Harvard Business Review – Marc Brackett, Diana Divecha & Robin Stern
“If the U.S. is going to remain competitive in an increasingly global business environment, we need a future workforce that’s prepared. But the reality is that the youth who will be tomorrow’s innovators, educators, politicians, and business professionals aren’t ready to meet such competitive expectations — not so much because they’re untrained, but because they’re unequipped emotionally…At the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, we are studying the future workforce, and the outlook isn’t good. Teens in the United States are in dire psychological straits. Their stress is edging beyond that of adults…Nobel Laureate James Heckman writes that investment in the education of children’s “non-cognitive” skills — like motivation, perseverance, and self-control — is a cost-effective approach to increasing the quality and productivity of the workforce…Teaching emotional intelligence — or what’s more broadly called social and emotional learning (SEL) — to children and adults also has proven to be effective…there are real benefits, such as more effective leadership skills, stronger friendships and connections to teachers, better conflict management skills, and greater academic achievement than children who do not receive the training.”(more)