A simple definition of emotional intelligence (EQ) is the capacity to reason about emotions and emotional information. I work with several rich models of EQ that make this concept very practical but I have found that there are two quick and easy practices that will enable anyone to increase their level of emotional intelligence.

• Whenever something goes well for you, rather than take credit, find someone other than yourself to give some meaningful and specific credit to.
• Whenever something doesn’t go well, rather than assign blame to someone, find some meaningful and specific ways that you can fault yourself.

Obviously, EQ is much more complex than this. But these two ideas span the cornerstones of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.

If you consistently do these two things, I have no doubt that they will increase your EQ as well as your influence with others.