Arbetet har verkligen motiverat mig och det gav mig en överblick över hur mitt arbete kan se ut.Nu måste jag fortsätta läsa, för mitt mål är att jag ska kunna börja skriva på mitt arbete på allvar inatt eller imorgon. 

/ Mikaela

As an elementary school counselor for over twenty years I have been looking for effective resources to share with students, parents and teachers that are practical and support the teaching of foundational self-regulation skills. Building Emotional Intelligence is the perfect developmental guide for both educators and parents in this respect, as it is very user-friendly and easy to implement with children of all ages.

The chapters are arranged in developmental stages and clearly describe simple activities appropriate for each school age. The actitivies are also provided in the accompanying CD, which is an ingenious way to support their intended application. My students have been loving the self-calming and focusing exercises on the CD, which have stimulated meaningful discussion. After doing one of the listening exercises on the CD this week, one kindergartener said,’When I feel lonely, I listen to my heart beat and then I know I’m not alone’. A guidance counselor couldn’t ask for a more engaged outcome.

Our goal is to share this book with as many teachers and parents in our area as possible. One of our esteemed parents has said about it, ‘This could change the world!’. Thank you, Linda, for this much-needed inner, as well as outer, peace tool.

Product Description
What’s the most important piece of your child’s educational program? If you think it’s math, science, or grammar, you might be overlooking an element that is fast becoming essential in today’s stressful world: cultivating inner resiliency. In Building Emotional Intelligence, pioneering educator Linda Lantieri joins forces with internationally renowned psychologist Daniel Goleman to offer a breakthrough guide for helping children quiet their minds, calm their bodies, and identify and manage their emotions. Now available to the public for the first time, here are Lantieri’s proven techniques arranged according to age group, complemented by a spoken-word CD with exercises presented by Goleman. “We need a new vision of education that includes the mind and the heart,” says Lantieri. With Building Emotional Intelligence, parents, teachers, and caregivers have the tools necessary to help build these invaluable skills in the children they raise.

From the Publisher
“Building Emotional Intelligence will be a welcome resource for parents and teachers seeking to teach children to slow down and listen to their inner voices.”–Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children’s Defense Fund

“We all know kids struggle with stress. Now, Building Emotional Intelligence tells us how to help. Lantieri’s simple but powerful exercises will help you inoculate your child with crucial coping skills to face a range of life challenges.”–Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls

“This is the best book I know to help children learn inner-life practices that can strengthen and sustain them. A moving mix of compassion, skillful means, and wisdom that can support young people growing up in a perilous but still promising world.”–Parker J. Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach

“In this collaboration, Linda Lantieri and Dan Goleman form a dream team to help children discover and refine their deep inner capacities for well-being, calmness, relaxation, and emotional intelligence.Their program is a marvelous way for parents and their children to adventure together to build inner strengths and resiliency in dealing with the many stresses that children face in their daily lives.” –Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D, Founding Director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society

“This book is critically needed at this important time in education in the United States. Schools have been consumed with improving children’s math and literacy skills, but too often have neglected the important impact of strong social and emotional learning skills.”–Carol Comeau, Superintendent, Anchorage School District & Chair, Executive Committee, the Council of Great City Schools

“What a gift Linda Lantieri and Daniel Goleman give to children with Building Emotional Intelligence!The wonderful and appealing exercises and activities promise to cultivate in children a deep reserve of calm and inner resilience that will sustain them now and for the rest of their lives.”–Nancy Carlsson-Paige, author of Taking Back Childhood

“A comprehensive guide with practical exercises for parents and their children to calm the body and focus the mind.Using principles derived from modern brain research, Linda Lantieri has created a novel curriculum that promises to be enormously helpful in building a foundation for a successful life by cultivating skills in managing disturbing emotions, increasing empathy and cooperation and instilling calmness.This book and accompanying CD will be of interest to all parents who wish their children to be happy and successful.”–Richard J. Davidson, Director, Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Click Here to see more reviews about: Building Emotional Intelligence: Techniques to Cultivate Inner Strength in Children [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

Hi there!  How are you this week? I’m good and I’ve been thinking about how important emotional Intelligence (EQ) is in the workplace.

How important EQ is to creating and maintaining a healthy workplace. 

