An effective group leader, a successful negotiator, an excellent team member, a high flier go-getter have one thing common among them. They have a higherlevel of El. This article elucidates the concept of EI and Sthitaprajna.
Emotional Intelligence (El) is the ability to perceive and constructively act on one's own emotions and the feelings of others. Individuals with high El are able to relate to others with compassion, empathy, have well-developed social skills, and use this emotional awareness to direct their actions and behavior. All-round success in life is more dependent on the El rather than the lQ. IQ is an index of what is your personal competency, what you can do yourself, whereas El is an index of what is your relationship with reference to those around, how you can influence the behavior of others by intelligently understanding their competencies and emotions.
In the corporate world, there are some highly prized skills of managers which are linked to their El. An effective group leader, a successful negotiator, an excellent team member and a high flier go-getter have one thing common among them. They have higher El than their peers. Like other managerial skills, El can be learnt through a process of developing self-awareness, managing feelings and handling stress. The concept of El was developed by John Mayer and Peter Salovey in 1990 and it was popularized by Daniel Goleman in 1995 when he published the book " Emotional Intelligence." However, this is a very old concept in the Hindu philosophy and the sermon of Lord Krishna to Arjuna, at the battlefield of Kurukshetra, starts with the definition and explanation of Yukta Purusha and Sthitaprajna. Sthitaprajna is a person of steady wisdom and high EI. He enjoys and experiences the joys and sorrows without attachment. A tortoise, on sensing a threat or temptation, withdraws all the six organs—the four legs, the head and the tail—under the protection of the shell, the intellect. He never allows his emotions to highjack his vivek. For attaining the highest-level of EI one is advised to take the path leading to the state of a Sthitaprajna. |
