EQ training is failing leaders in the AI era. Here’s the brain science concept that can replace it

Emotional intelligence, or “EQ” as it’s often called, involves being able to recognize and work better with emotions. It’s central to understanding ourselves and other people and staying cool under pressure, and it’s long been cited as a critical factor in successful management and leadership. This makes it one of the most widely taught leadership skills in organizations worldwide. One reason for its popularity is that as people rise through the ranks in an organization, their need for technical skills decreases, while their need for human skills goes up, and managing emotions is one of the harder human skills to master. Leaders today are also supporting employees wrestling with strong emotions about all the changes happening around them, especially relating to AI. So maybe now is the time to double down on EQ training? Personally, I don’t think so, for two reasons. First, hard-driving, goal-focused leaders don’t like the thought of slowing down to discuss their feelings, which is how the idea of EQ is often perceived. It turns out that in the brain, networks for focusing on goals dampen networks for focusing on people, and vice versa. Some years back we measured the percentage of leaders who were strong in one or the other, or both, and found that — fewer than 5% of leaders were strong in both goal and people focus. Most leaders excelled at focusing on goals. And telling these goal-focused leaders to be more in touch with their emotions feels to them like switching off the capacity that got them to where they are. (Just the word “emotions” is likely to trigger a threat response in a goal-focused leader.) So, while these are important skills, we aren’t packaging them in a way that compels the leader to take notice — we’re doing the opposite. It’s not that we shouldn’t teach this skill — it’s that there is a meaningfully more effective way to sell it. There is a second issue with focu