Esther Perel, renowned psychotherapist and author, gives an energetic and insightful talk about the importance of emotional intelligence and human relationships for success in the workplace: “Quality relationships are central to the quality of our lives as well as to our business success”, she observes. “But unlike hitting benchmarks relationships are much harder to measure, harder to sustain and harder to repair.”
Perel challenged the audience to allocate more time and resources on developing relational skills and intelligence in the workplace. While technology has brought on more productive and efficient processes for business leaders, she explained that it also comes with major consequences, like “the erosion of emotional touchpoints”.
Perel makes the case for relational intelligence being the new bottom-line because “it will become the future competitive advantage”. She defines “relational intelligence” as our ability to connect, how we establish trust, how we engage with or avoid conflict as well as the ways in which we communicate with each other.
