CHAPTER 5

The Role of Self-Awareness in Emotional Intelligence

You are sitting at your desk reviewing the latest sales figures, and they look pretty good. Although you are probably not aware of any strong feelings, you know you are feeling satisfied and calm. Your phone rings. You pick it up and hear the angry voice of a client, one of your biggest accounts, who is threatening to go with another supplier because a shipment you said you were sending did not arrive. Immediately, you become aware that you are no longer calm — your heart is pounding, you feel yourself starting to sweat, and your breathing is quicker — you know you are feeling anxious.

Self-awareness is a simple phrase for a complicated set of information. It refers to an awareness ...

Get The Manager's Pocket Guide to Emotional Intelligence: From Management to Leadership now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.