About the Authors

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Facilitation and Activity Guide

Emotional Intelligence Defined and Research Overview

Planning your Classes

Student Reflection

Student Emotional Intelligence Assessment

Facilitating Class Discussions

Agree-Disagree Activities

Organization of this Guide


A Note About Language

Chapter 2: Case Studies of Emotionally Intelligent (and Not Emotionally Intelligent!) Behavior

Case Study #1: Why Can’t I Make an A?

Case Study #2: 15 Years to Graduate

Case Study #3: But I’m Good!

Case Study #4: Starting College

Case Study #5: Shared Responsibilities

Case Study #6: A Costly Decision

Case Study #7: First Job Jitters

Case Study #8: No Way

Case Study #9: Twins?

Chapter 3: Emotional Self-Awareness

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 4: Self-Regard

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 5: Self-Actualization

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 6: Emotional Expression

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 7: Independence

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 8: Assertiveness

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 9: Interpersonal Relationship

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 10: Empathy

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 11: Social Responsibility

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 12: Reality Testing

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 13: Problem Solving

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 14: Impulse Control

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 15: Flexibility

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Books, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 16: Stress Tolerance

A Note About This Chapter

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 17: Optimism

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class

Chapter 18: Happiness

Student Learning Outcomes

Suggested Readings, Movies, and Television Shows

Planning Your Class


Appendix A: Model Syllabus

Appendix B: Sample Grading Rubric for EI Reflection Questions

Appendix C: Movie Selections for Teaching Emotional Intelligence

Appendix D: Self-Development Plan for Improving Emotional Intelligence

Appendix E: Resources for Teaching Emotional Intelligence



We know that educators take their business seriously and toil diligently and willingly to challenge and support students’ mastery of content and skills such as writing and critical thinking. But there’s more—a lot more! How are we helping students find their passion and learn to set goals that are both challenging and realistic? Where are students learning the assertiveness needed to stand up to unethical business practices in their careers or a domineering college roommate? And what about teamwork skills? They can’t learn those merely by working in groups, any more than a person can become a talented pianist by sitting in a room with world-renowned pianists. In fact, many ineffective teamwork skills get further solidified: “A” students take over the project, and students who’ve learned they can slack off because the “A’s” will take over become even more disengaged.

Are we teaching students how to persist when faced with obstacles, how to make effective decisions, or how to curb destructive impulses? The list goes on. You may be thinking that all of these things are the purview of the family. They are. But in today’s economy and—for better or worse—era of accountability, educational institutions are being asked more and more frequently about “outcomes” such as students being admitted to the best colleges, performing well in college, getting jobs after college graduation, and getting into graduate programs. There is abundant research to support that higher emotional intelligence (EI) is related to such outcomes. (See Chapter 1 of this guide and Chapters 19–23 of The Student EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Academic and Personal Success.) Teaching emotional intelligence can occur within existing classes (for example, senior capstone courses and internship support courses), leadership courses as a stand-alone course, during training for campus leaders, and in first-year experience classes, just to name a few options.


Korrel Kanoy, Ph.D., is a developmental psychologist and served as a professor of psychology at William Peace University (formerly Peace College) for over 30 years, where she was recognized with the McCormick Distinguished Teaching Award and the Excellence in Campus Leadership Award. She has taught college-level courses in emotional intelligence since 1998. Korrel designed a comprehensive approach to infusing emotional intelligence into first-year experience courses, disciplinary senior capstone courses, and college and university service offices. She has worked with over 200 college students to help them develop emotional intelligence skills and has worked with schools to use EI as one component in selecting and developing faculty. She has published a children’s book, Annie’s Lost Hat, which includes a parents’ section related to emotional intelligence. She is a coauthor of Building Leadership Skills in Adolescent Girls.

Steven J. Stein, Ph.D., is a psychologist and CEO of Multi-Health Systems (MHS), a leading international test publishing company. He has authored several books on emotional intelligence, including the original The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success (coauthored with Dr. Howard Book), Make Your Workplace Great: The Seven Keys to an Emotionally Intelligent Organization, and Emotional Intelligence for Dummies. He has given presentations on emotional intelligence to audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and Africa. As well, he has appeared on hundreds of TV, radio, online, and print media productions.