I keep reading about how important EQ is for effective leadership. YES it is!

I also keep reading about how important EQ is for career success (getting the job you want).

What I’ve not read much about is the relationship of EQ and healthy workplaces.

EQ was first made popular by Daniel Goleman. Daniel Goleman has written a number of excellent books on the subject and I would recommend that you read Emotional Intelligence and Working with Emotional Intelligence if you are not familiar with his work.

If you read Working with Emotional Intelligence you’ll discover that the person responsible for first identifying the need for EQ skills at work was David McClelland.

Basically EQ skills fall into the following categories:

• self-awareness (knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses, values, leadership style, communication style etc.)
• self-regulation (managing one’s internal states–anger, fear, frustration etc.)
• motivation (persistence, taking initiative etc.)
• empathy (understanding others, developing others etc.)
• social skills (influence, communication, conflict management, collaboration, team building etc.)

We all have to take responsibility for making improvements in the places we work. If we see someone being mistreated we need to speak up. If we know of someone who is acting unethically we need to “blow the whistle”. If we are not happy with the way our colleagues treat us we have to stand up to them. If people don’t pull their weight we need to raise the issue with them, the team and the boss.

What we need in order to “take responsibility” is to use our EQ skills.

Some organizations are now attempting to hire people with these skills. But organizations also need to help people develop these skills if they don’t have them. 

In fact, this might be the best investment they make!

What if everyone in the organization that you work in had good relationship-building interpersonal skills? What about your team? Sometimes the best teams are the ones in which everyone has the skills to work together–EQ skills.

What if everyone took responsibility for creating an organization that was healthy and productive? Maybe I’m naive but I think that a shift is taking place. Remember the book The Tipping Point?

Well, there is a growing emphasis on EQ and on leadership.

There is an explosion of people stepping up and stepping into leadership roles–in their work, in their communities, in their places of workship, in their schools and around the world.

I believe that we have the power to improve our workplaces but only if we all take some responsibility.

Cheers,

Lesley

I highly recommend 10 Must-Read Articles from HBR. The articles were written by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael Overdorf, Thomas H. Davenport, Peter F. Drucker, Daniel Goleman, Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, John P. Kotter, Theodore Levitt, Michael E. Porter, C. K. Prahalad, and Gary Hamel, $29.95 and published by Harvard Business Press (2009).

The cost of this volume is about half of what the cost would be if all ten articles were purchased separately. There is also the matter of convenience: Having all of them assembled in a single volume. Each of these really is a “classic.”

The various HBR Article Collections save you time by synthesizing and distilling the essence of selected Harvard Business Review articles that, together, help you meet a specific management challenge. One-page overviews draw out the main points. Annotated bibliographies point you to related resources. Includes original HBR articles.

If you read nothing else, read these 10 articles from HBR’s most influential authors: 1) “Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change,” by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael Overdorf, explains why so few established companies innovate successfully. 2) “Competing on Analytics,” by Thomas H. Davenport, explains how to use data-collection technology and analysis to discern what your customers want, how much they’re willing to pay, and what keeps them loyal. 3) “Managing Oneself,” by Peter F. Drucker, encourages us to carve our own paths by asking questions such as, “What are my strengths?” and “Where do I belong?” 4) “What Makes a Leader?” Not IQ or technical skills, says Daniel Goleman, but emotional intelligence. 5) “Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work,” by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, includes practical steps and examples from companies that use the balanced scorecard to measure performance and set strategy. 6) “Innovation: The Classic Traps,” by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, advocates applying lessons from past failures to your innovation efforts. She explores four problems and offers remedies for each. 7) “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” by John P. Kotter, argues that transformation is a process, not an event. It takes years, not weeks, and you can’t skip any steps. “Marketing Myopia,” by Theodore Levitt, introduces the quintessential strategy question, “What business are you really in?” 9) “What Is Strategy?” by Michael E. Porter, argues that rivals can easily copy your operational effectiveness, but they can’t copy your strategic positioning–what distinguishes you from all the rest. 10) “The Core Competence of the Corporation,” by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel, argues that a diversified company is like a tree: the trunk and major limbs its core products, branches its business units, leaves and fruit its end products. Nourishing and stabilizing everything is the root system: its core competencies.

