I read an article this week on emotional intelligence for which Wikipedia has a sound definition.

"Emotional intelligence (EI) or emotional quotient (EQ) is the capacity of individuals to recognize their own, and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour."

When we recruit new people for a professional organisation we often focus on their "intellectual intelligence" and their ability to "do the job" or "to fit in". I remember being in charge of recruiting trainees in a major London law firm and these were characteristics we looked for, and were quite good at identifying. Our ultimate test was "could I share an office with the person concerned".

What legal skills did a candidate possess? Were they able intellectually to handle the rigour of a complex transaction. Sometimes however this missed the point. Yes these are all great and needed qualities for a professional person but actually the ability to exercise emotional intelligence and to "identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others" is an essential skill in any professional role.

The trainees who succeeded had a certain emotional robustness and the ability to understand and work with others, sometimes as a natural skill and sometimes as something they developed. The ones who didn't usually left after two year.

I suggest we should look for this ability or at least the capacity to develop it in all candidates for professional jobs. Without emotional intelligence all the other forms of ability a person may possess cannot be properly manifested and utilised in an effective way.

One of the challenges in professional and sporting life is how to react to negative feedback from colleagues, bosses - or the crowd.

A sporting crowd or fans generally can be extremely fickle and even turn on a player on their own team. The press don't help much either and even the best normally most consistent team member can find themselves at the sharp end of a journalist's pen.

Imagine how it must feel if your successes and more importantly in this context your failures in the office were spread out on the back pages of the tabloids the next morning.

The temptation in the face of prolonged criticism may be to go into your shell and in a sense justify the critics. The more robust and top class sportsmen and women instead have faith in their quality and abilities and stand up to the flak, play the next match and generally redeem themselves.

In a working context being able to stand up for yourself and not give into criticism, justified or often not, will help build confidence and respect.

And those who gratuitously offer up unjustified or exaggerated criticism might bear in mind the following quote by Jesse Jackson I heard for the first time the other day:

"The only time you should look down on a person is when you are helping  them get up".

I came across a great quote this week from the world of top class car racing that has a much broader application.

Mario Andretti the Italian American world champion driver commented:

"The car goes where your eyes go. Don't look at the wall." 

What an excellent philosophy for professionals from all walks of life. When we encounter a problem in our working and indeed private lives the easy and natural tendency is to concentrate on the wall, on the problem, instead of looking for the solution.

There will inevitably be walls and chicanes and other cars that get in the way, the challenges of racing and daily life our inevitable. They are a part of the game. Obviously we have to be aware of these obstacles and plan how to deal with them.

But how much better to focus on the road in front and concentrate on evading or driving around any obstructions, looking at the road ahead and not at the wall.

I just enjoyed a very good night staying at a four star hotel south of Manchester on Friday. The setting was spectacular up in the hills in the spring snow that had just fallen. The rooms were comfortable, the food excellent and the staff very friendly and competent.

And yet I couldn't help comparing the service with a four star hotel in the Far East - and the UK version did not come out too well. The rooms were spread out in a rambling building with new and old areas and finding our room took us a good ten minutes. We went in the wrong lift, had to go back to reception (who had not told us where to go in the first place) were given directions which went something like "Go up the stairs turn right, then take a left, go along a corridor up a flight of stairs to the back of the building, then take a lift up one floor, then find your room".

Throughout our stay I kept encountering fellow guests in the corridors looking in a rather forlernly Basil Fawlty way for their room, the reception, the car park, the restaurant or the leisure centre - "Manuel will show you to your rooms - if you're lucky" sort of style.

And you cannot (in a four star hotel) show guests to their table at breakfast (great buffet by the way) and leave them for ten minutes without taking their tea and coffee orders.

By contrast a guest at dinner told us about staying in a hotel in Singapore where after one evening all, and I mean all, the staff knew the names not just of their parents but their two children as well. I remember arriving in a Singapore hotel and within 5 minutes my personal butler knocked on my door and said if I need anything to let her know.

By contrast in England yesterday we asked for a drink at what appeared to be a bar (there was a piano player and lounge chairs and it was called a bar) to be told they only served the restaurant and were not meant to serve us - but would do so anyway as a favour.

In Singapore we would have been given a drink with no question and a bar would be called a bar.

My point is that in law and other service businesses like hotels there is good and there is great service. "Good" will get you by if your clients are tolerant and have a reasonable sense of humour. "Great" which is what our clients expect and sometimes demand is what we should strive to achieve - always. A proper Far East four star service. If our client needs directions give them a map, give them an app, anything  but get them to their destination. And if they want a drink serve them! And have enough trained staff to take their orders promptly at mealtimes. These guests, and clients, will come back for more, again and again.