For over a dozen years, Dr. Howard E. Book’s area of expertise has been benchmarking and enhancing the emotional intelligence of individuals and groups, as well as developing training programs to enhance the strength of this ability. Dr. Book has also written, lectured, and offered workshops on the importance of emotional intelligence and success in the real world internationally. He is a member of the Consortium for Research in Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, part-time faculty at the INSEAD School of Business in France and Singapore, and a former board member of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations, and with Dr. Steven Stein he coauthored the book The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success. Dr. Book holds the rank of associate professor, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Chapter 1

Introduction to the Facilitation and Activity Guide

You made a wise choice when you decided to help students learn about and develop their emotional intelligence (EI). Research summarized in The Student EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Academic and Personal Success shows how important EI is in predicting success in college and across a wide variety of professional careers. Unlike IQ, EI can be learned and improved at any age. Rarely, however, do secondary schools, colleges, or universities teach this topic to students. You chose to do so, and your students will benefit.


Emotional intelligence is “a set of emotional and social skills that influence the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and meaningful way” (Stein & Book, 2011, p. 13). Research with college students demonstrates that EI can predict academic success. Consider the following examples:

Schulman (1995) found that the EI skill of optimism was a better predictor of first-year students’ college GPA than their SAT score.

Schutte and Malouff (2002) found that incorporating emotional skills content into a college transition course enhances student retention. First-year students who received emotional awareness and development strategies in their course not only demonstrated growth in EI between pre- and post-measures, but were also more likely to persist to the next academic term than a cohort of students who did not receive the emotional intelligence content.

Mann and Kanoy (2010) found that first-year college GPA could be predicted by the following EI scales: optimism, independence (negative predictor), self-regard, impulse control, and problem solving. The students with the highest GPAs (3.35 and higher) scored higher on EI than the middle third of students (2.50–3.34) for assertiveness, stress tolerance, and problem solving; mid-performing students scored higher on social responsibility and impulse control than low-performing students.

Sparkman (2009) studied 783 college students over a five-year period and found relationships between EI and college outcomes.

Figure 1.1 shows the five realms and 16 scales of emotional intelligence as measured by the EQ-i 2.0. Consult The Student EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Academic and Personal Success for additional information about each scale.

Figure 1.1 Emotional Intelligence Defined

Source: Reproduced with permission of Multi-Health Systems. All rights reserved.



One of the authors, Korrel, has been a college professor for over 30 years, and during that time she has learned there is no one style or formula of teaching that works best at all times and with all classes. Passion about what you teach and actively engaging students are key ingredients. Throughout this guide, you’ll find exercises, tips, and ideas to help you engage students in their learning. Rarely will the plan dictate that something must be done in small groups or must be done in class rather than assigned for homework. Sometimes it can work just as well to have a class of 20 to 25 discuss a topic rather than dividing into four or five small groups. This is especially true if you need to monitor the discussion for accuracy, focus, or progress. For those of you who prefer a more detailed plan for teaching each topic, each chapter will contain suggested activities for leading a 50- to 60-minute class or a three- to four-hour workshop. (These three- to four-hour workshops can be broken into two or three different segments for a class that meets two or three times per week.) Additionally, Appendix A contains a suggested course syllabus that can be used for a semester-long class or adapted to accommodate a two- to three-day student workshop.


Reflection is one of the most effective tools to encourage student cognitive and social-emotional growth; thus each activity in this book will contain reflection questions for students. Reflection—unlike reasoning, which requires a systematic process that is evidence based—allows students to engage in mental inquiry meant to help develop self-discovery rather than help them arrive at a correct answer. The more reflection they do, the better! Thus this Facilitation and Activity Guide provides two different opportunities for reflection.

Because reflection promotes cognitive growth, it’s a key part of student learning. And it’s possible to grade worksheets and the reflection questions for quality. Appendix B provides an example grading rubric for a reflection exercise.


