Week 4 Post 1: Reflection on Emotional Intelligence Class

In class yesterday Regan and Caroline gave a presentation on the topic of emotional intelligence and why it is important for healthcare managers and leaders. Before class they had us take a quiz that measure our level of emotional intelligence. The quiz was made by the Harvard Business Review and it evaluated your emotional intelligence based on five different competencies. The competencies are; Emotional self-awareness, Positive outlook, Emotional self-control, Adaptability, and Empathy. Out of a possible 25 points, I scored 17 on emotional self-awareness, 17 on positive outlook, 14 on emotional self-control, 11 on adaptability, and 14 on empathy. I scored below the average on all of the competencies so I was a little discouraged at first, however professor Bonica pointed out that the majority of people who read the Harvard Business Review and also took the quiz were most likely senior managers who have had a lot of experience in the workforce. This made me feel better but I still know that their is a lot of room for improvement, so I am going to strive to improve my emotional intelligence everyday. 

During their presentation they showed us a Ted Talks by Brene Brown on the topic of vulnerability. In the talk she explains how most people see vulnerability as a weakness, however she goes on to say that vulnerability is actually a good thing. Brene says that vulnerability is the core of shame and fear as well as our struggle to find worthiness. However she also says that vulnerability is the origin of joy, creativity, belonging, and love. She say that it all depends on the attitude of an individual, people should learn to embrace vulnerability. People should not be embarrassed to make mistakes and when you do make a mistake you should not cover it up, but rather use it as a learning experience and strive to fix your mistakes. She believes that the most important thing is to believe in yourself and feel like you are enough. This allows people to be more relaxed, gentler, and kinder to themselves as well as the people around them. This will allow us to stop complaining and instead start listening to others. 

I believe that embracing vulnerability is very important as a future manager, because no matter what field you are in you are going to have to deal with vulnerable situations on a daily basis. Accepting the vulnerability will allow you to be more in touch with yourself, as well as the people in your life.