Subject knowledge or Emotional intelligence - What's more important?

Subject knowledge or Emotional intelligence - What's more important?

"All learning has an emotional base." – Plato. There is a new currency in the human resource market. One with highest amount of that currency is being favored nowadays - it’s Emotional Intelligence. Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior. It affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions that achieve positive results. It is measured by EQ (Emotional Quotient) which is analogous to IQ (Intelligence Quotient). It is slowly spreading over the turf of subject expertise. It is gaining more prominence than subject knowledge. Is it really worth that much attention?

Subject Knowledge –

1. Subject knowledge will always save the day.

2. EI can get you only little far. It is useful only when stress levels are high. Subject expertise is universal.

3. In conditions of stability and peace all are calm and at such juncture it is the subject knowledge that can provide innovation to jump start things.

4. New ideas flow not due to EI but due to experience, expertise and knowledge.

5. Man's inventions and discoveries have not come from emotional intelligence but from experiments and subject knowledge.

6. Managing emotions may be an important feature when it comes to social life, but in the present world where development is of prime importance and economy being increasingly transformed into knowledge economy, it is the subject knowledge that will help get across barriers.

Emotional Intelligence –

1. ''IQ gets you hired, but EQ gets you fired'' or a more positive version being ''IQ gets you hired, but EQ gets you promoted''.

2. EQ is a better indicator of success in the workplace and is used to identify leaders, good team players, and people who best work by themselves. Thus one can easily see its importance if one's aim is to live a successful life.

3. EI is managing oneself. Humans are social animals, which makes EQ a more necessary component to living a happy and successful life.

4. In stressful environment how we manage ourselves and deliver is what counts. This saves the day.

5. Business leaders feel that technical expertise alone is not enough for excellence in the workplace. These leaders all know employees who are technically proficient and even brilliant, but left a path of destruction behind them because of their emotional ineptitude.

6. People would like to do business with people whom they like and trust even if their IQ is low. Liking and trust is gained only with high EQ.

7. Not addressing the emotions strain the mind and body. Your emotional intelligence skills helps make stress more manageable by enabling you to spot and tackle tough situations before things escalate. Even a genius cannot work efficiently if he doesn’t manage his stress levels and stay calm.

8. Genius with no confidence is at the best a person with average IQ. Thus it is emotional intelligence which motivates and encourages and brings out the best out of even a genius.

9. They say patience and perseverance pays. Managing emotions like frustration and maintaining patience and perseverance is what is done by emotional intelligence. Thus it has been an important part, though unrecognized till now, of all the inventions and discoveries made by man.

There has to be balance of both these factors. No one thing can replace the other one. Without a moral compass to act as a guide, emotional intelligence skills are not that useful. One can use these skills to motivate colleagues or to take advantage of them. Same is true for subject knowledge where a moral compass guides a person to use the expertise for good or the bad of society. One must always acknowledge that emotional intelligence may help in problem solving, but it is the knowledge that leads to real progress. So we must be able to maintain a healthy balance of both.