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Do You Have the Emotional Intelligence Skills to Lead in Uncertain Environments? Harnessing Data-Driven Insights to Lead with Confidence
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Level: Introductory
Credits Available: 1 **
Abstract
The ability model of emotional intelligence (EI) defines EI as a set of skills: perceiving emotions, connecting emotions to thought, understanding emotions, and managing emotions. These skills are measured objectively with the newly released Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test™ Second Edition (MSCEIT® 2).
In this session, we demonstrate how MSCEIT® 2 provides leaders with actionable insight into their EI skills—enabling them to navigate uncertainty, lead teams, and deliver measurable results. You’ll also hear about the MSCEIT® 2’s powerful framework to deepen client self-awareness and accelerate leadership growth, which is ideal for executive coaches. Learning and development professionals and HR leaders will discover how EI assessment and development can strengthen succession planning, team effectiveness, and organizational culture. Consultants will learn how to integrate EI measurement into their interventions to create lasting impact; leaders will gain insight into how the development of EI skills can equip them to thrive in complex, high-pressure environments. Whether you are guiding others or leading a team, this session will show why the ability model of EI and the MSCEIT®2 are essential tools for building resilient, high-performing, and well-rounded organizations.
Learning Outcomes
- Explain the ability model of EI: Describe the origins of the ability-based approach to emotional intelligence and the four core EI domains: perceiving, connecting, understanding, and managing emotions.
- Recognize the value of objective EI measurement: Understand how the MSCEIT® 2 assesses emotional intelligence as a set of measurable skills, and how results highlight both strengths and growth opportunities.
- Apply EI insights to leadership challenges: Identify how EI skills enable leaders to navigate complexity, foster inclusion, and lead diverse teams effectively in uncertain environments.
- Integrate EI into coaching and development: Demonstrate how MSCEIT®2 results can be incorporated into executive coaching, leadership development, HR practices, and organizational consulting for greater impact.
Dr. Caruso is a consulting psychologist and founder of EI Skills Group. After graduating from Colby College with honors in Psychology, Dr. Caruso attended Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) for his graduate work as a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development pre-doctoral fellow. At CWRU, he studied in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Detterman and focused on understanding intelligence theories and assessment. Upon graduation, he was awarded a National Institute of Mental Health fellowship and spent the next two years as a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University in Psychology, working with Dr. Edward Zigler and Dr. Robert Sternberg.
After his post-doctoral studies, he began a career in corporate and consulting environments. He worked at a market research firm, a Fortune 200 manufacturing company, a marketing firm, and an HR consulting firm—holding positions in market research, strategic planning, product line management, and career assessment. In these roles, he managed teams and projects, with direct reports in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. At the same time, Dr. Caruso continued his research interests with an appointment as a research affiliate in the Psychology department at Yale University for several years.
He next began a 16-year part-time role as the special assistant to the Dean of Yale College while maintaining his EI Skills Group practice. At EI Skills Group, which focuses on practical applications of the ability model of emotional intelligence, Dr. Caruso provided MSCEIT® feedback to thousands of individuals. He conducts MSCEIT® certification workshops and delivers hands-on, emotional intelligence skill-building sessions worldwide. He is the co-author of several peer-reviewed articles and chapters, as well as four practical books on emotional intelligence. He has designed his career to include time with his family (and dogs) and for pursuits including sea kayaking and hiking.
Dr. Salovey is the Sterling Professor of Psychology, holding secondary faculty appointments in the School of Management, School of Public Health, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, and Department of Sociology at Yale University. He served as the twenty-third president of Yale University from 2013 to 2024 and, before that, as the Provost of Yale University from 2008 to 2013. He also served as the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and as Dean of Yale College.
After receiving an A.B. (psychology) and A.M. (sociology) from Stanford University with departmental honors and university distinction, Dr. Salovey earned three degrees at Yale in psychology: M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. After completing an internship in clinical health psychology at the West Haven Veterans Administration Medical Center, he joined the Yale faculty in 1986. He has studied the connections among emotion, health communication, and health behavior, with a special focus on emotional intelligence. He played key roles in multiple Yale programs including the Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory, which Dr. Salovey founded, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, and the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program.
Dr. Salovey has authored or edited over a dozen books translated into eleven languages and published hundreds of journal articles and essays. He has lectured internationally on emotional intelligence, health communication, and issues in higher education. In addition to teaching and mentoring scores of graduate students, Dr. Salovey has won both the William Clyde DeVane Medal for Distinguished Scholarship and Teaching in Yale College and the Lex Hixon ’63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Pretoria, National Tsing Hua University, Harvard University, McGill University, University of Haifa, and Vytautas Magnus University. In 2013, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.
During his tenure as President of Yale, Dr. Salovey led the development of new programs and facilities across the schools and departments of Yale. Advancements included restructuring and expanding the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, launching the Jackson School of Global Affairs, and opening two new residential colleges. He also advanced innovative teaching on campus, amplified Yale’s partnerships in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world, and enhanced multidisciplinary collaboration and entrepreneurial opportunities for faculty and students. He was—and remains—committed to improving access to a Yale education for students worldwide, regardless of their financial background. As provost, he facilitated strategic planning and initiatives such as enhancing career development and mentoring opportunities for all Yale faculty members, promoting faculty diversity, creating the Office of Academic Integrity, establishing the university-wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, and overseeing the university’s budget during the global financial crisis.
Dr. Salovey serves on the board of the IBMA Foundation for Bluegrass Music and plays double bass in the band “Professors of Bluegrass.” He is an Independent Director of Legend Biotech and a Visiting University Professor at Waseda University in Tokyo.
Here is Dr. Salovery’s full list of honorary degrees:
- 2025 – MD, honoris causa, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
- 2025 – PhD, doctorate honoris causa, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
- 2024 – LHD, honoris causa, Yale University, New Haven, Conn., US
- 2022 – AHL, honoris causa, Gateway Community College, New Haven, Conn., US
- 2019 – PhD, doctorate honoris causa, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
- 2018 – PhD, doctorate honoris causa, University of Haifa, Israel
- 2018 – DSc, honoris causa, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- 2015 – LLD honoris causa, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., US
- 2014 – LLD, honoris causa, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
- 2014 – PhD, doctorate honoris causa, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
- 2009 – EdD, doctorate honoris causa, University of Pretoria, South Africa
**This program is not approved by ICF, but these hours may be used for the purpose of ICF credential renewal in the area of Resource Development.
