Practical EQ Newsletter #41 - NexusEQ conference report
Finally, the NexusEQ 2005 Conference report!
For some reason I couldn't get myself quite as excited about this conference as I was at the previous one in Orlando in January 2004. It probably says more about me than the conference, although I think the logistics may have had something to do with it. Note to conference organisers - next time, if the conference starts at 2.30, have it at a hotel where you're allowed to check in before 3.00! I heard of some speakers at the conference who had been travelling for 24 hours who were unable to get a shower before they were due to speak.
That's a minor quibble though. For me the highlights of the conference were the keynote by Daniel Goleman, the speech by Peter Salovey and the workshop run by Annie McKee and Frances Johnston.
As previously, the level of respect shown to each other by the leading figures in EI is exemplary - rather different to my other area of interest, NLP.
Interestingly, Goleman referred to over-claiming by various commercial providers of EI assessments (and I think his own publisher may have been guilty of a bit of this) - specifically that because IQ only accounts for 20% of success at the executive level, we shouldn't be attributing the whole of the remaining 80% to EQ!
Disarmingly, he referred to himself as a commentator on the field rather than an expert or an examplar. When asked who would be a good example of an emotionally intelligent person, he suggested the Dalai Lama - a man who allows himself to feel his emotions, including those resulting from empathy with other people, and then instantly lets them pass.
I missed Peter Salovey at the last conference, so I was fully prepared for the possibility of a dry academic lecture from one of the psychologists who originated the term 'emotional intelligence'. As it turned out, Peter is a very entertaining speaker. He got a lot of comic mileage from a photo of Bill Clinton visiting Yale and meeting him and his wife, neatly illustrating the point that a high degree of EI in one area (empathy and influencing skills) can coexist with deficiencies in another area (emotional self-control).
Annie's session - on the cycle of sacrifice and renewal in leadership - was excellent. I got the sense, as previously when I've heard her speak, that here is a person who is really working from the heart - as well as having a first-class brain.
Things I liked about the conference: - a good balance of academic theory and new age touchy-feeliness
- people from every continent, coming together in an atmosphere of (mostly) mutual respect
Things that could have been better:
- in (presumably) an effort to ensure that everyone who submitted a proposal got to speak, there were a lot of workshop sessions that were only half an hour long - not enough to do anything very substantial.
- I got to do a session (which I was honoured to do) but my one and a half-hour proposal was cut down to 25 minutes! Logistically this didn't work at all - people were still arriving ten minutes in. I like a lot of space when I work (due to the number of exercises involving physical movement) and most of the available space in the room was taken up by a projector set up for the next presenter's PowerPoint. Bah!
- Too many sessions with PowerPoint presentations, detailing not very startling statistical findings which provided further evidence that emotional intelligence is a good thing in the workplace. We know! We don't need to be convinced!
- In one or two of the sessions, the speakers were interrupted in a way which I found disrespectful and unhelpful - I suspect the questions were more about boosting the ego of the questioner than helping the group's understanding.
- Really very little in the way of practical interventions, which is what as a coach and trainer I'm really interested in.
I think most of this can be remedied at the next conference by making sure that the sessions run for a decent length of time - even if this means turning down some of the proposals.
The next conference is in 2007 in South Africa - I'll be there. Will you?