Students can complete the EQi 2.0, a reliable and valid measure of emotional intelligence that provides scores for overall emotional intelligence, five realms (self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal, decision making, and stress management), and the 16 scales outlined in each chapter of this book. For more information about how to give the EQi 2.0 to your students, go to Free assessments of emotional intelligence are also available but are not guaranteed to be reliable or valid and most likely will not align with the chapters outlined in the Facilitation and Activity Guide or the Student Workbook.


For the first couple of days, while you’re building rapport, choose activities and discussions that are fairly safe but highly engaging. Also, have the group develop guidelines, or you can suggest three to five like the following suggestions. Either way, make sure everyone in the class agrees to some version of these guidelines:

To make sure everyone gets to participate, encourage the students to be brief. Succinct comments help the conversation flow better. Introverted students are encouraged by the idea that they don’t have to talk for long, and extroverts who have some self-awareness appreciate the help in self-monitoring. And everybody appreciates not having one or two people who drone on and on!

Finally, give small groups questions to discuss and then have them “report out” to the larger group. There are two reasons for doing this. First, if there are inaccuracies in content (for example, maybe they don’t understand the definition of self-regard), those can be corrected. Second, if they have to report out, they usually take the assignment more seriously.


When discussing controversial issues or trying to get students to take a position on an issue, using an agree-disagree activity usually works well. Here’s how it works. On the far right side of the board, write the word “agree” and on the opposite side, write the word “disagree.” (Or just point to each side of the room if you don’t have a white board to write on.) Then pose your question and have students get up and move to the side of the room that best represents their opinion. Standing in the middle of the room is highly discouraged! Ask students from each side to explain why they chose to agree or disagree with the statement you read. For example, near the end of your course, after students have learned a lot about emotional intelligence, you might pose the following question: “Emotional intelligence learning should be required of all students at this school.”


This guide and the activities within it are organized so you can find what you want and pick and choose the activities that work best for your class.

Chapters follow the same order and numbering as found in The Student EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Academic and Personal Success and in The Student EQ Edge: Student Workbook.

Although some of you will prefer the “pick and choose” approach when selecting activities for your class, each chapter outlines a comprehensive plan for a 60-minute class and one for a half-day workshop. You will find these suggestions in the “Planning Your Class” section.

If you only have a few hours within an existing course to discuss emotional intelligence, it’s probably best to pick two or three scales that are highly relevant to that class (for example, emotional self-awareness, empathy, and interpersonal relationships in an Interpersonal Communication course) and focus on building those skills.

Each chapter contains these elements:


For almost every class period you will need access to the following:

Also, we highly recommend you have a copy of The Student EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Academic and Personal Success.

Finding TV Shows That Demonstrate EI

Go to to find the most recent six episodes of most TV shows or to find episodes of former TV shows. If you join Hulu for a small monthly fee, you can access all episodes of a particular show. One way to find great clips is to assign homework for the students to find clips that illustrate certain EI characteristics. You can have students volunteer to show their clips to the class and access them through Hulu or free-tv-video-online.


Appendix C contains an extensive list of movies, plot summaries, and the EI characteristics that the main characters possess or lack. Each chapter in this facilitator’s guide will include two or three featured movies where specific scenes are identified that illustrate the EI characteristic. Characters often display multiple EI characteristics; thus featured movies are listed for multiple scales, allowing students to see more of the movie (something they always ask to do!) and focusing your preparation time on just a few movies. The featured movies are listed here by EI composite area. If you need an extra activity for one of the chapters, just assign one of the movies listed and have students write an analysis of EI that was (or was not!) displayed.

YouTube Clips

It’s inevitable that some clips will not be active when you teach the course. Replace the removed clip with a movie segment or do a search by key word for other appropriate clips.


Educational systems across North America and Europe use different language to describe levels of education. In this guide, the terms college and university are used interchangeably to indicate education beyond the secondary or high school level.

Chapter 2


It’s always easier to recognize the flaws in someone else’s behavior than those in our own. The case studies give students a way to see how emotional intelligence innervates everyday behaviors. And they’ll see how enhanced EI can help them achieve better grades, perform better on a sports team, get along better with peers or a roommate, and handle the stress of a student’s life. The table gives you an overview of the case studies and indicates which EI dimensions are most relevant to the case. It’s okay to assign case studies that demonstrate EI skills before you cover that chapter; students will recognize the effective or ineffective behavior, even though they may not label it using emotional intelligence terms. This gives you the opportunity to foreshadow what they will learn as they go through the course.

