Sharing EI with Others Because of his belief in the efficacy of emotional intelligence, he said it was then he also decided that he would like to share what he’d learned with others. He said in the beginning he wasn’t sure if that meant becoming a consultant or teaching students in an academic environment. While still working at Coca-Cola, Parks began teaching marketing and managing at CWU-Lynnwood in 2017. About six months later, he retired from Coke and transitioned to teaching fulltime. Soon after, Jeffrey Stinson, Dean of CWU’s College of Business, who was familiar with Parks’s work and interest in emotional intelligence, supported Parks and Liz Fifield ('18), a former student who is now a talent acquisition leader at Boeing, as they began to develop a course on the subject. Fifield, who co-teaches emotional intelligence classes with Parks, is also a strong believer in its effectiveness in the workplace. “According to The World Economic Forum, emotional intelligence is no longer just a ‘nice to have’ skill. It is ranked one of the top 10 skills necessary to be successful in today’s workplace,” Fifield explained. “Emotional intelligence is a great tool to use in the workplace when navigating through conflict and/or complex situations. “By being aware of your emotions and those of others, you are able to effectively communicate in tough situations and successfully manage relationships,” she continued. “Open communication builds a culture of inclusion where everyone feels safe to speak and share their ideas, which is more important than ever in today’s workplace.” One of their students, Hannah Smith, who graduated this year with a bachelor of science in personal financial planning,
said Parks’s class taught her how to navigate life’s challenges, which became especially acute during the pandemic. “He taught me that you can always find something positive in every situation,” Smith said. “It is easy to forget to live your life during the pandemic. But I now have the skills to identify my emotions and find ways to get my life back.” Closing the Equity Gap with EI Another thing Parks is especially passionate about is helping students of color learn leadership skills, such as emotional intelligence, so they can succeed. “I’ve accepted an assignment at the university as a faculty fellow in the office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and so one of my other passions is to take this emotional intelligence work and expand it to business professionals of color,” he explained. “This past March we did a workshop, targeted to business professionals of color, and we had attendees from companies including Starbucks, Amazon, Boeing, and Microsoft,” he said. “What I’m doing now is pulling out segments of the EI course to do mini-workshops that will help build the skillset of business leaders of color and ideally close the equity gap that we have.” Additionally, Parks was recently named the Kuolt Distinguished Professor of Business (read more on page 5). “This position will help me to connect theory with practical application, which is what I do in the classroom,” Parks said. “This will allow me to take our emotional intelligence work out to the business community. It includes not only teaching this to any type of professional, but also having some targeted training to business professionals of color with the idea of helping to close the equity gap by building up leadership skills.”
according to Daniel Goleman, author of the 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ , considered the first serious study of the subject. 71 percent of hiring managers in a CareerBuilder survey said they value emotional intelligence in an employee more than IQ. 67 percent of all abilities associated with strong job performance were related to emotional intelligence, according to Goleman. 59 percent of employers would not hire someone if they had a high IQ but low EI (emotional intelligence rating), according to CareerBuilder.
Emotional Intelligence is increasingly being recognized as essential to being a successful business leader, according to Rhett Power, writing in Inc. magazine. Leading businesses, including Amazon, Google, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Tesla, BMW, and FedEx, have embraced the importance of instilling emotional intelligence into their corporate cultures. 90 percent of what sets high performers in a company
apart from peers with similar technical skills and knowledge is emotional intelligence,
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