Observation
Last night I attended UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series featuring Susan Rice. I chose to attend this event as a part of my primary research because not only is she extremely intellectually intelligent, but highly emotionally intelligent as well.
It was fascinating watching how she interacted with the interviewer as well as the audience. She had to read the emotions and the reactions of the audience and calculate what she was going to say. She could have bluntly spoken her mind but because of her emotional intelligence, she was able to recognize that a talk like this may not be the best place to do that.
I particularly liked how before tough questions she would take a long pause to think. I think that’s something that a lot of people in our generation don’t take advantage of. We start saying things that we regret or aren’t relevant. It really showed she was trying to control her thoughts. I really appreciated this quality and it exhibited great self-awareness, self-control, and self-regulation.
She also praised others and demonstrated empathy. She talked about the Parkland survivors and admired them for their great efforts towards gun control. Someone with high emotional intelligence shows empathy and isn’t afraid to give credit where credit is due and that’s another thing I really admired about her.
Overall, it was great seeing someone so poised and experienced speak. Observing someone who has been practicing emotional intelligence for so long was really beneficial to my research because she serves as a wonderful role model for the level of emotional intelligence that I want to have.
I’m going to continue observing others, more specifically distinguished and accomplished professionals, because it gives me a great visual of where I want to be, and what I can do to practice and achieve that.
