Harvard Business Review once wrote in their 2003 issue on "Breakthrough Ideas for Tomorrow's Business Agenda":
"Emotional intelligence can be used not just to produce harmony...but also to outwit your enemies by giving you the tools to understand and anticipate them." (emphasis mine)
This is brilliant, but a difficult concept to understand, let alone apply. Enter the Yale Harvard rivalry for a terrific example.
The story goes like this: a group of Yale students disguised themselves as the Harvard Pep Club at the 2004 Yale Harvard game and played a phenomenally hilarious practical joke. The Yale students went over to the Harvard side and passed out 1,800 sheets of red and white construction paper. The fans (all Harvard alumni) were told that when Harvard scored, they were to hold up the paper which would read "Go Harvard."
Instead, what did it say? "We Suck."
This is EQ in action, believe it or not! The Yale students capitalized on the Harvard fans' emotions. It was really the only data they needed to play this awesome practical joke. The Yale students used the emotions that were present on the Harvard side to pull off the prank. Emotions such as: trust, rivalry, competition, comradery, teamwork.
To see more about this funny hoax, click here.
And what do you think? How can you study others' emotions to understand them more. For instance, I can't help but think that the next time we get an Osama tape, the translator should tell the world that Osama is saying "I pick my nose and then eat it." Hee hee!
