In todayâ??s highly competitive world it is not only difficult but rather impossible to find professionals/workers who do not experience acute stress levels at some time or the other.  Stress has become like a second skin to us so much so that we donâ??t even realize its existence.   What differs is the degree and the way of handling it.  Stress is the by product of todayâ??s life style. High stress levels lead to various possible situations at work; the most common ones are irritable behavior, depleting performance,   flawed decision making, violent behaviour ( as it happened in a factory in Noida) et al.  There have been incidents where in a rare breed of professionals even take the extreme step of taking their own lives. What drives an individual to take the extreme step of taking his/her own life? Is it over work, high expectations, work pressure, high stress or low emotional quotient? 

High IQ, technical prowess, excellent communication skills are some of the traits characterizing an efficient and successful employee but it takes more than traditional cognitive intelligence to be successful at work. It requires emotional intelligence - the ability to restrain negative feelings such as anger and self-doubt to be successful and handle difficult situations. The theory first captured the public imagination with the release of \\\'Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ,\\\' (Bantam, 1995) by psychologist Daniel Goleman. In the book, Goleman stirred controversy with his claim that people endowed with high emotional skill excel in life, perhaps more so than those with just a high IQ. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand how emotions work and to control oneâ??s own emotions.

Emotional intelligence matters as much as technical and analytic skill. And the higher people move up in the company, the more crucial emotional intelligence becomes.

Another, IQ is relatively fixed whereas emotional intelligence can be built and learned. The new age organizations lay as  much emphasize on building emotional intelligence of their employees as on improving  skill levels. They provide avenues to employees to de stress at work and encourage them to have a work life balance.

Not so long ago, the organizations took pride in the fact that their employees eat, sleep and breathe their work but it is no longer so.  Researchers have concluded that people who manage their own feelings well and deal effectively with others are more likely to be productive workers and live content lives.

An employee with high emotional intelligence can manage his or her own impulses, communicate with others effectively, manage change well, solve problems, and use humor to build rapport in tense situations. These employees also have empathy and remain optimistic even in the face of adversity.

Successful organizations in the future will be those that grow their people with outstanding EQ. Nurture your job with your sweat, time and brains but not with your life.