If you’ve got intelligence, skills, training, academic degrees, expertise and experience and still aren’t getting jobs and promotions, maybe there’s something in your personal and professional development you’ve ignored. Many people are finding that it’s emotional intelligence.

In today’s economy, you can count on many people having qualifications similar to yours. It’s getting more and more competitive out there! When you go in for an interview, or when you compete within your own organization, you won’t be only person highly qualified to do job. So how can you stand out?

I’m reminded of a client I spoke with other day who’s now retired. He talked about when he graduated summa cum laude from his college and had scored in 99th percentile on LSAT (the law boards), quite an exceptional score wouldn’t you say? Exceptional enough to get him accepted to Harvard Law School. He felt good about his ability to compete. But during orientation week at Harvard, he discovered that everyone else he talked with had also scored 99th percentile on LSAT and graduated summa cum laude. “Uh oh,” he thought. He said it was a great lesson in life.

So what can give you edge? It’s what used to be called “soft” skills, and more and more they’re looking like “hard” skills you need to compete with. In a field where others are equally qualified, how are you going to stand out? With your personal skills. Your emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence means being able to identify and understand your own emotions and those of others, and to use them to effect good outcomes. The level of your emotional intelligence will affect your resilience, your ability to work with a team, your interpersonal skills, leadership skills, focus, problem-solving ability, creativity, flexibility, communication, and one other important life skill – your gut instincts.