Emotional intelligence is now embedded in our public discourse: an idea so pervasive and important in our work, culture, politics and society that leaders such as Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase and New York City mayor Eric Adams have placed it at the heart of what they do.

Daniel Goleman's bestselling book Emotional Intelligence was the first to coin this idea and bring it to a mass audience. Now, more than a quarter of a century after it was first published, he and Rutgers professor of psychology Cary Cherniss take a fresh look at how emotional intelligence has evolved over the past few decades, reframing its importance in this definitive book.

Beginning with a dissection of what makes for individual success, Goleman and Cherniss then set out how high performance can be cultivated at every level, scaling up the concept to top team performance and outstanding organisations. Building on attributes such as self-awareness, a sense of meaning and emotional balance, high concentration and 'flow' states, they demonstrate that it is in our optimal moments that our mental clarity shines.

In his groundbreaking bestseller Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman revolutionized how we think about intelligence. Now, he reveals practical methods for using these inner resources to more readily enter an optimal state of high performance and satisfaction.

There are moments when we achieve peak performance: an athlete plays a perfect game; a business has a quarter with once-in-a-lifetime profits. But for every amazing day, we may have a hundred ordinary and even unsatisfying ones. Fulfilment doesn’t come from isolated peak experiences, or elusive ‘flow’ states, but rather from many consistent good days. So how do we sustain performance, while avoiding burnout and maintaining balance?

In Optimal, Daniel Goleman and Cary Cherniss reveal how emotional intelligence can help us have a productive day, any day – to consistently work at your ‘optimal’ level. Based on decades of research on how hundreds of people build the inner architecture of having a good day, they sketch what an optimal state feels like, and show how emotional intelligence holds the key to our best performance.

Optimal will equip you to become a highly effective leader and enable you to build an organizational culture that empowers workers to sustain high performance