Summary List of Case Studies

Case Study # and Name Most Relevant EI Skills Brief Summary
1. Why Can’t I Make an A? Emotional Self-Awareness, Self-Regard, Stress Tolerance, Happiness A student makes a B but her friends make an A on the same paper, which ruins the rest of her day.
2. Twenty Years to Graduate Emotional Self-Awareness, Self-Regard, Self-Actualization, Stress Tolerance, Problem Solving, Empathy A woman returns to college after a 12-year break to complete her degree and faces her doubts about whether she can succeed.
3. But I’m Good! Self-Regard, Reality Testing, Problem Solving, Impulse Control A high school soccer star finds the transition to university soccer challenging and frustrating.
4. Starting College Self-Actualization, Independence, Impulse Control, Reality Testing, Happiness Two roommates begin their university careers; one handles the transition better than the other one.
5. Shared Responsibilities Assertiveness, Emotional Expression, Social Responsibility, Problem Solving Two resident assistants (RAs) are supposed to share the responsibility to complete reports and paperwork, but one RA has been doing all of the reports and now wants to share the task.
6. A Costly Decision Reality Testing, Problem Solving, Assertiveness A university student does not ask enough questions about a financial aid situation and ends up keeping a class he should have dropped; he makes an F in the class.
7. First Job Jitters Self-Regard, Independence, Impulse Control, Self-Actualization, Social Responsibility, Stress Tolerance, and more! A new university graduate takes her first job in an accounting firm during tax season; her work performance is good, but things go badly because she lacks key emotional intelligence skills.
8. No Way Flexibility, Independence, Emotional Self-Awareness A college senior faces her fears and agrees to travel internationally with other students and her professor—and the experience transforms her.
9. Twins? Stress Tolerance, Optimism, Independence, Interpersonal Relationship, Happiness Twin sisters who have recently moved to the United States from Mexico respond very differently to a social invitation.

Directions for all case studies:

1. Have students read the case study and answer the reflection questions.
2. Discuss the reflection questions until the group comes to an accurate understanding of what EI skills (or lack thereof) the main character(s) displayed and what EI skills would have benefited the main characters.


Briana just found out she made a B on a paper and her two friends made A’s. She understands the professor’s comments and knows that her writing is improving and needs to improve more, but she still can’t shake the negative feelings she’s having. When her friends ask what grade she got, she doesn’t want to discuss it with them. And she doesn’t like hearing how happy they are about their A grades. Later, in math class, she begins thinking about the paper and misses an important formula explanation. She’s too embarrassed to ask the faculty member to repeat the information. After classes that day, another friend approaches her and asks if she wants to go to shopping. Briana declines the invitation and instead goes to her room, puts on her headphones, and listens to her favorite music. Later that evening she attempts her math homework, but she struggles to work problems using the formula covered in class earlier that day. After a few minutes, she closes her book and goes to bed. She’s restless, though, and it takes her a long time to go to sleep.

Reflection Questions

1. Citing information from the case study, identify what emotional intelligence skills are most relevant to this case study.
2. What values or hot buttons may have been activated when Briana found out she made a B on her paper? Do you think these same values or hot buttons would have been triggered if her friends had also made Bs?
3. How does Briana’s emotional reaction affect her behaviors throughout the rest of the day? Is her behavior more or less productive the rest of the day? Explain your response.


Jane was a 32-year-old woman with three kids ages 10, 9, and 5. She had dropped out of college at age 20 to marry her long-time boyfriend; since having her children she had worked part-time in administrative assistant positions. She was bored with these positions and wanted a bigger challenge and more money. Her husband, Mark, was a college graduate and worked as an accountant. He supported her decision and was eager to take on a larger role at home.

Jane enrolled in a nearby institution that offered degree-completion programs for adult learners. The week before classes began, Jane told her husband she didn’t want to go back to school after all. When he gently probed for what had changed her mind, she replied, “What was I thinking? When will I have time to study? I’ve forgotten the math I learned, and I haven’t written a paper in 12 years. What if I don’t do well?”

