ICEI™ 2008: Keynote Speakers Announced, Early Bird Registration Extended

This month we have much to update on the upcoming ICEI conference. Most importantly, we are happy to announce that we have confirmed our keynote speakers and are finalizing our list of concurrent session and poster session presenters. The response to our call for papers was overwhelming, and the selection process was a difficult task. Over the next week we will be updating the conference website with information as we confirm our presenters. The full list of speakers will be posted in early March. Keep an eye on the Speakers section of the ICEI website for more information as it becomes available.

In the meantime, our keynotes are as follows:

Jim Kouzes
An expert in the field of organizational leadership, Jim Kouzes is co-author of the award-winning The Leadership Challenge , which has sold over a million copies. He also helped develop the widely used and highly acclaimed Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), a 360° questionnaire assessing leadership behavior. Not only is Jim a highly regarded leadership scholar and experienced executive, The Wall Street Journal has cited him as one of the twelve most frequently requested “non-university executive-education providers” to US companies. Jim currently serves as an executive fellow at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara
University .

Peter Salovey
Peter Salovey is an EI pioneer, having partnered with John Mayer to introduce the concept of “Emotional Intelligence” when they were the first to define it in 1990. Ever since, Salovey has consistently contributed to the Emotional Intelligence community. He, along with Drs. John Mayer and David Caruso developed and published the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT™), the first ever ability-based test of Emotional Intelligence. Peter also founded the Health, Emotion, and Behavior Labratory at Yale University, where he serves as Dean of Yale College and Chris Argyris Professor. The aim of the HEB Laboratory is to take research in emotional skills and competencies to new levels, studying how these behaviors can become relevant in the prevention of critical illness.  

Steven Stein
Steven Stein has been invested in the research of EI and development of EI assessments for over a decade. As CEO of international psychological test publishing firm MHS, he oversees the development of instruments that assess the Emotional Intelligence of individuals, teams, and organizations as a whole. He is the author of the Benchmark of Organizational Emotional Intelligence assessment, which he developed with his team at MHS. He also recently released his second book Make Your Workplace Great: the 7 Keys to an Emotionally Intelligent Organization , a continuation to the critically acclaimed The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success .

For more information on our keynotes, including biographies, please visit the Speakers section of the ICEI site.

Early Bird Registration Deadline Extended and new Student Savings Offered
The deadline for early bird registration for ICEI 2008 has been extended through March 31st, 2008. If you have not yet taken advantage of the 10% registration discount afforded by the special early bird rates, be sure to do so soon by visiting the ICEI Registration page.

Additionally, full-time undergraduate or graduate students planning to attend ICEI 2008 qualify for a 25% student savings discount on one-day and two-day registrations. To register at the discounted student rate, contact Leiki Luud at leiki.luud@mhs.com.

Upcoming EI Business Breakfast from the Human Capital Institute

On Friday October 26^th, Diana Durek, MHS’ Senior EI Advisor, will be hosting a business breakfast presentation in association with HCI and the Segal Graduate School of Business. The presentation, entitled Building a Successful Workforce: What’s Emotional Intelligence Got To Do With It?, will take place at Simon Fraser University, in British Columbia, Canada. The event is free on a first-come, first-seated basis, but it is recommended you register online with HCI. Visit HCI’s site for full information on the presentation.

Is Emotional Intelligence Worthwhile?

Yes, that was the title of a presentation at this year’s SIOP (Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology) conference in New York City. The paper, by Dana Rhodes and Daniel Newman from Texas A&M University, reported a meta-analysis of research studies looking at ability-based EI, so-called mixed-model EI (essentially self-report measures of EI), cognitive intelligence, Big 5 (personality measures), and their impacts on job performance.

The researchers’ study was based on 36 published meta-analyses. In addition, they looked at adverse impact – specifically, the degree to which these personality, EI, and cognitive measures discriminate against African-Americans in hiring situations.

Their first finding was that ability-based EI measures demonstrated incremental validity above the Big 5, but not above cognitive ability. Second, self-report measures of EI showed modest validity above Big 5 and cognitive ability. The third major finding was that self-report EI measures substantially reduced the potential for adverse impact when added to a composite of cognitive ability and Big 5.

These results are quite ground-breaking. We often hear of the (incorrect) belief that EI is equal to, or no better than Big 5 personality in predicting job performance. However, even if EI and personality were equal predictors of job success, there is greater adverse impact with personality (and cognitive) tests than with self-report EI tests. So, if you are really concerned about fairness in hiring, it’s definitely worth taking a look at self-report EI.

Midwest EQ Forum a success

I had the pleasure of attending the EQ Forum, which was sponsored by Eli Lilly and Anderson College University and took place in Indianapolis on October 4^th. The event was a big success, and it was great to be there and meet everyone. It was also nice meeting a number of EI Insider readers who heard about the conference through our newsletter. I’d like to thank all of you who joined us for this inaugural event.

First Midwest Forum on Emotional Intelligence and Personal Success

I am pleased to announce that I will be presenting a keynote address at the EQ “Think Tank,” sponsored by Anderson University and Eli Lilly Corporation, on Wednesday October 4 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The half-day conference will focus on Emotional Intelligence and personal success. Please join us at the event if you can make it there; I always look forward to seeing EI Insider readers.

For more information or to register for the conference, please contact Dianna Stankiewicz at (765) 641-4227 or djstankiewicz@anderson.edu.