Managing Your Career – When IQ and Expertise are not enough

Or, why you need Emotional Intelligence to get ahead

The natural career progression

There is a natural progression in one’s career.

Generally, one starts out as a Individual Contributor, moves to Manager, and then to Leader.

From Self to Team to Organization

The transition along the continuum from Individual Contributor to Leader is a move of the focus of self to team to organization.

As an Individual Contributor one works on individual tasks and projects – it’s basically a solo effort; the focus is on self.  A key differentiator between an Individual Contributor and a Manager is the ability to delegate .  A successful Individual Contribution is measured by personal achievement and successful completion of individual tasks assigned by someone else.  A successful manager is measured by the success of the team.  Leaders are measured on the success of their organizations.

From Today to Fiscal Year to the next 5 years.

The transition along the continuum from Individual Contributor to Leader is a movement of focus of longer and longer time-frames and from tactical to strategic.

An Individual Contributor works on tasks in a time-frame of today, tomorrow, and the next day – tactical.  Managers focus on time-frames of this quarter, next quarter, and this fiscal year – tactical.  Leaders focus on direction setting for next year, three years from now, and perhaps five years from now – strategic.

Are the traditional transitions similar to this enough to get you to the CxO positions in major corporations?

IQ and Expertise is not enough

In 1995, a researcher Daniel Goleman wrote this:

I have had to wait till now before the scientific harvest was full enough to write this book.  These insights are so late in coming largely because the place of feeling in mental life has been surprisingly slighted by research over the years, leaving the emotions a largely unexplored continent for scientific psychology…

… What factors are at play, for example, when people of high IQ flounder and those with modest IQ do surprisingly well?

I would argue that the difference quite often lies in the abilities called here emotional intelligence…

Goleman and others did a ton of empirical research to find out what differentiates star performers from average or mediocre performers in a variety of organizations.

In recent years, we have analyzed data from close to 500 competence models from global companies (including the likes of IBM, Lucent, PepsiCo, British Airways, and Credit Suisse First Boston), as well as from healthcare organizations, academic institutions, government agencies, and even a religious order.

To determine which personal capabilities drove outstanding performance within these organizations, we grouped capabilities into three categories: purely technical skills such as accounting or business planning; cognitive abilities such as analytic reasoning; and traits showing emotional intelligence, such as self-awareness and relationship skill.

To create some of the competency models, psychologists typically asked senior managers at the companies to identify the competencies that distinguished the organization’s most outstanding leaders, seeking consensus from an “expert panel.”

Others used a more rigorous method in which analysts asked senior managers to use objective criteria, such as a division’s profitability, to distinguish the star performers at senior levels within their organizations from the average ones. Those individuals were then extensively interviewed and tested, and their competencies were methodically compared to identify those that distinguished star performers.

Whichever method was used, this process resulted in lists of ingredients for highly effective leaders. The lists usually ranged in length from a handful to up to fifteen or so competencies, such as initiative, collaboration, and empathy.

Analyzing all the data from hundreds of competence models yielded dramatic results. To be sure, intellect was to some extent a driver of outstanding performance; cognitive skills such as bigpicture thinking and long-term vision were particularly important.

But calculating the ratio of technical skills and purely cognitive abilities (some of which are surrogates for aspects of intelligence quotient, or IQ) to emotional intelligence in the ingredients that distinguished outstanding leaders revealed that EI-based competencies played an increasingly important role at higher levels of organizations, where differences in technical skills are of negligible importance.

In other words, the higher the rank of those considered star performers, the more EI competencies emerged as the reason for their effectiveness.

When the comparison matched star performers against average ones in senior leadership positions, about 85 percent of the difference in their profiles was attributable to emotional intelligence factors rather than to purely cognitive abilities like technical expertise.

Emotional Intelligence is 85% of the difference for star performers

The key takeaway from Goleman’s work is this:

“When the comparison matched star performers against average ones in senior leadership positions, about 85 percent of the difference in their profiles was attributable to emotional intelligence factors rather than to purely cognitive abilities like technical expertise.”

Goleman’s empirical research has raised the awareness in the corporate world of ones “personal psychological attributes” (Emotional Intelligence) and how they affect (or predicts) performance to the point that EI is included in leadership training programs and is made an element for the basis of career advancement decisions.  Goleman holds that EI can be taught.  I am not sure I fully agree with that.

