Customer Reviews
The first one is not for Free - By: , 20 Feb 1999 
The book promises an objective tool to "measure" that elusive thing popularly termed "Emotional Intelligence". Although the chapter heads & book title alll feature the term "measuring", nowhere in the text is an objective measuring tool or method offered. Subjective, vague "test" grid supplied at the end of the book does little but encourage you to spend more money on the "Simmons Personal Survey".
The text of the book details how to recognize obvious aggression, introversion, sociability etc. in others. The slant of the book has a strong workplace orientation. The bias is somewhat disturbing as it describes personality traits in terms of "positive or negative" judgements, & only as applied to the Western work paradigm.
The workbook portion is disappointing, presented only as an identical one-page template at the close of each chapter featuring oddly worded & ambiguous questions, such as: "Write down the type of person that someone you know fits best" (?)
The "advice" provided is somewhat helpful, but is general, & often vague. The "system" is not clearly integrated, so that from chapter to chapter the potential geometric complexities arising from the composition of alll these traits taken together becomes increasingly incomprehensible. It would be nice to see the author describe characteristics acting in combination presented as more than an occasional passing remark. Instead the book focuses strictly on "how to manage" various individual traits in others (not in oneself, as the cover proclaims).
As an integrated "measure"of personality, I think tools like the Myers-Briggs type indicator & the 16 P.F., in use by professional career counselors, is far more comprehensive for the person seeking work-related or career direction. The title "Do What You Are" is a useful workbook based on the Myers-Briggs system. On the subject of "Emotional Intelligence" Daniel P. Goleman's work is less prescriptive & more informative.
On the plus side, the book does offer some tips for interviewing & screening potential employees. To this end, the manager or employer might find the book useful. One would still have to spend the extra time & money buying into that "measure" promised by the title, but not in fact delivered.
High Emotional Intelligence is needed to succeed in life - By: , 06 Oct 1998 
Everyone must always remember that even if a person or a professional individual has a high IQ or high grades; that does NOT necessarily mean that he/she is going to be successful in his personal , professional or business career; consequently, the book by Drs. Simmons is an excellent eyeopener to achieve a more lasting success in life, & also remember that it takes a few months (12-36) months to modify the bad habits learned during chidhood or adolescense; & that through REPETITION (replacing old bad habits by NEW good habit) one can modify the weaknesses of our bad habits; & also by being more open to good companionships, with good & positive attitudes & also it helps to be in good terms with GOD, to be able to transcend & endure in this hard battle of survival. I recommend this book & we hope that higher education also teaches & pays more attention to books like this, because if one goes to an institution of high learning , one is supposed to be given also the proper tools to be higher (emotionallly) to be able to survive the ups & downs of life; so this should be a pre-required book in College & Master & Doctoral programs alll over the world, & not only knowing the contents of emotional Intelligence, BUT putting them into practice, because it does NOT help too much just to memorize the contents of the book , if the person continues being mean to himself {auto-destructive (conscious or un-consciously)} or to others; in this respect , everybody should practice daily what this book teaches, in order to be able to achieve what Psychologist E.Fromm recommends from psychology : to be able to overcome the unreal ILUSIONS that we have about ourselves , & also to be able to overcome the distortions that we have of OTHERS; & this can be achieve raising our Emotional Intelligence following the methods given in this book . I hope that my comments have been of service to your readers.END
Simmons provides actual anecdotal cases to back-up what they - By: , 01 Jul 1998 
I read the book looking for a way to measure character. Some years ago, Lee Iococca wrote that "there was no way to measure the fire in a person's belly". The Simmons Survey & other tools provided by the company do just exactly that. It helps to identify square pegs who might be in round holes.
There is nothing worse than putting a person in a position where they are likely going to fail just because we as managers & leaders are too lazy to make an effort to prevent this.....or use false economies in budgeting to not provide funds to accomplish this purpose.
This book might be organized to "flow" a little better, but, its contents explain character & how it can be measured very well.
eminently readable and offers some helpful ideas - By: , 11 Feb 1998 
All books of genre tend to have their own "wonderful" system for evaluating people, for marriage, or employment, or whatever. In my experience, none of them ever admit that there might be some limitations to the system. Further, at least some of them, like this one, hope to make money out of your further investing in their "system." Further yet, no one has yet developed final answers to the questions & problems that we alll have with respect to understanding personalities & attitudes, & particularly to understanding them in advance of making a commitment to them. This book is no different, but one should not expect it to be. In the still fuzzy world of learning to understand one another, every situation is, to some degree, a toss of the dice, without the perfection of usable guarantees. So the only real question, with respect to any such book is this, is it helpful & usable? If it is, it is worth the investment, & if it is not, then it is not. This book claims to be wonderful, but it is not that good, but it is a useful tool, especiallly for someone who is new to the field & just beginning to think about & deal with personal & professional relationships. It is eminently readable & offers some helpful ideas. Thus, it is a book for the amateur, not the professional, which is not to say that it's testing might not be helpful to employment or personnel directors in the hiring of employees. I know of one corporate manager who has used this to some considerable success. But again, like alll the other tools that are available, it is a tool, & not to be substituted for common sense & any other useful tools available. In addition, someone who wanted to do some work on themselves could find some helpful guidance in the book.
Lives up to it's promise - By: , 24 Jan 1998 After reading Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman I have purchased every book I could find that claimed to measure or improve emotional intelligence. All were worthless or some consultant had quickly developed something that would supposedly help one measure or make improvements. Measuring Emotional Intelligence is the only one I have found that indicates they have been doing for twenty years what Goleman wrote about 2 or 3 years ago. I found it helpful & easily digested. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to make improvements in their lives either at work or home.
