“A Serious Practical Guide to Understanding Human Personality that Will Have You Rolling in the Aisles” (1995)

By: Andrea Swanepoel

William Murray, together with illustrations by Ashleigh Brilliant, take a humorous slant on the MBTI® Types. The book is an easy and fun way to learn and remember the different types and their preferences, rather than just memorising the theory.  Ashleigh Brilliant, author of Pot-Shots® is – please excuse the pun - brilliant in illustrating some of the well known trademarks of the dichotomies (E-I, S-N, T-F, and J-P).  He brings a humorous, yet accurate interpretation of the MBTI® descriptions of people and their preferences.  Here is a taste, to wet your appetite:

If this is the kind of book you would like to read, you will find it in our library.

If you would like to own your own copy, please contact Andrea@jvrafrica.co.za (011 781 3705). A copy goes for R375.82 ex VAT and will take 2-3 weeks to deliver.
More about Ashleigh Brilliant’s Pot-Shots ® can be found on his website www.ashleighbrilliant.com

How Emotional Intelligence can maximize people skills & maximize your profits by G. Brent Darnell

Author Sandra Bailey

The people-profit Connection tells of Darnell’s experiences of and insights into the benefits of emotional intelligence, especially within the American construction industry.

Darnell is currently the owner of Brent Darnell International Inc., specializing in teaching people skills to technical people using emotional intelligence theories. He has a wide variety of experience in several different fields, including construction, environmental, quality, teaching, and entertainment. Darnell graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1981. (www.qalias.com/uf/r/d/b/818r.doc)

The book is not written from a technical or scientific base but rather for the “layman” understanding. At times it feels like an advertisement for the BarOn EQ-i® and a management self help book, but Darnell is able to capture the essence of Emotional Intelligence in simplistic terms. He explains various concepts in great detail in order to ensure a clear understanding for the reader. Overall it is a quick easy read.

Darnell “promises” that by using the methods used in the book, the reader will be able to “measure and improve your employee’s people skills, solve the industry (construction) problems, and eventually increase your bottom line.” A bold statement that I would feel has not been delivered upon, especially if one looks to apply it to the South African industry.

As mentioned earlier, the book is written from a construction industry perspective but many of the concepts may be applied to any service industry organisation. The BarOn EQ-i® is Darnell’s instrument of choice and he uses it for pre and post analysis. In the middle, he implements various development courses tailored to the individual and organisation’s needs. The programs run on average for eight to 12 months with various interventions and regular follow up sessions. The project ends with a re-administration of the EQ-i® and individual feedback. Many times while reading the book, I asked myself if this process would work in South Africa, and if there would be “buy in”. But I suppose we do realize the South African context is quite different to the rest of the world and many international trends would need to be adjusted and tailored in order to fit in with the South African environment.

If the book is taken at face value and one looks at the broader concepts, contained within it, one can highlight a number of insights or rather reminders. I would highlight the following as being important insights even when applying them to the local context

1)      Many of our educational courses lack “people skills’ training, which is a fundamental flaw. I feel that interpersonal skills training could be included in our schooling curriculum as well tertiary education system in order to further develop our children. Let’s raise generations of successful and emotionally intelligent individuals.

2)      The world is constantly changing and in order to keep up we do not only need to learn new technical skills but continue to adjust our thoughts, behavious, and emotions, which involves emotional intelligence development.

3)      As we all know there is so much danger related to stress and it is important that individuals be given the opportunity to rest their bodies and minds to alleviate stress. Each person is unique so each one needs to determine what works best for them and try eliminating the factors contributing to stress. This could de done through a variety of methods, which some are discussed in the book. This is as much each individual’s responsibility as it is the organisations if we want to live a healthy, successful, and productive life.

4)      As professionals practicing in the field of Psychology we hold expert knowledge and skills that impact on peoples’ lives. We can do great things for individuals, communities and countries but can do great harm too. We need to remind ourselves that we are not just performing a job but playing an important part in a larger system and with the role comes great responsibility.

5)      Knowledge is an organisations’ competitive edge. Poor communication or lack of knowledge sharing could reduce productivity which could lead to reduced profits through inefficiencies. We however also need to remember people generally only share valuable information with other people that they know and trust. Which brings us back to relationships and emotional intelligence, as a vital component in building and maintaining beneficial relationships.

The book did not provide me with any ground breaking new learning, however for a strong believer in the importance of emotional intelligence for success it did offer some encouragement in that others are seeing the benefits of the concept and ensuring that the theories and models are being brought to people’s attention.