Managers and Executives that derailed their careers

There are many studies of why people derail in their careers – Check out our posting – How not to derail you corporate of organizational career

Along the dimensions of Emotional Intelligence, based on research cited by Golman, these are the reasons why people derail their careers:

1. Self-Control. Those who derailed handled pressure poorly and were prone to angry outbursts.  The successful stayed composed under stress, remaining calm and confident – and dependable  – in the heat of crisis.
2. Conscientiousness. The derailed group reacted to failure and criticism defensively – denying, covering up, or passing on the blame.  The successful took responsibility by admitting their mistakes and failures, taking action to fix the problems, and moving on without ruminating about their lapse.
3. Trustworthiness.  The failures typically were over ambitious, too ready to get ahead at the expense of other people.  The successes had high integrity, with a strong concern for the needs of their subordinates and colleagues, and for the demands of the task at hand, giving these higher priority then impressing their own boss at any cost.
4. Social Skills. The failures lacked empathy an sensitivity, and so were often abrasive, arrogant, or given to intimidation of subordinates.  While some where charming on occasion, the charm was purely manipulative.  The successes were empathic and sensitive showing tact and consideration in their dealings with everyone, superiors and subordinates alike.
5. Building bonds and leveraging diversity. The insensitivity and manipulative manner of the failed group meant that they failed to build a strong network of cooperative, mutually beneficial relationships.  The successes were more appreciative of diversity, able to get along with people of all kinds.

Conclusion

So how do people move from Individual Contributor to Manager to Leader in Corporate America?  Well, it’s a number of transitional stages.  You can read our posting on the The Leadership Pipeline to get a generic model and framework that is prevalent in many companies.

But, don’t underestimate how much your Emotional Intelligence will count in promotion and career advancement decisions.  Research shows that the higher you get in an organization the more Emotional Intelligence will matter more than technical and cognitive abilities.

Resources

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

Emotional Intelligence – The Competencies:

PERSONAL COMPETENCE

SELF-AWARENESS

1. Emotional Awareness– People with this competence:
Know which emotions they are feeling and why
Realize the links between their feelings and what they think and say
Recognize how their feelings affect their performance
Have a guiding awareness of their values and goals
2. Accurate Self-Assessment — People with this competence:
   Are aware of their strengths and weaknesses
   Reflective, learning from experience
   Open to candid feedback, new perspectives, continuous learning, and self-development
   Able to show a sense of humor and perspective about themselves
   BLIND SPOTS: Blind Ambition-need to win or be right at any cost
   Unrealistic Goals- sets overly ambitious, unattainable goals for group
   Relentless Striving- compulsively hardworking at expense of all else, vulnerable to burnout
   Drives Others-pushes others too hard, takes over instead of delegating
   Power Hungry- seeks power for own reason rather than for company
   Insatiable need for recognition- addicted to glory-takes credit for other’s work and blames them for mistakes
   Preoccupation with Appearance-needs to look good at all costs-craves material trappings
   Need to seem perfect-enraged by or rejects criticism, can’t admit mistakes
3. Self Confidence –People with this competence:
   Present themselves with self-assurance; have “presence”
   Can voice views that are unpopular and go out on a limb for what is right
   Are decisive, able to make sound decisions despite uncertainties and pressures

SELF-REGULATION

1. Self-control –People with this competency:
   Manage their impulsive feelings and distressing emotions well
   Stay composed, positive and unflappable even in trying moments
   Think clearly and stay focused under pressure
2. Trustworthiness and conscientiousness –People with this competency:
   Trustworthiness--Act ethically and are above reproach
   Build trust through their reliability and authenticity
   Admit their own mistakes and confront unethical actions in others
   Take tough, principled stands even if they are unpopular
   Conscientiousness –Meet commitments and keep promises
   Hold themselves accountable for meeting their objectives
   Are organized and careful in their work
3. Innovation and Adaptability –People with this competency:
   Innovation – Seek out fresh ideas from a wide variety of sources
   Entertain original solutions to problems
   Generate new ideas
   take fresh perspectives and risks in their thinking
   Adaptability – Smoothly handle multiple demands, shifting priorities, and rapid change
   Adapt thier responses and tactics to fit fluid circumstances
   Are flexible in how they see events

