Emotional intelligence is defined as follows:

“EI is our learned ability to identify, understand and manage our emotions and those of others.”

EI is about:

• Knowing how you feel about others
• Knowing how others feel about you
• Using emotional skills that maximise your well-being and happiness and those you interact with

In 1983, Howard Gardner introduced, “Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, which popularised the idea of Multiple Intelligences. These intelligences included interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. Interpersonal intelligence deals with the capacity to understand the motivations and desires of others while and intrapersonal intelligence consists of the capacity to understand yourself, your fears, feelings and motivations. Gardner suggested that traditional measures such as IQ fail to correctly capture the full capability of an individual and there must be more than just an IQ to define the success of individuals.

The research proved a hit and many articles, books and academic discussions followed. Years later, the concept of Emotional Intelligence was coined. The term “Emotional Intelligence” has been attributed to many people such as Wayne Payne (1985), Leuner (1966), Greenspan (1989), Salovey and Mayer (1990) who used the term in various ways.

It wasn’t until Daniel Goleman’s best seller “Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ” that the term became widely popularized. Since then various articles books and products have appeared under the term Emotional Intelligence and have greatly expanded the field.