Where am I going?

So being the nerd that I am, I started reading "Working with Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman. It is making me really think and dig deep on where I am going in my future. It has asked questions about what energizes me in my work.




I started thinking about when I really do get ENERGIZED by what I do... when I am mentoring someone and helping them learn the ropes and grow AND when I am working on determining where to department is going in the future. Working on developing the strategy with a partner or team - exploring ideas and creating action plans.



It made me also think about the industry in which I work. Gosh, I may have my frustrations, but I really do work in an amazing industry. I love being around animal people. They are in the industry to the right reasons. But do we have the RIGHT people?



The book says that where IQ is high many times EQ is low. Granted not all times, but maybe we should not be concerned about grades, but rather about emotional intelligence. If we could determine ways to screen based on emotional intelligence and then continue to support and encourage growth with evals of emotional intelligence, we could improve productivity.



Part of the book discusses having a stream of FEELING that follows alongside a stream of thought. I never got "into" our COO's idea of sales training for docs - it just did not feel "right". The alternative of communications training with a vendor partner was better, but not quite there either. Now this idea of emotional intelligence THAT is what we need. If the metrics are true, for highly complex jobs "like insurance salespeople, account managers, lawyers, and physicians" (Goleman, p. 35) the added value was 127% more than a non emotionally intelligent employees. Just imagine what that could do for a company that relies on doctor production...



THIS is what I love about my job! The ability to discover ways to really add value and make a difference! Maybe this doctoral degree is about more than education alone, but about finding my way again.