Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers

Book Preface

Writing a book was a lot more work than I imagined, and it is not something that I could have done on my own. I am extremely grateful to all those people who graciously invested their time and energy to help me with my emotional growth and with this book.

The support of two published authors eventually convinced me to start writing. Jim Taylor gave me the idea to write on emotional intelligence and project management. Rajesh Setty was instrumental in pointing out that I was better off to begin writing than to continue planning to write.

Rich Blue and Nancy Rollins of the Center for Life Enrichment taught me about emotions and how to recognize what I was feeling. I am particularly grateful to Rich for his continued unwavering belief and constant encouragement during my personal growth work. He has been behind me 100% since I first met him in 2001. I have been part of several powerful support groups at the Center for Christian Life Enrichment (CLE). Group participants taught me about relationships and leadership, and they pushed me to do my very best. My coed group included Meredith, Laura, Beth, Tom, Jo, Mike, Kim, Jane, and Barry. Ramp it up, guys! My men’s group included Tim, Barry, Rick, Bill, Cortney, Stephen, Tim, Neale, Dennis, and Jim. My brother Ted also helped me to define how to apply emotional intelligence to project management.

For the first edition, my editor Christina Parisi, was a tremendous help in writing something that made sense to others. Steve Cohn was also a great coach and an inspiration during the writing process. Jim Friel, Chris Samp, Don Knapp, Barbara Brown, and various others read early chapters and provided valuable feedback and encouragement.

I would be remiss not to recognize the tremendous support of my family. Both my daughter Krista and my son Jack are creative inspirations to me and a source of positive energy. They have a higher EQ now than I had just 10 years ago! They have been terrific about giving me the space to write this book at home and have not complained (much) when I wasn’t able to attend some school or sporting event.