Your age, weight, income, IQ these are among the most important numbers that converge to form a comprehensive picture of your existence. Most people can readily recall these figures. Many believe these numbers dictate a person’s place or status in the world, but do you know the most important number to predict your success in work, love, and play? Your emotional quotient (EQ) represents how well you know yourself, understand others, and balance the demands of life. Emotionally intelligent people are empathic, resilient, flexible, and creative. They apply well-developed interpersonal skills to become influential leaders and master managers of stress. Many researchers have linked a high EQ to the higher likelihood of success in several different areas of life. Emotional intelligence has become one of the most promising areas of scientific study because it has the potential to drastically improve a person’s social and occupational life.

The more commonly known measure of intelligence, IQ, corresponds to a person’s cognitive abilities. The capacity to learn, to think abstractly, and manipulate the environment contribute to a person’s IQ. Standardized tests are used to estimate a person’s mental age that determines this well-known quotient. An elevated IQ has been described as a tool to get through school and receive a degree. Since its explosion into the psychological arena, EQ has been heralded as the secret to a fulfilling and happy life. Some studies estimate EQ is more than twice as important as IQ, while others believe EQ to be at least half of a person’s overall quotient of intelligence. These startling suggestions have been supported by research targeting the question of what makes a great leader. The higher one climbs on an organization’s ladder to success, the more important EQ becomes. Among an organization’s top positions, EQ has been credited to explain nearly 90% of the difference between average and excellent leaders. Organisations, recognizing that a person with high EQ exhibits the characteristics necessary for leadership success, actively include emotional intelligence assessments in their selection procedures for recruitment, training and development and promotions.

Emotional intelligence has not only been linked to occupational success, but EQ has also been used to predict romantic love. A 2008 study published in Personality and Individual Differences sought the reason behind the sky-rocketing American divorce rate. Why do some marriages flourish while others fail? Researchers Zeidner and Kaluda found that emotional intelligence explained the ability of some couples to protect the stability of their marriage over time. Some argue that common sense dictates a couple that can express empathy, deal with stress, and understand their own wants and needs would clearly have a higher likelihood of maintaining a marriage. But never before has a number, like EQ, been able to quantify an individual’s ability to balance the challenges of life that matter the most.

EQ may hold the answer to several mysteries of social interaction, but the most important question of all remains. Do you know your EQ? The value of EQ extends well-beyond the pages of scientific rhetoric into real world application for self-improvement. Even extraordinary efforts have failed to significantly change a person’s IQ. It seems no amount of studying can budge a person’s level of analytical skill and sheer cognitive ability. While IQ seems set in cement, EQ is a stream of intelligence with options to improve the pressure, direction, and flow of abilities. IQ is a static number that provides limited insight into a person’s true potential. EQ offers a wider picture of strengths and weaknesses as well as a cherished attribute to a personality, hope for change, and the higher the EQ, the more likely the person is to realise the potential of his or her IQ.

Emotional intelligence develops over time and in response to the surrounding emotional environment. Coaching, training, and practice has been shown to effectively improve a person’s EQ. To identify a baseline and chart change, a number of well-researched assessment measures are used by psychologists and mental health professionals trained in their administration. The Bar-On Emotion Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) is a painless self-report measure that poses questions about a person’s social and emotional behaviour. Most people complete the assessment in under an hour and the results provide an invaluable resource to begin capitalizing on strengths and fortifying areas of weakness. The detailed results of the EQ-i include 15 sub-scales within 5 major domains: intra-personal skills, interpersonal skills, adaptability, stress management, and general mood. It could be argued that no other psychological assessment provides such a breadth of information following such a brief testing experience.

Knowing and understanding one’s EQ offers an objective and comparative account of how one interacts with the world. A few value the information as a detailed self-reflection, but most accept their EQ as an opportunity for change, and improve their potential for success in their personal and professional lives. Self-improvement schemes offer lofty promises with few ways to chart true change. Emotionally intelligent individuals appraise situations not as threats, but as the next of life’s many challenges. To best strategise a way to approach the next challenge, it’s essential to know which personal attributes to highlight and to which to dedicate resources to improve. Developing an awareness of emotional intelligence offers an avenue to success and the quantifiable potential to change.