Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers: The People Skills You Need to Achieve Outstanding Results (Paperback)

~ Anthony C. Mersino (Author)
Key Phrases: team leadership, crucial conversations, positive project environment, Project Management Begins, Building Project Stakeholder Relationships, Daniel Goleman (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I found this book to be a well-structured, easy read that delivers results. Immediately after I started reading the book, I caught myself monitoring and categorizing my feelings in various situations throughout the day. Several times, I paused and rethought the way in which I was about to approach my team members, boss or assistant at work or my husband at home. True to its title, out of the many books dealing with the subject of emotional intelligence, this book is a worthy investment particularly for aspiring or current project management professionals.”

-PM World Today Magazine

Review

"... A well-structured, easy read that delivers results... a worthy investment particularly for aspiring or current project management professionals."

-PM World Today Magazine

“… presents many good, practical suggestions that can definitely have a positive affect on a project team...any project manager must read this book.”

IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (August 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814474160
• ISBN-13: 978-0814474167
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,946 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bridges a gap in the discipline of Project Management. A great addition to every Project Manager's book-shelf., October 20, 2007

By	Avinash Sharma "MBA, M.S., Knowledge Worker" (Toronto) - See all my reviews

Some months ago I completed a Project Management course for which the textbook was the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) by the Project Management Institute (PMI). As I went through the 9 PM knowledge areas, 5 process groups, 44 processes and the countless tools and techniques in each process, I could not help thinking that something was missing. While the PMBOK does a good job covering project management methodologies, it barely talks about the people skills that Project Managers need for success. Anthony Mersino's "Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers" does an excellent job bridging this gap in the discipline of Project Management.
This book is broken into four parts. It starts with an introduction to Emotional Intelligence, a term that Mersino defines as "knowing and managing our own emotions and those of others for improved performance". The remaining parts deal with Self-management, Building project stakeholder relationships and Using Emotional Quotient (EQ) to lead project teams. To me, the highlight of the book was Mersino's Emotional Intelligence Framework for Project Management This builds upon and customizes (for project management) Daniel Goleman's Framework of Emotional Competencies.
The Emotional Intelligence Framework for Project Management has five domains:
1. Self-awareness
2. Self-management
3. Social awareness
4. Relationship management
5. Team leadership
Mersino has over 20 years of project management experience and teaches courses at Northwestern University. Overall, this book is well researched and well presented. In addition, it is an excellent compilation of resources on emotional intelligence for project management. It is a great addition to every Project Manager's book-shelf.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a book on EI for managers, December 29, 2007

By	W. D. Robinson (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a manager and have read several books by Dan Goleman on the topic of Emotional Intelligence (EI). I found it hard to relate the psychological and statistical methods in those books to what I'm doing every day as a manager. This is the first book I've read that bridges the gap.

What I found exciting is how the author explained emotions that I've gone through as a project manager and mapped it to the EI models. Many times I found myself saying "That's me!" when the author described instances at work where our emotional strength can be challenged and most importantly how we reacted to the situation. Many of us have heard of self-awareness, self-management, and social-awareness in the context of EI. The author spends time describing how managers use these skills ineffectively and then gives us actionable steps to become more effective in these areas.

I wrote notes in the margins and found myself circling many key words and quotes from the author because the information quickly became very personal to me. The book is short enough and broken down logically so that it can be used for reference during the work day. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Soft Skills for Hard Jobs, October 2, 2007

By	Susan de la Vergne (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Emotional Intelligence---the ability to not only read and understand emotions but also to use them in decision-making---is much-needed in the world of project management, but Anthony Mersino's book Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers falls short of delivering what his audience of project managers (PMs) really needs.

Most PMs see the world in business terms. They're often short on the people skills experience, and not psychologically inclined. They look somewhat askance at the "soft" side of people management. In high tech and engineering environments (where many projects run amok and where this material is very much needed!), project leadership operates in "hard" territory, with a growing sense, perhaps, that "soft skills" are needed. "If only I had the time to take my eye off the ball, then maybe I'd work on the people side."

But project realities are integrating products, managing vendors, reporting status, breaking new ground, managing big budgets, meeting deadlines. By framing his book in EI terms---encouraging readers to consider self management, social awareness and relationship management---Mr. Mersino has left his audience with the challenge they already had: to link all that "touchy-feely stuff" to their lives in the trenches.

I appreciate how much work it takes to write a book and take it all the way to a finished product. Kudos to Mr. Mersino for the undertaking and the completion. It's a tough topic, and a worthy one.

It's obvious Mr. Merino has developed a deep and professionally useful understanding of EI. I bet he's an extraordinary project manager. I just don't think this book goes far enough to bring his understanding of how Project Managers should apply EI on the job as effectively as I wish it did.