After a lengthy conversation, Jane decided to give it a try. She could always drop out if her fears were realized.

The first month was very challenging. Jane frequently felt nervous, especially when she had to take a test or turn in an assignment. She came home every night exhausted and thinking about quitting. She couldn’t find time to study as much as she thought she needed to. But she told herself that this was a big transition and she should give it some time.

Soon she developed a routine of studying while the kids were doing their homework, and she stayed on campus between her classes to study instead of racing home to do laundry. She and Mark developed a chore list for each kid so that everyone took on more responsibility at home. Studying with her kids while they did homework relieved some of her guilt because she could stop what she was doing to provide help if they needed it.

Two years later, Jane graduated with a degree in psychology. She was accepted to a master’s program in counseling, and her goal was to open a business to work with adults who are making a mid-life transition.

Reflection Questions

1. Describe how Jane’s self-perception changed from the time she entered to the time she graduated.
2. What EI skill(s) did her husband demonstrate?
3. What were Jane’s biggest challenges, and how did she use EI to help overcome them?


Roberto is an average student but a very good athlete. His sisters both make all A’s in their classes while he makes mostly C’s and B’s. But that’s okay with Roberto because he excels at soccer. He starred on his high school team in his small hometown and earned a scholarship to play on a college team.

The first day of college practice did not go well. Roberto was surprised by how fast and strong everyone was. He got beaten badly on several plays, and the coach called him aside to give him pointers about his positioning and footwork. He vaguely remembered his high school coach saying some of the same things, but he hadn’t paid attention then because he was playing so well.

Roberto didn’t make the changes the coach suggested because what he had always done had worked great so far and this new coach didn’t know him very well. Over the next several weeks, the coach kept emphasizing the same points to him and not offering him any encouragement or praise. Roberto began to get frustrated, but he kept his frustrations to himself. The coach just needed more time to understand his style of play.

During the first game of the season, Roberto started the game. But after he got caught out of position and the other team scored a goal, the coach took him out. Roberto sat on the bench and fumed. Everybody made mistakes—why did he get benched when others did not?

The same pattern continued for several weeks. During the fifth game of the season, Roberto played only the last couple of minutes, after his team had a 4–0 lead. Later that night, when talking to his parents, he told them he was thinking about quitting the team. He heard himself say, “I just don’t think I’m good enough to play at the college level.”

Reflection Questions

1. Citing information from the case study, identify which emotional intelligence skills are most relevant to this case study.
2. Was Roberto aware of his soccer weaknesses? What about his EI weaknesses? Explain.
3. Do you agree with Roberto’s thoughts about quitting the team? Explain your answer.


Jerome and Chris are first-year college students and roommates, and it’s the first time either has lived away from home. Jerome has declared a major in premed; he signed up for a heavy academic load this semester and has two science classes with labs. He spends lots of time in the library, and at the end of the first semester he has a 3.5 GPA. Jerome likes to go out on the weekends and have fun and often attends sports events or parties. He has lots of friends and is adjusting well to college. He sometimes gets bored when reading or studying, but if he does, he takes a short break to play video games.

Chris came to the university without a major and remains “undeclared” at the beginning of second semester. He doesn’t see a need to rush to declare a major, so he did not take a class in Career Exploration that his faculty advisor recommended. Chris made good grades in high school but is finding it harder to attend college classes without his parents around to make sure that he gets up on time. He’s asked Jerome to make sure he gets up in the morning and goes to class, but occasionally he goes back to sleep after Jerome wakes him up. Chris tends to study right before a test by staying up all night. He goes out a lot during the week and plays every intramural sport offered. Chris made a 2.2 GPA first semester. He’s surprised he did not do better because he was such a good student in high school.

Reflection Questions

2. Which student are you more similar to right now? What is your motivation for academic work? If you don’t see yourself as similar to either of these students, where do you see yourself on the continuum from not knowing what you want to study to being absolutely sure what you want to study? Explain.
3. Many college students do not declare a major during their first year of college. In that case, what could students do to ensure that they stay on track and motivated?


