081: Building Emotional Intelligence

Welcome back! Today we're talking about something that's not discussed all that often in law school, which is emotional intelligence. This is an important piece of the puzzle for happiness and success in your law career and in life.

Want to know how to develop these skills? Tune in!

In this episode we discuss:

• What is emotional intelligence?
• Why is emotional intelligence important in legal work?
• Can better emotional intelligence make you a better lawyer (or will it just make you soft)?
• How to handle the stress of navigating rough waters for your clients
• Why there's persistent conflict in the legal profession and how to handle it
• Lee and Alison give examples of conflict from their legal work
• Personality types and how they affect your lawyering
• The importance of empathy and compassion in lawyers
• Exercises and resources for developing emotional intelligence

Resources

• How to Be a Success at Everything (https://www.fastcompany.com/3042330/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/how-one-simple-change-can-make-you-a-better-listener)
• 4 Rituals That Make You Happy, According to Neuroscience (http://time.com/4042834/neuroscience-happy-rituals/?xid=fbshare)
• Jeena Cho (http://jeenacho.com/)
• Judi Cohen, Warrior One (http://warriorone.com/)
• When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron (https://www.amazon.com/When-Things-Fall-Apart-Anniversary/dp/1611803438/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484089071&sr=1-4&keywords=things+fall+apart)
• Books by Brene Brown (https://www.amazon.com/Bren%C3%A9-Brown/e/B001JP45BA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1484926896&sr=1-1)
• Books by the Dalai Lama (https://www.amazon.com/Dalai-Lama/e/B000AQ027U/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1484927209&sr=1-1)
• The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron (https://www.amazon.com/Places-That-Scare-You-Fearlessness-ebook/dp/B00BBXJH7W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484927287&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Places+that+scare+you)

Episode Transcript: Download a copy of the transcript

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Thanks for listening!

Alison & Lee