I also rediscovered the power of honestly expressing emotion. That's something I've always tried to do—at least, that's what I thought—but my reading brought me renewed awareness. Sometimes, I feel something and can't name it. It's not lack of vocabulary, it's lack of experience in really feeling what is there. There are still times when I can only describe a feeling as "uncomfortable," but I am now at least able to articulate that something's going on, emotionally. The last time this feeling surfaced, it was over pairing a particular tutor-student team together. The student needed a tutor, but on recognizing the feeling I decided to wait; later events proved my instinct was correct.

Being emotionally honest requires listening to the strong feelings of "inner truth" which arise, at least in major part, from your core emotional intelligence as it links to your intuition and conscience...what you and others feel communicates the emotional truth all by itself, in your eyes and body language, in the tone of your voice, beneath the words. (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997, p. 4)

More Connections: Emotion and Intuition

Reading that intuition is an essential ingredient for management success was a surprise. I've always had intuition, but certainly didn't trust it. Yet the writers of Executive EQ are teaching executives to do just that:

(EQ, or 'gut reaction') sifts through the entire wealth of detail and operates covertly (below the level of consciousness), utilizing what may be described as "as if" loops tied to EQ, and draws your attention to the outcomes to which given actions may lead, and functions as an automated alarm signal—which may lead you to reject, immediately, and prompts you to choose among other alternatives—or as a beacon of incentive, which draws you towards beneficial outcomes. (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997, p. 47)