Humans in the workplace engage in millions of daily interactions. Some are effective, and some, well, aren’t. Your emotional intelligence (EQ) determines your ability to interact effectively with other humans. It’s your delivery system through which you share your knowledge, experience, and skills with others. If your delivery system is broken or inefficient, your influence won’t translate or make the right impact.

This means that to achieve high performance, you don’t just need great technical skills (IQ), you need a great delivery system (EQ). Some organizations promote leaders and managers based on their technical skill alone. These leaders end up lacking the interpersonal skills (EQ) they need to contribute effectively while contributing indirectly.

In this guide, we discuss why leaders and managers are obligated to improve their interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, and how to get started. If you're a manager and you're moving from direct to indirect contribution, if your primary job, purpose, and stewardship is to contribute indirectly through other people, then you have to improve your delivery system. There’s no other option.