Emotional Intelligence by James W. Williams

Error-Filled Rehash of EI Concepts, Not a Mental Makeover

In this book, the author purports to give you a 21-day roadmap to improving your emotional intelligence. The book’s cover showing the title and subtitle do not wholly and accurately reflect what goes on in the book. From them, it appears that the book is about emotional intelligence on a personal level, but it is primarily about how to understand emotion in yourself and others as it relates to business.

I am a female, so something irritated to hear the author talk about mastering or managing emotions. To me, that is not what emotions are about; can one master or manage untamed nature? While we can strive to better understanding, we cannot. While I agree that self-awareness of your emotional state has value, I don’t think it should follow that knowledge about emotions should be a springboard to manipulate the emotions of others, which it seems this author suggest. In part one of the book, it seems odd to me that he equates “people skills” with emotional intelligence. People skills, as it were, are so much more than anything to do with emotion. Similarly, the phrase emotional intelligence suggests more than just people skills.

In reading through it, it didn’t come together as a “mental makeover” plan at all; rather, it is more like a collection of short essays about EI topics. I think this book needs a more precise vision or perhaps a different one. The cover should actually reflect with a book is about, for certain. I think it should be more tightly focused on what the author seems to care about, which is how emotions can be used effectively in the workplace as another tool for management and workers. Perhaps he even needs two books, one for the worker bee and one for leaders. The book could have used the hand of a developmental editor.

This book does not appear to have been professionally copyedited or proofread. It requires both. There are some inconsistencies within a text as well as errors with grammar, punctuation, and usage. Some words and phrases were overused; sometimes sentences were overlong. Some errors were glaring and did detract from the reading of the book; parts were difficult to get through.

As it stands, if you are hoping this book will benefit you on a personal level, not a professional one, these hopes may not be realized. At best, it is an error-ridden introduction to some of the concepts of EI.