Why Every Company Needs to Implement Emotional Intelligence
Nov 04, 2025When most leaders think about performance, they focus on strategy, skills, or systems. But there’s a factor that quietly shapes every decision, every conversation, and every result — emotional intelligence.
It’s not just a nice-to-have. It’s a measurable skill that predicts success more accurately than IQ, experience, or technical ability. Yet, despite decades of evidence, many organisations still overlook it.
The Data Is Clear
In The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book, Dr. Travis Bradberry and Dr. Jean Greaves share findings from over 500,000 professionals across industries. The results are hard to ignore:
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90% of top performers have high emotional intelligence (EQ).
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EQ accounts for 58% of job performance across all roles.
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Every one-point increase in EQ adds about £1,300 to annual salary.
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Only 36% of people can accurately identify what they’re feeling in the moment.
In other words, most people — including many in leadership — are making decisions and interacting with others without understanding what’s driving them.
The Cost of Low EQ
A lack of emotional intelligence shows up everywhere: in tension, miscommunication, poor decision-making, and disengagement. In one of my recent posts, I referenced research suggesting that while only 1% of the population meets the criteria for psychopathy, up to 12% of corporate leaders do. That’s a sobering statistic — and a reminder that when empathy is absent, cultures become toxic fast.
Leaders who struggle to manage emotion often create instability. People learn to tune out. Trust erodes. Energy drops. The workplace starts to feel more like survival than collaboration.
EQ Changes the Culture
When emotional intelligence becomes part of how a company operates, everything shifts.
Leaders communicate with greater clarity and empathy. Teams become more open and accountable. Conversations that once caused defensiveness become opportunities for learning and connection.
In my own work, I’ve seen this happen repeatedly.
In one recent engagement with a leading global pharma company, we delivered an emotional intelligence programme for a team of change leaders driving transformation across the business.
One participant’s behavioural shift was so visible that a senior executive observing the programme decided to roll it out to the wider leadership group.
That’s what happens when EQ is put into practice — one person changes, and others follow.
The Leadership Advantage
Leaders often ask, “Why is leadership so difficult?” The answer is simple:
The most conscious part of ourselves is our feelings.
The most conscious part of others is their behaviour.
We judge ourselves by our intentions, while others judge us by our actions. Emotional intelligence closes that gap. It helps leaders become more aware of what drives them, how they impact others, and how to create the conditions where people thrive.
Calibrating the Internal Fire Alarm
Every leader has an internal fire alarm — that emotional system that warns us when something feels off. The problem is, it often goes off too easily. We treat small setbacks like crises, react to feedback defensively, or overthink what others might think of us.
EQ helps us calibrate that system. It teaches us to pause, question the signal, and respond with clarity instead of fear. When that happens, others begin to trust our signals too. They listen not because they have to, but because they believe in what we say.
Transformation That Lasts
Building emotional intelligence isn’t about theory — it’s about practice.
It’s about slowing down just enough to notice what’s really happening beneath the surface, and choosing a response that reflects your values rather than your impulses.
When companies integrate EQ into leadership development and team performance, the transformation is measurable:
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Stronger relationships and collaboration
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Greater psychological safety and innovation
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Lower stress and turnover
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Better decision-making under pressure
It’s not just people who benefit — it’s the entire system.
Final Thought
Emotional intelligence isn’t a soft skill. It’s a performance skill.
It’s the foundation for trust, resilience, and results.
And when leaders learn to use it well, the difference isn’t subtle — it’s transformative.
EQ is performance. EQ is resilience.