Weekly Business Insights from Top Ten Business Magazines | Week 295 | Leading & Managing Section | 1

Extractive summaries of and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Week 295 | May 5-11, 2023

An 80-Year Harvard Study Shows Emotionally Intelligent People Use the Wiser Model to Handle 

By  Jessica Stillman | Inc Magazine | May 4, 2023 

Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article

Good decision-making, healthy relationships, and all-around success in life depend on getting your emotions under control. What’s the best way to do that? An 80-year Harvard study offers a straightforward model anyone can follow.   The most emotionally intelligent people don’t ignore their emotions or allow them to unthinkingly drive their actions. Instead, they employ the WISER model to process their feelings and actively choose a wise course of action.

Watch.  If you want to respond well to an emotion, you first need to take a pause, name it, and understand what triggered it. In some cases, this period may only last a moment or two; in others, it may require that you set aside an hour or evening. During that time, try to bring your curiosity to the entire situation.

Interpret.  OK, now that you have some basic observations, it’s time to interpret them. Have you made any assumptions about the other parties involved in the situation? Might those assumptions be flawed? Are there other factors–from earlier frustration to exhaustion–contributing to your emotional response? If we’ve only done a quick-and-dirty job of observing in the watch stage, we probably don’t have all the information we could have about what’s really going on, which leads to hasty conclusions.

Select.  Once you have a full picture of what’s actually going on, you’ll be better placed to actively select a course of action that will get the results you want.  The key is to try to slow things down where you can, zoom in, and move from a fully automatic response to a more considered and purposeful response that aligns with who you are and what you are seeking to accomplish.

Engage.  You have a plan. Now is the time to put it into action. The options here are as variable and diverse as the emotional situations we find ourselves in, but whatever you’re dealing with, considered action is better than just letting your feelings carry you along (or sticking your head in the sand). 

Reflect.  How did your plan turn out? Did you get the response you hoped for both from others and in terms of your own emotions? By making us think about what went well and what went less well, the reflection stage provides important information we can use to improve our response next time. If you skip this step, you let a key opportunity to learn go to waste. 

3 key takeaways from the article

1. Good decision-making, healthy relationships, and all-around success in life depend on getting your emotions under control. What’s the best way to do that? An 80-year Harvard study offers WISER model that anyone can follow. 
2. Watch.  If you want to respond well to an emotion, you first need to take a pause, name it, and understand what triggered it.  Interpret.  Now that you have some basic observations, it’s time to interpret them.  Select.  Once you have a full picture of what’s actually going on, you’ll be better placed to actively select a course of action that will get the results you want.  Engage.  Now is the time to put the plan into action. Whatever you’re dealing with, considered action is better than just letting your feelings carry you along.  And finally, Reflect.  How did your plan turn out? 
3. Plenty of folks require years of therapy to get this mostly right–and there’s zero shame in that.

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Topics:  Emotional Intelligence,  Leadership, Decision-making