Photo by Filip Bunkens

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Philosophy at Work is a 30-minute Socratic Community of Inquiry every third week, where we investigate concepts related to our work-life, such as Freedom, Authenticity, Courage, Logical Fallacies, Respect or Leadership.

How does Philosophy at Work work?

The idea is to practice strategic reflection for improved communication, collaboration, leadership (personal and interpersonal), and Problem Management, by using logic and discernment, and thinking out loud together. This means that you don’t have to mean what you say, or stand for it – what we are doing is trying out ideas, and daring to go where the thought leads us.

Practicing our thinking skills helps us get better at determining which actions can benefit a problematic process, relationship, or mindset. Research from universities (data from 600k students) shows that those who practice philosophy “outscore every other major on reasoning, curiosity and open-mindedness*”. 

Participating in a Community of Inquiry creates a sense of belonging, and what Koestenbaum** calls ‘a culture of chosen accountability’. As we listen to everyone speak their mind, we allow ourselves the time and space to take ourselves seriously and find our strengths while building psychological safety – one of the most important components of successful teams. It can also be, like many claim, “lovely”, with an almost therapeutic effect.

*Article: Studying philosophy makes people better thinkers
**Book: Confronting our Freedom: Leading a Culture of Chosen Accountability and Belonging

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Last time, we talked about IQ. And today, we’re talking about…

EQ

What is it? Emotional Quotient. And where IQ, intelligence quotient, that we talked about last time, according to AI: Measures logical reasoning, learning, memory, and analytical skills; helps with technical tasks and academics

IQ: Logical reasoning, learning, memory, analytical skills

IQ measures, sort of, what you are capable of doing in terms of logical reasoning, learning and analytical skills, for example how to open a door using a handle, and remembering how it works next time. And so forth. Ever more complex and abstract things …

Measuring intelligence in test started in the 1880s, reaching popularity in the 1910s.

The term EQ first turned up in 1990, and was popularized by Daniel Goleman in 1995. EQ, according to AI, is the ability to perceive, use, understand and manage emotions effectively in self and others. I asked Google about core components of EQ, and they are

Self-awareness (recognizing strengths, weaknesses, own emotions)
Self-regulation (manage emotions and impulses)
Motivation (drive to achieve with optimism & commitment)
Empathy (ability to understand and share feelings with others)
Social skills (build rapport, communicate effectively, manage relationships)

EQ: Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills

And why is it important? AI says:

Leadership (manage stress, build teams, build strong, trusting relationships)
Success (strong predictor of performance, important for career advancement)
Personal wellbeing (happiness, overcoming challenges, build positive connections with others)

Leadership,
Success,
Personal wellbeing

“EQ helps relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and diffuse conflict”.

Sounds pretty awesome to me! 😊 I want to have high EQ! How do I raise it? How do you get better at EQ? What do I teach my kids?
I asked AI – of course 😊 – and it told me to focus on those things that define EQ. But then … it also had both lists and TED talks about each of those things (or many, at least). Something like this: 

Develop Self-Awareness

  • Identify Emotions: Name what you’re feeling, not just good/bad, but nuanced emotions.
  • Find Your Triggers: Notice situations or topics that cause strong reactions.
  • Journal: Write about your feelings and their causes to understand patterns.
  • Pause: Take a breath before reacting to strong emotions to understand them better. 

That sounds really good, I think. I know that I have a hard time identifying my own emotions – for example, I cry when I am sad, but also when I’m angry, or moved (which happens a lot), and it can take me a while to figure out why I’m reacting with tears. And I journal a LOT, because I really want to understand patterns … So, I am developing self-awareness, according to this list. But … how do I know that I’ve developed?

How does it feel to have high EQ?

Are people with high EQ happier than others?
Are they sadder than others?
If it’s good for personal wellbeing, you should be able to tell that you have high EQ if you are doing well, shouldn’t you? 😊

Now, somehow that statement feels like it’s not right. But what is not right about it? Is it just that high EQ leads to personal wellbeing, but other things that are incompatible with EQ can also lead to personal wellbeing?

What would those things be? I mean, like … what?
I’m thinking about some of the other words we looked at earlier – empathy, optimism and commitment, build rapport … Hm. I was thinking about how we can be wrong about empathy – like, I think that there are people who think that they are empathic, but aren’t – they’re just projecting what they would do or feel in a given situation. And build rapport … I mean, a psychopath or narcissist can do that, but they’re faking, aren’t they?

But … I guess that neither of those people are really doing very well. So, maybe the issue is that, you know, “true EQ really is good for your personal wellbeing”, kind of thing.

But that doesn’t give us any more information. Pff. “EQ is good because it’s good. You get better at it by doing it.”

I suppose that’s true.
If you think about other concepts, like … excellence, or quality, or teaching, or, I dunno, maybe there’s lots of things – oh, art, and music – these things also just want more of themselves, kind of thing (like the poet-philosopher Kahlil Gibran said about love, “Love takes nothing but from itself and gives nothing but to itself.” Nice, huh?)

OK. So how about at work? Where is EQ needed at work? Where would we need an EQ course, and what would that look like? What would you do if you were going to have a 30-minute EQ lesson? What sort of homework would you get? If you were asked to increase the EQ in your team meetings, what would you do?

And now, a round!

  • You can have all the things, but no empathy … but if you have empathy, you’re likely to have the others too
  • What do you with all of your self-awareness?!
  • Self-awareness & relation to … personal growth? Personal development?
  • Need EQ to get along with people
  • Need EQ to understand and talk about values (?)
  • “Communicating emotions efficiently” – difficult, because we’re different (culturally and personality or neurologically)
  • Empathy can be taught
  • …It takes time, and dedication
  • Much current training in EQ and emotional awareness is sterile and cold
  • Self-awareness includes self-doubt and suffering
  • …but then you can see the same in others – and help them
  • “The unexamined life is not worth living”
  • The more EQ, the more value to deeper understanding
  • EQ type things help you navigate with grace
  • “Nobody is the villain in their own story” – EQ helps you understand this
  • EQ requires quite a lot of really important and wisdom-related things

Philosophy is what we need.

More Philosophy at Work:
Philosophy at Work: IQ
Philosophy at Work: Self-Scrutiny
Philosophy at Work: Teamwork
Philosophy at Work: Transformative Leadership
Philosophy at Work: Negative Thinking

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