Our guest in this interview is Dr Ben Palmer, founder and CEO of GENOS International and one of the world’s leading experts on EI. Ben answers the question “What IS emotional intelligence and why the tag line “Game Changing for Business, Life Changing for People”? Ben addresses other questions like, “What are organisations using emotional intelligence for and what outcomes are they getting from it?”, “What are the specific skills of it and which is your favourite and why?” and “How do you develop emotional intelligence?”, In a rich and wide ranging conversation Ben and I explore the six competencies of the GENOS Model of EI – self-awareness, awareness of others/empathy, authenticity, emotional reasoning, self-management, positive influence what part they each play in business and life in general.

Ben has a PhD in psychology from Swinburne University where he developed the first Australian model and measure of emotional intelligence. Together with Swinburne University’s commercialization arm, Ben founded Genos International to bring his model and measure of emotional intelligence to the market. Today Genos is a national Australian export success story. Genos has operations in Australia, North America and Europe, and distribution partners servicing clients in India, China, South Africa, South East Asia, the UAE and New Zealand. Companies from Walmart in the United States, to Accor Hotels based in Paris, to Qantas in Australia, have used the Genos model and measure of emotional intelligence to improve leadership, resilience, customer service, sales and teamwork.