How to improve your EQ

To improve your Emotional Quotient (EQ or EI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence ), the ability to identify, assess, and manage your own emotion, other's emotion, or a group's emotion), you must first understand yourself thoroughly. The assumption is that everyone is different. Everyone is motivated differently, reasons differently and reacts differently even to the same event. You must first recognize the differences, accept the differences, work with differences, then appreciate differences and at last value these differences. Only the person who can really utilize human differences at levels above their own can truly and accurately capitalize on the value for their business.
How do you internalize human differences? Construct a virtual box assessing your emotions. Then construct a virtual box for each of your peers, your boss, your partners and your clients. Try to understand why you made certain decisions and why others made different decisions. Understand what motivates each person around you.
A simple task we ask our students to do is construct a virtual box for your manager. Try to make a decision on a real issue from your boss' box each day. Then compare with the actual decision your manager made. The closer these two decisions are, the more you understand your manager. If you practice this simple task and constantly analyze the differences with real people, your assessments get more accurate over time. Then you have successfully improved your EQ.