Daniel Goleman’s The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights is an expansion of the 1995 book written by him entitled Emotional Intelligence.
Although this book reviews some of the neurobiological components of emotional intelligence, its key message is a practical one.
One particularly interesting chapter is “The Creative Brain”, which explains the four stages of creativity (problem framing, self-imagination, relaxation, and execution). Goleman gives anecdotal accounts of variations in creative thinking, highlighting the different forms of creative thinking in a variety of professions.
Goleman also emphasizes that accurate recognition of one’s strengths and weaknesses is key to behaviors we hope to improve. He states that self-awareness is the least visible part of emotional intelligence (EI), yet that it is the foundational skill to build other components of EI.
When it comes to a desirable internal state of mind, Goleman discusses the role of optimism, pessimism, creativity, and anger, in productivity. It is the correct interpretation of these emotions that provides us with efficient decision-making outlets.
Goleman’s final chapter entitled “Social Emotional Learning” highlights parallels social learning to academic and career performance and describes how management of disruptive feelings effectively translates into being a better lifelong learner.