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Todays fast-paced workplace requires us to change and adapt at increasing speeds, while managing complex interpersonal demands. Despite these challenges, we can utilize emotional intelligence to meet these continually increasing demands and excel in our new reality. The basis of emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotionsas well as know how they impact others. Beyond that, emotional intelligence gives us greater ability to understand the emotions of others, allowing for greater empathy. This in turn increases our ability to work effectively with others of different backgrounds and perspectives. Glenn Llopis, author of Make Reinvention Your Superpower, argues that a lack of emotional intelligence traps people in what he calls “career quicksand.” He explains that this occurs when individuals lose sight of their unique capabilities because they are rewarded for following the corporate playbook instead of their own. As a result, they are not encouraged to explore new ideas, having been trained to believe that success relies on executing old ones. How to encourage emotional intelligence Organizations are increasingly becoming aware that being successful today requires more collaboration, creativity, and adaptability. Research at Lawrence Technological University found that emotional intelligence improves ones ability to be socially effective, and can lead to improved collaborative outcomes. Successful organizations in todays climate will be comprised of emotionally intelligent people who can pivot quickly. The good news is that emotional intelligence is not some innate quality; its something you can build. Employees at all levels of the organization will need to boost their collaboration, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. One way to encourage these traits is for leaders to ask every employee to share examples of collaboration, good teamwork, and problem-solving during staff meetings. They can set up an easy-to-use process whereby staff can recognize each other when they demonstrate using emotional intelligence in their daily work. Having an emotional intelligence employee-of-the-month recognition program can also help keep the focus on continuous improvement. Finally, managers can also ensure that employees are aware that empathy and resilience are attributes that will make workers more likely to get a promotion. Building collaboration and conflict-resolution skills Organizations of the future will need to collaborate more both internally and externally. Having employees who are able to work with various people of different cultural backgrounds will increase team and organizational cohesiveness. Llopis emphasizes the importance of using emotional intelligence to approach workplace diversity with curiosity. This mindset helps uncover valuable insights and opportunities for growth. “When we look around with intentionality and expect to discover something new, we open ourselves to seeing possibilities we might have overlooked, he says. Conflict and problems inevitably arise at work. But because organizations must move so quickly, teams must be able to solve these issues quickly and effectively. Unresolved frustrations, unexpected changes, anxiety, and disappointment in organizations can lead to a negative and toxic workplace quite quickly if workers dont have the tools they need. Emotional-intelligence training teaches people to work through these common workplace issues without losing track of what they are trying to accomplish. These workers are better able to navigate difficult conversations that lead to better acceptance and understanding with their peers and leaders. The ability to work through difficult interpersonal relationship challenges leads to increased optimism and stronger growth mindsets for those who go through them. Llopis says that self-trust is central to emotional intelligence and reinvention, enhancing one’s ability to manage workplace conflict. “By cultivating a deep understanding of oneself and confidence in one’s abilities, self-assurance empowers employees to navigate their own challenges and support others, fostering deeper connections and adaptability in high-stress work environments,” he says. The value of an emotionally intelligent culture Companies that invest in supporting emotional intelligence find that their culture shows improvement. The results of an environment of collaboration are greater freedom to be creative and experiment with new solutions and innovations. Open communication and dialogue become part of how everyone in the organization is expected to conduct themselves. This results in an atmosphere of psychological safety, which allows everyone the freedom to experiment, take some risks, and push their own boundaries so they can reach their full potential. Organizations that put a high emphasis on emotional intelligence in their recruitment, onboarding, and training process will find they are molding their organizations in a manner that allows all of their people to have more fulfilling careers. Nurturing empathy and resilience means everyone has a supportive environment where everyone can reinvent themselves while keeping the organization moving forward.
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Happiness over ones lifetime has been popularly described as looking like a U-shaped curve: The joys of youth are followed by the challenges of our 20s and 30s before an upswing later in life that reaches a peak after retirement. While that may be trueor notin wealthier countries such as the United States, it doesnt apply to low-income, nonindustrialized societies. That is the main finding of a study I led that examined aging in rural, subsistence-oriented communities in 23 countries across the Global South. And our results have implications for global health amid aging populations and growing economic insecurity. In our study, we found that happiness levels did not consistently follow the U-shaped trajectory commonly observed in industrialized societies. In some cases there was a U-shape. But more often we observed an inverted U-shape, where middle-aged adults reported the highest level of happiness, or no significant age-related trend at all. Overall, well-being often declined after middle age among resource-poor populations lacking social security and other institutionalized forms of protection. This aligns with prior research among low-income countries and even of wealthy nations during economic crises. That being said, age itself was a weak predictor of life satisfaction everywhere. Sickness, disability and loss in productivity do a better job of explaining well-being than age. In fact, the few positive effects of age we did find usually disappeared when including measures of these misfortunes in our analysis. Along with other developments showing lower well-being among adolescents and young adults in recent years, my research challenges the assumption that the U-shaped happiness curve is universal. The trend showing that average well-being improves after middle age might be more typical of urban, affluent societies with formal retirement and strong safety nets for older adults. By examining a broader range of settings, we gain insight into how environmental and socioeconomic factors shape well-being over a lifespan, offering a more nuanced perspective on happiness that could guide policies for different age groups and cultures. I believe understanding well-being across diverse cultures is crucial, especially amid global aging and mental health crises. By reconsidering the determinants of happiness outside the U-shaped model, were all better positioned to improve quality of life for different populations worldwide. Michael Gurven is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
From streamlining administrative tasks to enhancing brainstorming sessions, AI is becoming an essential workplace companion. Yet, despite its transformative promise, its integration isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. We recently conducted research at Lucid Software to uncover AI usage in the workplace. We found that more than a third of workers globally are already using AI for fundamental tasks like generating ideas (39%), creating content (37%), communicating summaries (33%), and finding documentation (31%). When thinking about how weve adopted the technology into our products, our decade-long investment in intelligence has been key to building an AI-ready platform that automates data visualization and enables rapid iteration while aligning seamlessly with how people work. The true potential for AI to continue transforming daily tasks and even larger strategic work will only be possible if AI fits into employees workflows in iterative and practical ways that allow teams to master the technology. Employees feel optimistic about AI The global survey of over 2,500 knowledge workers revealed critical insights about AI’s growing impact on the workplace. Overall, the findings paint an optimistic picture: nearly two-thirds (63%) of employees view AI as the gateway to more fulfilling work and improved work-life balance. When we more deeply explored what’s fueling this positive outlook, three key benefits emerged: 62% of employees highlight productivity gains, 40% value cost savings and tech stack consolidation, and 38% see enhanced communication and decision making. But what really caught my attention is the striking tangible impact on productivity; more than 50% of workers believe AI will save them at least three hours of work per week. Thats time they can plan to redirect and invest in strategic, higher-value initiatives. In fact, 45% of employees are already using AI to effectively advance projects. And while saving three hours per week is meaningful to workers, its likely just the beginning. As AI tools advance and adoption increases, the time saved could grow significantly in the years ahead. Barriers to AI adoption persist In conversations with customers and prospects, weve noticed an interesting sentiment: While theyre excited about what AI can do, theyre overwhelmed by the number of available AI tools. This feedback underscores a key insightAI shouldnt feel like an extra layer of complexity. When AI is seamlessly integrated into the tools people already know and love, it streamlines their everyday workflows without adding another system to learn or manage. When we looked further into the barriers holding back AI adoption, our survey uncovered a large divide between organizational levels. While 83% of executives actively use AI-powered collaboration tools, this drops to just 42% of entry-level workers. Were also seeing a direct correlation between usage and confidence, too. Ninety percent of executives feel confident using AI-powered features, whereas 41% of entry-level employees feel hardly or not at all knowledgeable. AI regulation is top of mind Proper regulation and security are important for companies and employees. AI is a powerful and exciting tool, but there must be guidelines in place to keep company information safe. Our research reveals that 88% of companies are implementing strict guidelines to safeguard their business and employeesbut effective implementation proves to be the larger obstacle at hand. The current disconnect between policy creation and awareness in the workforce is significant: While 70% of executives say their company has established AI policies, only 29% of entry-level employees are confident that these guardrails exist. Executives must spend time communicating and implementing these systems so teams are empowered to use AI with security top of mind. The path to more strategic AI AIs impact extends beyond productivity and efficiencyits about enhancing how we work, improving job satisfaction and cultivating better work-life balance. It must be rolled out strategically and practically through comprehensive employee training and transparent AI integration strategies, bridging knowledge gaps across organizational levels, and addressing security and privacy concerns. AI isnt about replacing people; its about empowering them. The future of work is collaborative and AI is a powerful partner that will amplify human potential. At Lucid, our goal is to make AI feel approachable, trustworthy, and impactfulsomething that genuinely helps teams get things done better and faster. Embracing this technology thoughtfully and inclusively will be key to organizational success and employee empowerment. Dave Grow is CEO of Lucid Software.
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E-Commerce
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