Keandra was a resident assistant (RA) in a college dorm. The other RA, Ian, had been relying on Keandra to file all of the reports and paperwork instead of the two of them taking turns as they agreed to do at the beginning of the year. The reports have deadlines, and if they are not turned in on time, the RAs could be fired.

Keandra went up to Ian’s room one afternoon and brought up the paperwork issue. Here’s their conversation.

Keandra: “There’s been a lot of paperwork lately. You need to do your part of it.”

Ian: “I’m not very good at paperwork.”

Keandra: “Maybe so, but you took the job knowing that was part of what you had to do.”

Ian: “Well, I have a heavier course load than you do. Can’t you just keep doing it this semester?”

Keandra: “I have a heavy load too. We both get paid the same amount, and I’m doing a lot more of the work than you are.”

Ian (in irritated tone): “I don’t have time for this discussion.” Ian walks out of the room.

Reflection Questions

1. What emotional intelligence dimensions are relevant to this interaction? Cite examples from the scenario to support your opinion.
2. What should Keandra do next? What EI skills can she draw on to help her resolve this issue?
3. Compare how you typically handle a situation in which someone is trying to take advantage of you to how Keandra handled this situation.


James was a junior in college with a 3.3 GPA who was taking 12 credit hours for the semester. He missed the first several classes of a one-credit hour course. He emailed the financial aid office to ask whether he would be considered a full-time student if he audited the class instead of taking it for a grade. They responded that audits don’t count toward total hours, so he would be considered a part-time student with just 11 credit hours if he audited the class. James then assumed that if he dropped the class he would lose his financial aid and have to pay for his classes. James knew he could not pay his tuition, so he decided to stay in the class, but he never attended again and did not complete any of the assignments. Nor did he contact the professor.

One day the professor saw James on campus and offered to help him complete the coursework through an independent study. James was on his way to look at the latest iPad when he ran into the professor, so he thanked the professor and asked if he could come by the professor’s office the next day.

The next day James had to work on a major term paper. He was so tired the following day from pulling an all-nighter that he went to sleep as soon as he turned his paper in. One week later he remembered the professor’s offer, but he was sure the professor wouldn’t still let him do an independent study. James never went to talk with the professor, and ultimately he earned an F in the course, which hurt his overall GPA.

The Reality (facts about financial aid at James’s school)

Reflection Questions

1. What questions should James have asked the financial aid office that he did not ask?
2. What difference would these questions have made in this situation?
3. What emotional intelligence challenges does James face?


Stacey completed her college degree in December and was hired by a major accounting firm to help them with their caseload during tax season. January involved lots of meetings with clients and getting to know her colleagues. Up to this point, Stacey loved her job.

In February the workload picked up, and Stacey was given several tax returns to complete that she thought were very difficult. She checked in frequently with a senior partner about whether she was doing things correctly. He always praised the quality of her work. One day the senior partner remarked that she was a better accountant than she gave herself credit for. Still, she sought his advice a lot.

At the beginning of March, she noticed that the partner was keeping his door closed more often now, and she was scared to interrupt him. So she asked one of the other new hires to look over her work. As the caseload built, Stacey got farther and farther behind. She carefully checked and rechecked every return before submitting it because she knew it would look bad if she made errors. She stopped doing yoga and going for weekend runs and used that time to catch up on work. Even though she was spending more time at work, it was taking her longer and longer to get each tax return done. One day, after Stacey complained to an administrative assistant (AA) that she had not known how hard tax season would be, the AA told her to “get a grip.” Stacey fled to her office in tears.

By March 25, Stacey didn’t see how she could make it through another three weeks. When she woke up that morning, she decided to quit her job. She called the office and told the senior partner she was resigning. He asked her to reconsider, citing the fact that her work was quite good and that she had 30 returns she needed to complete in the next three weeks. There was no way anyone else in the firm could take on more work, he said, and they were counting on her.

Stacey held firm and said no. She felt really bad about it at first, but as the day went on she felt better. She went to her yoga class, then went shopping and spent $400 on new clothes she would need for interviewing with other companies.

Reflection Questions

1. What EI characteristics are evident in this case study? Cite examples from the case to support your choices.
2. Which one or two EI areas were most problematic for Stacey in this case study?