If you are interested in psychology or you are passionate about personal development topics, it is very likely that you have encountered this saying:

“IQ gets you hired, EQ gets you promoted.”

Because we work with human beings, we have to use our communication abilities in various situations when we encounter different and sometimes, difficult life situations. In these situations, our greatest rewards become the peace, wellbeing and sometimes, even the freedom of our clients and therefore, it’s beneficial to begin to increase this kind of knowledge.

As lawyers, we are required to control our emotions as good as we can. In a classic conception, emotions aren’t truly allowed in our practice. Lawyers are required to be serious and cold when confronted with strong emotional matters. The norms demand us to be personally detached and emotional resistant to reactions that may appear, in usual circumstances, normal or at least pardonable.

In 1955, Erwin Griswold, Dean of Harvard Law School stated that “Many lawyers seem to misunderstand that they are dealing with people and not with an impersonal law.”

It seems that lawyers score worse than other professionals when it comes to emotional intelligence (EQ). Empathy and compassion were perceived as damaging traits to a lawyer career. They were considered weaknesses that a strong, decided lawyer should resist. On the other hand, lawyers were expected to be detached but at the same time this emotional non-engagement exceeded the limits of their professional life. Being emotional unreceptive on a daily basis and resistant to empathy twisted imbalances in their personal life: their family relationship got worse, their time dedicated to leisure and relaxing activies diminished, and this was also available with their sleep time. The pressure of a competitive work environment that requires fixed deadlines and continuous productivity leads to stress, anxiety, compulsive behavior and even addictions. There are numerous cases of prestigious lawyers that committed suicide and whose stories can be easily found in the international press. It is true, unfortunately, most lawyers are unhappy. 

What is emotional intelligence and how can it help you to become a successful lawyer?

While in our country EQ (emotional intelligence coefficient) is discussed more on an informal base, US organizes national projects that try to implement EQ in training programs for professionals. It is remarkable that, since 1957, Harvard Law School began to offer to its students courses about human communication in the professional environment.

The person who increased the awareness on emotional intelligence was Daniel Goleman, the author of the international bestseller “Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ”, published in 1955. As you can test your intelligence coefficient, you can correspondingly test your emotional intelligence coefficient. The most popular EQ test was launched by Yale University researchers and it’s called Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT).

The above-mentioned study reffers to “abilities involved in recognizing, using, understanding and managing our own and others emotional states to better resolve problems and adjust our behavior. So, what abilities indicate that we have a high EQ?  In order:

• Identifying emotions
• Using emotions
• Understanding emotions
• Managing our emotions

Being emotional intelligent and using these abilities in our professional environment doesn’t mean that we are nice and kind to everybody and we are liked in return. Being emotional intelligent means that you posess the abilities to communicate with the people around you.

The above-mentioned study reffers to “abilities involved in recognizing, using, understanding and managing our own and others emotional states to better resolve problems and adjust our behavior. So, what abilities indicate that we have a high EQ?  In order:

• Identifying emotions
• Using emotions
• Understanding emotions
• Managing our emotions