#EQ

Emotional intelligence is the art of feigning composure while wandering lost in the labyrinth of others' feelings. It's a high-wire balancing act between self-indulgence and empathy, with the most "insightful" faces often secretly calculating their own benefit. In business meetings, it appears as a performance review under the guise of persona craft—pass and you're hailed a "master of empathy." Yet at its core, it may simply be a self-preservation strategy to emerge unscathed.

Emotional intelligence is touted as the skill of perceiving and managing one’s own and others’ emotions, yet in practice it often serves as a theatrical prop. Heralded by corporations and self-help gurus as a panacea, it becomes a convenient scapegoat for failed relationships. It masquerades as genuine empathy while secretly plotting strategies to safeguard one’s status and security. The more one preaches its virtues, the farther one drifts from reality—a paradox that lies at the heart of emotional intelligence.

EQ is the skill of feigning insight into others’ feelings to deftly conceal one’s own failures and preserve self-esteem. In meetings, it’s the art of nodding in agreement while whispering criticism the next day. Under the guise of emotion management, it controls coworkers, and before you know it, you’ve descended into an infinite hell of self-justification. Its true purpose, ironically, lies not in genuine empathy, but in self-preservation.