Our world has no shortage of pains and sufferings. In the past, present, and, I am certain, future as well. So emotional intelligence would seem to be a plus skill. Not so fast. Professor Adam Grant of University of Pennsylvania wrote, “being able to read people can be used for good or evil.”
You see, emotional intelligence is the ability to understand the way people feel and react and to use this skill to make good judgments and to avoid or solve problems (Cambridge Dictionary). This definition would be using the skill for good, according to Adam.
Adolf Hitler is, as Adam illustrated, an example of using the emotional intelligence for evil purpose. And I add the former president Donald Trump in this category. The crowd in the 6 January 2021 riot was clearly manipulated to storm the Capital for Trump’s personal gain. And that manipulation continues to date.
Hence, to motivate or to manipulate determines the merit of the emotional intelligence as a skill. It maybe difficult to discern at the height of emotions.
Do you agree President Trump is emotionally intelligent?
Running with Buddha 