Words: Nelressa STALLINGS-FAYE Emotional intelligence [EI], in real life, determines our potential to learning practical skills. Emotional competence shows how much of that, or what, potential we have realised by learning and mastering skills and/or translating intelligence. They hold the key to success and fulfilment. In his landmark book, Working with Emotional Intelligence, noted psychologist

Words: Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Picture this. When something goes wrong, somewhere, or when someone does not meet, or live up to our belief and/or fails to fulfil our trust and confidence. The parallels have one common thread running through — disappointment. Disappointments can occur at any point in time — age, or maturity, being no bar.

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Success, as Herman Cain, the American businessman and activist, once said, is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. Intelligence, likewise, is not just a question of destiny. Raising the coffee cup to one’s lips is

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Conflicts, as we all know, are part and parcel of life and career. They may sometimes be resolved by a long shot. Sometimes not. Difficult or fluid conflicts often lead to contentious situations. Knowing the basics of effective conflict management is one good way of dealing with conflicts that cannot be

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR  A team is best defined as a combination of a highly communicative group of people. Poor communication, therefore, means no team.  A team should also, doubtless, have members with different backgrounds, skills and abilities. This would help to ‘pool’ optimal resources for it to be effective. In other words, a team

Words: Dr Rajgopal NIDAMBOOR Most successful people, we know, pursued their dreams, not just academics, or professions. This was, indeed, their ticket to success and eternal glory. Picture this. Most of our great, successful men and women never went through the 12-year educational ‘expedition’ our kids currently go through, along with their much-glorified percentage points.

Words: Dr Tim G SCHWEISFURTH Interruptions are an inevitable part of working life. Some last a short time — a phone call, an urgent task, or a colleague stopping by for a chat. While these can take a brief toll on productivity, extended interruptions, such as supply-chain issues, extreme weather, or machinery breakdowns, can have

Words: Dr Stefan VOLK Are you a morning, or evening person? Studies show we have strong differences in when we feel most creative and do our best work during the day. These differences go far deeper than just personal preference. Whether you like to get up early [a ‘lark’], or go to bed late [an

Words: Jennifer A BARTLETT Whatever happened to working from 9 to 5? Gone are the days in which we could just leave work at work. E-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter: we live in a continuously online culture in which we can always be connected to work not only in the workplace, but at home. If we