EQ: Emotional Intelligence notes

INTRODUCTION:

Most software projects fail because of human error, not technical knowledge.

Must approach emotions and body.
Yoga
Mindfulness

EXPECTATIONS:

• Should be opinionated about things.
• You are now part of the community and conversation. 
• Stay in the conversation with the community. 
• Be engaged.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
What is it?

• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Empathy
• Social skills

Why is it important?
IQ and analytical skills valued in the past. Google found 6 reasons for good engineers.

• Strong achievement drive and high achievement standards
• Ability to influence
• Conceptual thinking
• Analytical ability
• Initiative in taking on challenges
• Self-confidence

4 of the 6 reasons relate to emotional intelligence rather than intelligence.

Top 2 of the 6 have to do with EQ.

DBC cares about developing the emotional intelligence.

In addition to teaching code, it's to build beautiful things for the world and be happy.

Fallacies

IQ determines success. EQ had a stronger correlation to success in life than IQ did.

"You either have it or you don't". EQ is trainable.

APPROACH

• Approaching competencies, not your behavior.
• Not trying to teach you how to simply play nice. 
• Develop ability to engage emotions and control yourself and regulate.

COMPETENCIES

• Awareness
• Empathy
• Intuition

Awareness is ability to pay attention to your emotions and your physical body.

• Emotions affect your body.
• Develop high resolution of awareness of emotions as they arise. Own your emotions before they own you.
• Slow them down and help you engage with it and help respond appropriately in a situation.

Empathy is same as awareness, but awareness of others emotions. 

• Understand what's happening to a person besides what they're saying to you.
• Leadership is inspiration, empowerment, and compassion.
• Best Navy commanders were the ones who were most emotionally intelligent.
• Leadership is a fluid interactive quality that happens, not a role or job position.
• Ask vs. Need
• What people are asking for may not be what they actually need, deep down.
• If a person is stubbornly telling you to use a while loop in the code, it may not be because the while loop is necessary, rather, they just feel like they're not being listened to. In their insecurity, they just want to contribute.
• Need to be able to listen.

Intuition is your body responding to that awareness.

• Sensation in your body of what's the right direction.