The following article appeared in INMAN. The original article can be found here: https://www.inman.com/2019/01/14/connect-the-speakers-marc-brackett-on-emotional-intelligence-and-real-estate/

Connect the Speakers: Marc Brackett on emotional intelligence and real estate

You’ve probably heard of the concept of emotional intelligence before — but if you’ve brushed it off as a fluffy, unnecessary skill that can’t possibly be relevant to your life in real estate, then you’re sorely mistaken. Marc Brackett, PhD, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, has made emotional intelligence part of his life’s work and study; he’s successfully implemented emotional intelligence at schools to help students using evidence-based practices deeply rooted in science about how emotions influence our behavior and how we can better manage both.

Emotions are an integral component of any real estate transaction — emotions generated by buyers and from sellers, of course, but also by the agents in the process, radiating out to everyone who touches the transaction in these high-stakes and expensive activities. Brackett is going to dig into what you need to know about emotional intelligence and how it helps rule your world (whether or not you want to admit it) at Inman Connect New York, January 29 through February 1 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square.

The skills that Brackett has helped develop for use in schools at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence are also highly applicable to real estate. The RULERprogram teaches students how to enhance their ability to develop and execute five critical areas of emotional intelligence:

• Recognizing emotion
• Understanding emotion
• Labeling emotion
• Expressing emotion
• Regulating emotion

“Decades of research show that these skills are essential to effective teaching and learning, sound decision making, physical and mental health, and success in school and beyond,” explains the RULER website. As a real estate resource for your clients — and someone who’s teaching them to navigate the often highly emotional process — these skills are also crucial to being successful agents, but even the most emotionally intelligent adults are usually only operating by instinct; they can’t articulate what makes them so good at managing emotions in themselves and others.