Stamped Impressions
An officer with EQ
Reeta Sharma

There are few bureaucrats in the country who are more than just being bosses or bossing around. The power that they inherit from the word "bureaucrat" is so addictive and alluring that they often get trapped into it. A majority of them end up as mediocre performers, just enjoying the tag all their lives. However, there are always a few pleasant exceptions that rise above the trappings of power and add feathers to their cap. Allow me to introduce to you one such personality this week.

He is Dalip Singh who entered this service in 1982. Prior to that, he obtained a post-graduation degree in psychology from the University of Delhi in 1978, which was followed by M. Phil and Ph. D. This enabled him to teach for two years at the Faculty of Management Studies at the University of Delhi before joining the IAS. However, it was his passionate perusal of psychology that enabled him to join the league of scholars like E.L.Thorndike, D.Wechsler, Howard Gardner, Peter Salovey, John Mayer and Daniel Goleman, etc. These authors have also debated over the difference between IQ and EQ. And it was Salovey and Mayer who coined the term, "emotional intelligence".

Dalip Singh’s book, Emotional Intelligence At Work, tells you that psychologists initially concentrated on "intelligence" which essentially related to thinking, cognition, intellect, memory, problem solving, etc, which is referred to as IQ. However, psychologists soon discovered the emotional aspects such as feelings, moods, and non-cognition, etc, which have been appropriately termed as EQ. He also observed that people who were not psychologists were using terms related to emotional intelligence. For instance Daniel Goleman (a journalist from New York Times) wrote, "Emotional intelligence is the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others for motivating ourselves and for managing emotions well."

The thought struck Dalip Singh’s academic mind and he began researching on "emotional intelligence" and its wider implications and perspective. The in-depth research besides its application in day-to-day life turned out to be a pioneering concept and brought laurels to Dalip Singh. He was awarded D. Litt in psychology for his work on "emotional intelligence or emotional quotient or EQ". His expertise can be gauged from the fact that he wrote a book on Emotional Intelligence in 2001, published by Response Books, and rapidly revised it in 2003 and in 2006.

According to Dalip Singh’s book on EQ "a person’s emotional make-up largely determines his or her professional and personal success in life. It is significant to note that people with high IQ may fail in life while those with less intellectual endowment may be extremely successful. The author has also concluded that IQ may account for only 20 per cent of a person’s success in life while 80 per cent mostly depends on a person’s emotional intelligence, that is, EQ. Also emotional intelligence describes abilities distinct from, but complementary to academic intelligence measured by IQ".

The terminology of the book is rather easy for anyone to understand this concept. For instance, the introductory remarks say, "what do love, happiness, fear, affection, hate, shame, disgust, surprise, sadness, elation and anger have in common? These are emotions that directly affect your day-to-day life." Dalip Singh says, "Emotional intelligence is the ability of an individual to appropriately and successfully respond to a vast variety of emotional stimuli being elicited from the inner self and immediate environment. It constitutes three psychological dimensions: emotional sensitivity, emotional maturity and emotional competency. EQ is not genetically fixed. The indicators of high EQ are happiness, appreciation, peace, satisfaction, freedom, contentment, self-esteem, elation, awareness and motivation etc."

The concept of EQ has picked up rather fast during the past few years in India. Emotional intelligence is like your own skin, which is an inevitable part of your life. Hence various emotions are bound to be there in ones’ personality. For instance, the book deals with the trait of anger in detail. Chapter one begins with Aristotle’s quote, "anyone can be angry—that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not easy". Dalip Singh insists that anger can be managed through "emotionally intelligent" reaction. However, if anger can destroy relations, shorten the life span, cause heart diseases, stroke, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety, it can be a positive emotion as well, if used consciously and constructively.

Dalip Singh has earned a sense of satisfaction as he writes, "increasingly, more and more organisations are realising that encouraging emotional intelligence skills is a vital component of their management philosophy. They do not compete with product alone but also the fact as to how well it uses its people. EQ can be a valuable tool for HR practitioners and managers. No wonder many people and organisers are coming forward for EQ awareness workshops. The author is of the firm view that any individual with certain tried skills can improve EQ. However, developing emotional competence calls for the unlearning of deeply ingrained habits.

Such a process requires self-motivation, effort, time and sustained practice.