Guest Viewpoint: Emotional intelligence and discovery of one's strengths are just as important as math and science

I also believe that the better a student does in math, the easier most other subjects will become. Math is truly a root competency for many other subjects -- and I hope, one day, my daughter will admit I’ve been right about this.

Yet there are two other key components that have been continually overlooked as we search for ways to improve student achievement and make the nation more globally competitive:

(1) the development of emotional intelligence (EQ) at an early age; and

(2) a clear focus on finding, discovering, and focusing on one’s strengths and managing around one’s weaknesses.

“Unfortunately, most of us have little sense of our talents and strengths,” says Marcus Buckingham, who has written several books and conducted a wealth of research on the importance of what I prefer to describe as personal opportunities for improvement.

“Instead,” Buckingham says, “guided by our parents, our teachers, our managers, and psychology’s fascination with pathology, we become experts in our weaknesses and spend our lives trying to manage to repair these flaws, while our strengths lie dormant and neglected.” I think most of us would agree with that.

Emotional intelligence at a high level is self-awareness, self-regulation, relationship management, and social skills. Unlike IQ, which is something we are all born with and basically have no control over, EQ can be learned.

Much of the work on EQ was done by Daniel Goleman. In an article titled “What Makes a Leader,” published in the Harvard Business Review in 1998, he wrote, “The most effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: They all have a high degree of emotional intelligence.”

“It’s not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant,” Goleman says. “They do matter, but mainly as ‘threshold capabilities’; that is, they are the entry-level requirements for executive positions.”

Goleman’s research showed that EQ is essential for leadership. “Without it,” he says, “a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader.”

Do I want to make all of our students leaders? No, certainly not. But I do believe this statement, when boiled down, supports a wider opportunity to teach and develop the skills that separate the best leaders from the rest. That set of skills, as uncovered by Goleman, demonstrates the need for every student to learn about the concept of EQ.

This important set of learned skills, if introduced early in the K-12 setting, would give students a fundamental awareness of the importance of controlling one’s behavior and a deeper appreciation for one another and our differences.

Couple those skills with finding one’s talents, gifts, and strengths -- and then providing a clear focus on these abilities while managing personal opportunities for improvement -- and you will have a winning recipe for laying a foundation for improved performance, both academically and socially.

All the math and science classes in the world are not going to help students who are not “wired” to consider their analytical talents and strengths. These students are likely to become frustrated and confused when they “don’t get it” as quickly as others.

If school leaders understand these issues -- and the importance of creating personal development opportunities -- they can divert additional resources or attention to students to ensure they don’t fall through the cracks or end up in a failing environment.

School leaders and teachers also need to understand the importance of EQ as it relates to academic development and the importance of finding and cultivating the strengths in every student.

Let’s face it, all the math, science, and technical skills taught in schools might only serve to strengthen some students and not others.

It is important to recognize -- both within ourselves and within others -- that we learn differently and are wired differently and, because of that, provide a set of talents and gifts complementary to one another.

Look at the bigger picture: If a person develops an understanding and appreciation for EQ and truly discovers and can focus on his or her talents and strengths, then career choice and workplace performance should improve considerably.

If you get up every day and love to go to work, you are going to outperform those who hate their jobs. We must be more productive in the workplace, and we must compete at a higher level if we are to remain the smartest work force in the world.

From my perspective, math and science are helpful, but EQ and loving what you do every day because you are working in an environment that takes advantage of your talents will produce a better outcome for everyone.