MOTIVATION

1. Achievement Drive –People with this competency:
   Are results-oriented, with a high drive to meet their objectives and standards
   Set challenging goals and take calculated risks
   Pursue information to reduce uncertainty and find ways to do things better
   Learn how to improve their performance
2. Commitment –People with this competency:
   Readily make sacrifices to meet a larger organizational goal
   Find a sense of purpose in the larger mission
   Use the group’s core values in making decisions and clarifying choices
   Actively seek out opportunities to fulfill the group’s mission
3. Initiative and Optimism –People with this competency:
   Initiative: Are ready to seize opportunities
   Pursue goals beyond what’s required or expected of them
   Cut through red tape and bend the rules when necessary to get the job done
   Mobilize others through unusual, enterprising efforts
   Optimism: Persist in seeking goals despite obstacles and setbacks
   Operate from hope of success rather than fear of failure
   See setbacks as due to manageable circumstance rather than personal flaw

SOCIAL COMPETENCE

EMPATHY

1. Understanding Others –People with this competency:
   Are attentive to emotional cues and listen well
   Show sensitivity and understand others’ perspectives
   Help out based on understanding other people’s needs and feelings
2. Developing Others –People with this competency:
   Acknowledge and reward people’s strengths and accomplishments
   Offer useful feedback and identify people’s needs for further growth
   Mentor, give timely coaching, and offer assignments that challenge and foster a person’s skills
3. Service Orientation –People with this competency:
   Understand customers/clients needs and math them to services of products
   Seek ways to increase customers’ satisfaction and loyalty
   Gladly offer appropriate assistance
   Grasp a customer’s perspective, acting as a trusted advisor
4. Leveraging Diversity –People with this competency:
   Respect and relate well to people from varied backgrounds
   Understand diverse worldviews and are sensitive to group differences
   See diversity as opportunity, creating an environment where diverse people can thrive
   Challenge bias and intolerance
5. Political Awareness –People with this competency:
   Accurately read key power relationships
   Detect crucial social networks
   Understand the forces that shape views and actions of clients, customers, or competitors
   Accurately read organizational and external realities

SOCIAL SKILLS

1. Influence –People with this competency:
   Are skilled at winning people over
   Fine-tune presentations to appeal to the listener
   Use complex strategies like indirect influence to build consensus and support
   Orchestrate dramatic events to effectively make a point
2. Communication –People with this competence
   Are effective in give-and-take, registering emotional cues in attuning their message
   Deal with difficult issues straightforwardly
   Listen well, seek mutual understanding, and welcome sharing of information fully
   Foster open communication and stay receptive to bad news as well as good
3. Conflict Management –People with this competency:
   Handle difficult people and tense situations with diplomacy and tact
   Spot potential conflict, bring disagreements into the open and help to de-escalate
   Encourage debate and open discussion
   Orchestrate win-win solutions
4. Leadership –People with this competency:
   Articulate and arouse enthusiasm for a shared vision and mission
   Step forward to lead as needed, regardless of poeition
   Guide the performance of others while holding them accountable
   Lead by example
5. Change Catalyst –People with this competency:
   Recognize the need to change and remove barriers
   Challenge the status quo to acknowledge the need for change
   Champion the change and enlist others in its pursuit
   Model the change expected of others
6. Building Bonds –People with this competency:
   Cultivate and maintain extensize informal networks
   Seek out relationships that are mutually beneficial
   Build rapport and keep others in the loop
   Make and maintain personal friendships among work associates
7. Collaboration and Cooperation –People with this competency:
   Balance a focus on task with attention to relationships
   Collaborate, sharing plans, information and resources
   Promote a friendly, coooperative climate
   Spot and nurture opportunities for collaboration
8. Team Capabilities –People with this competency:
   Model team qualities like respect, helpfulness, and cooperation
   Draw all members into active and enthusiastic participation
   Build team identity, esprit de corps, and commitment
   Protect the group and its reputation, share credit

Social Intelligence and Leadership

An interview with Daniel Goleman, Psychologist. See how you can use emotional and social intelligence to improve your own and your organization’s performance.

Source – Harvard Business Publishing – YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/HarvardBusiness