Daniel Goleman, PH.D. is also the author of the worldwide
bestseller
Working with Emotional Intelligence and
is co-author of
Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with
Emotional Intelligence, written with Richard Boyatzis and
Annie McKee.
Dr. Goleman received his Ph.D. from Harvard and reported on the
brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times for twelve
years, where he was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He was
awarded the American Psychological Association''s Lifetime
Achievement Award and is currently a Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science His other books include
Destructive Emotions, The Meditative Mind, The
Creative Spirit, and Vital Lies, Simple Truths.
1. The book's most fundamental revelation, that human beings are
neurologically inclined to be sociable, illustrates the potential
for compassion and collaboration in a variety of circumstances. Is
technology at odds with this concept? Does American society foster
isolation more than sociability?
2. What are the implications of Goleman's observations regarding
immune systems and relationships? Which of your relationships have
most enhanced your physical and emotional health? Have you been in
a relationship that undermined your health? What does the science
of "mirror neurons" teach us about our personal interactions in
general?
3. What aspects of the chapter titled "The Set Point for
Happiness" surprised you the most? Did it change your concept of
ideal strategies for raising children? What messages from your
parents influenced your own "set point'? What contemporary
approaches to child-rearing may actually undermine a young person's
future happiness?
4. What is the best way to apply Social
Intelligence to the realm of love and sex? Do our impulses
enhance or inhibit the potential for happy relationships in the
modern world?
5. Have you had encounters with those whose social intelligence
is skewed in a destructive direction? How can our approach to such
segments of society, including narcissists and violent sociopaths,
improve with greater knowledge of the dance between environment,
hormones, genetics, and neurology? How can this knowledge enhance
our ability to detect lies and delusion?
6. Goleman describes cases of "mindblindness," associated with a
range of diagnoses, including autism. To what degree is the ability
to read other people's emotions essential? Is "mindsight" more
crucial or less crucial to success than it was in previous
generations?
7. What is the role of etiquette and social custom in reducing
"I-It" interactions? Are traditional guidelines for manners
stifling or healthy?
8. Goleman eloquently describes the role of teachers in modeling
and nurturing the potential of social intelligence. Where were the
greatest harms enacted in previous systems of American education?
Where are the best solutions currently flourishing?
9. Social Intelligence opens with an example of
a potentially devastating military situation that was diffused with
smiles and non-aggressive body language. What are the broader
implications of the book's findings for conflict resolution around
the world? What cultural stigmas and animosities can be dismantled
through social intelligence?
10. To what extent can business leaders begin to quantify
happiness with the verve they apply to economic success? What would
it take for the West to embrace the concept of a "gross national
happiness" emphasized in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan?
11. The sweet spot for achievement clearly calls for reducing
anxiety and stress. What personal prescription can you devise to
implement this? What opportunities for better interpersonal
connections exist in your life?
12. Daniel Goleman frequently refers to "high road" mental
functions (those that tend to be more closely related to conscious
decision making) versus automatic "low-road" reactions. Do you tend
to operate primarily from a high- or low-road perspective?
13. How does the field of epigenetics (proposing that
environmental factors can change the ways genes operate, without
altering the DNA sequence) compare to previous ideas about the
power of genetics? How does this approach change your perception of
the role genes play in shaping our behavior, and vice versa? What
are the implications of this approach for the nature-versus-nurture
debate?
14. Do Goleman's observations make you feel optimistic about
society? What do you predict for future populations raised with
knowledge about social intelligence?
15. In what ways are the principles of social intelligence
distinct from those of emotional intelligence, explored in
Goleman's previous work? In what way is emotional intelligence,
with an emphasis on self-awareness and self-management, the
essential foundation for the outwardly focused concepts of social
intelligence?