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Daniel Goleman | |
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 Goleman at the 2011WEF | |
| Born | (1946-03-07)March 7, 1946 (age 79) Stockton, California, U.S. |
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| Education | Amherst College (BA) Harvard University (PhD) |
| Spouse | Tara Bennett-Goleman |
| Website | |
| danielgoleman | |
Daniel Goleman (born March 7, 1946) is an Americanpsychologist, author, andscience journalist. For twelve years, he wrote forThe New York Times, reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 bookEmotional Intelligence was onThe New York Times Best Seller list for a year and a half, a bestseller in many countries, and is in print worldwide in 40 languages.[1] Apart from his books onemotional intelligence, Goleman has written books on topics including self-deception, creativity, transparency, meditation, social and emotional learning, ecoliteracy and theecological crisis, and theDalai Lama's vision for the future.
Daniel Goleman grew up in aJewish household inStockton, California, the son of Fay Goleman (née Weinberg; 1910–2010), professor of sociology at theUniversity of the Pacific,[2] and Irving Goleman (1898–1961), humanities professor at Stockton College (nowSan Joaquin Delta College). His maternal uncle was nuclear physicistAlvin M. Weinberg.
Goleman attendedAmherst College, graduatingmagna cum laude. He also attended theUniversity of California at Berkeley through Amherst's Independent Scholar program. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology atHarvard University.[3][4]
Goleman studied in India using a pre-doctoral fellowship from Harvard and a post-doctoral grant from theSocial Science Research Council.[5] While in India, he spent time with spiritual teacherNeem Karoli Baba,[6] who was also the guru toRam Dass,Krishna Das, andLarry Brilliant.[7] He wrote his first book based on travel in India and Sri Lanka.
Goleman then returned as a visiting lecturer to Harvard, where during the 1970s his course on the psychology of consciousness was popular.David McClelland, his mentor at Harvard, recommended him for a job atPsychology Today, from which he was recruited byThe New York Times in 1984.[5][8]
In 1993 Goleman co-founded theCollaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning atYale University's Child Studies Center, which then moved to theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago.[9] Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) the organization's mission is to introduce social and emotional learning into the education of students from preschool to high school. Social and emotional learning (SEL) entails the methods by which children and young adults develop and use the knowledge, attitudes, and abilities required to comprehend and regulate emotions, and accomplish constructive goals, empathize with others, form and sustain beneficial relationships, and make ethical choices.[10] Goleman also co-founded Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations (CREIO) in 1996.[11] The organization is dedicated to enhancing the understanding and application of emotional and social intelligence within organizations by fostering the creation and sharing of knowledge. Currently he co-directs the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations atRutgers University. He is on the board of theMind & Life Institute.[5]
Goleman was a science journalist at theNew York Times until 1996, covering psychology, emotions, and the brain. He was twice nominated for thePulitzer Prize for his work at theTimes.[12] While there, he wrote the bookEmotional Intelligence (Bantam Books, 1995), which spent more than a year and a half onThe New York Times Best Seller list.[13][14]
Goleman gained widespread recognition for his contributions to the field of emotional intelligence, a notion that includes the abilities of self-awareness, managing one's own emotions, empathy, and social skills – essentially, how effectively we manage our emotions and understand the emotions of others. His bookEmotional Intelligence has been translated into 40 languages globally and was celebrated by TIME magazine as one of the top 25 most pivotal books in the realm of business management.[15]
In his first book,The Varieties of Meditative Experience (1977) (republished in 1988 asThe Meditative Mind), Goleman describes almost a dozen differentmeditation systems. He wrote that "the need for the meditator to retrain hisattention, whether throughconcentration ormindfulness, is the single invariant ingredient in the recipe foraltering consciousness of every meditation system".[16]
InWorking with Emotional Intelligence (Bantam Books, 1998), Goleman developed the argument that non-cognitive skills can matter as much asIQ for workplace success, and made a similar argument for leadership effectiveness inPrimal Leadership (Harvard Business School Press, 2001).
Goleman's bookFocus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence was published in 2013. In it he discusses the success, and how mindfulness allows one to concentrate on what is important. Goleman explains that high achievers of mindfulness have mastered a "triple-focus," which encompasses three distinct types of attention: "inner," "other," and "outer." "Inner" focus is about self-awareness, "other" focus pertains to empathy, and "outer" focus involves an understanding of our surroundings. Goleman emphasizes that for business leaders, the practice of mindfulness is especially critical. The essence of leadership depends on the successful steering of the collective focus. This requires not only monitoring external developments relative to the organization but also engaging and guiding the focus of individuals both within and beyond the company's boundaries.[17]
Goleman has received many awards, including:
