Good listening skills make workers more productive. The ability to listen carefully allows workers to better understand assignments they are given. They are able to understand what is expected of them by their management.

Emotional intelligence is a shorthand that psychological researchers use to describe how well individuals can manage their own emotions and react to the emotions of others.

“Mixed model,” developed by psychologist Daniel Goleman. The mixed model has five key areas: Self-awareness, Self-management,Motivation,Empathy and Social skills.

Self-awareness: Self-awareness involves knowing your own feelings. This includes having an accurate assessment of what you’re capable of, when you need help, and what your emotional triggers are.

Self-management: Self-management involves being able to control outbursts, calmly discussing disagreements, and avoiding activities that undermine you like extended self-pity or panic.

Motivation: Everyone is motivated to action by rewards like money or status. Goleman’s model, however, refers to motivation for the sake of personal joy, curiosity, or the satisfaction of being productive.

Empathy: While the three previous categories refer to a person’s internal emotions, this one deals with the emotions of others. Empathy is the skill and practice of reading the emotions of others and responding appropriately.

Social skills: This category involves the application of empathy as well as negotiating the needs of others with your own. This can include finding common ground with others, managing others in a work environment, and being persuasive.

Listening skills allow one to make sense of and understand what another person is saying.

Listening tips: Maintain eye contact with the speaker. This will demonstrate to the speaker that the listener is paying attention.

Do not interrupt the speaker. Wait until he or she is completely finished, then ask questions. Listening long enough may answer several of the questions without the need to ask. When the time is right to ask, repeat instructions first and then ask appropriate questions.

Control body language. As much as possible, sit still while listening. This implies that the listener is paying full attention to the speaker. A nod of the head can be good, as it implies agreement.

A good listener knows that being attentive to what the speaker doesn't say is as important as being attentive to what he does say. Look for nonverbal cues such as facial expressions and posture to get the full gist of what the speaker is saying.

Without rapport, there is little chance to influence or to persuade others.

Rapport building is at the root of effective communication

what are some of the techniques you can implement to increase your capacity to build rapport? One powerful method is to match and mirror the behavior of the other

Matching and mirroring is the skill of assuming someone else’s style of behavior to create rapport.

Body postures and gestures What posture is the person you are having a conversation with assuming? Observe, and than match the posture and gestures.

The rhythm of the breathPay attention to how the other person is breathing, and then match it. This technique helps tremendously in bonding with the other.

The tone of your voice to build rapport, you need to mirror his or her tone of voice. pay attention at the speed of the speech.

self-disclosure is one of the hallmarks of intimate relationships.

Revealing your motives, intentions, goals, values, and emotions, can increase liking and feelings of intimacy.

Successful and strategic self-disclosure is a leadership competency that many leaders have yet to acquire.

Skillful self-disclosers choose the substance and process of their revelations, including the depth, breadth, and timing of disclosure, with the goal of furthering the collective task rather than furthering personal agendas.

Too little disclosure may result in follower feelings of uncertainty and suspicion, with followers unable to trust someone who isn’t open about his or her own background.

Skillful self-disclosure can humanize the leader, creating connections between the leader and followers that increase feelings of trust and intimacy, and, in an organizational context, a readiness to work together collaboratively to reach mutual task goals.

The real debate is, when does life begin? When life begins, it deserves protection.

And at a relatively early age, ten or so, I invested my first share of stock. And I used to follow, look at companies and so forth. But throughout the whole period, and indeed right through my college years, while I was involved in the stock market, always interested in finance, I never thought of it as a full-time job.

I want that which is hilarious and that which is heartbreaking to occupy the same territory in the book because I think they very often occupy the same territory in life, much as we try to separate them.

My parents were dishonest people. If it was my birthday, I knew my mother took me to the K-Mart and she stole my toy. She'd put it in the shopping cart and we'd walk out. I was raised with that.

You have to keep pushing toward those dreams no matter what setbacks happen.

It's only a house when it's filled with people you love.

When I wake up in the morning, I feel like a billionaire without paying taxes.

It's a European art form, and you're used to seeing a certain type of person as a ballerina. And I don't look like a lot of the girls around me.

Nature is relentless and unchangeable, and it is indifferent as to whether its hidden reasons and actions are understandable to man or not.

I'm not antisocial. I like people.

Understand that the time in the audition is your time. Really own it and take control of it. And do what you prepared. Focus on really executing what it is that you intended to do.

The cooperation of government at its different levels is important and can only be achieved as long as the people of Chicago are directly involved in our efforts and supportive of our goals.

A mother understands what a child does not say.

I'm always doing something. I never shut my brain off. I always have something going on.

If you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, if you believe in people's rights, if you believe in the harmony of all humankind - then you have no choice but to back Fidel Castro as long as it takes!

It's okay to be fat. So you're fat. Just be fat and shut up about it.

Love will draw an elephant through a key-hole.

Popularity makes no law invulnerable to invalidation. Americans accept judicial supervision of their democracy - judicial review of popular but possibly unconstitutional statutes - because they know that if the Constitution is truly to constitute the nation, it must trump some majority preferences.

Men exist for the sake of one another.

The first movie I had a featured role in was Parting Glances.

I am definitely a Type A personality, always rushing around, trying to do too much, not good at just lying on the beach. But I'm so thankful for everything I have: wonderfully supportive parents and sisters, the best husband in the world, terrific students I love teaching and hanging out with, and above all, my two amazing daughters.

When I was very small, the electricity was turned off because we didn't pay the bill. I remember sitting by the oil lamp listening to my mother playing 'Careless Love' on the piano.

Companies and managers that find a way to harness social media stand to gain.