Pre-Reading Activities

First Listening
Please listen to a short passage carefully and prepare to answer some questions.
    If a business does not adapt to changes in the business environment, then it will fail. Recently it has been argued that smart but inflexible employees don’t necessarily have the abilities to adapt to this ever-changing environment. It would appear that flexibility and Emotional Intelligence rather than IQ is a more accurate measure of intelligence. It is also a more accurate predictor of success. This is an important point for businesses to understand because customers don’t really care about how highly intelligent a businessman is: they will take their business to wherever they are understood and respected. Such a place will be a business staffed with people with a high Emotional Intelligence who have the ability to understand and relate well to others. (Words: 123)
 
 Second Listening
Listen to the tape again. Then answer the following questions.
1. What must a business do to survive?
2. What is a more accurate way of predicting success than IQ?
3. What reasons do customers give for preferring to give their business to one company rather than another?
4. What is your own argument about EQ? Do you think that EQ can be developed?