Emotional Intelligence… Rest in Peace?

According to Six Seconds' 2025 report, since 2019 there has been a 5.5% drop in employees' emotional-intelligence levels worldwide. (How it was measured, I don't know.) Stress, burnout and feelings of loneliness have risen. One of the biggest factors cited is being pushed into heavy, unguided AI use at work.

AI has started taking over routine tasks in business, boosting productivity and speeding up decision-making. That's a fact. But some companies push their employees to use AI without so much as any training. I still remember the grumbling about this even at a dinner I attended a few weeks ago: “We can't do it — what are we supposed to do?” they asked, wanting a roadmap.

At companies aware that blind adoption affects employees' emotional intelligence, the approach is more cautious. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences laid out, across four separate experiments, how employees are affected by heavy AI use. The results point to more laziness, and less competence, confidence and independence.

AI takes on the technical and analytical work; but it's crystal clear that human skills like empathy, communication and adaptation haven't lost their importance. After all, not every business process is robotic. And this is exactly where emotional intelligence comes in. Employees who can empathize, understand emotions, create meaning, and use AI consciously and in balance will clearly stand out more in the workplace of the future.

People adapting to this shift correctly won't come down to their own awareness and effort alone; it will depend on the communities around them guiding them the right way. The alternative leads to losses far greater than 5.5%.

Let me close with a line I'm quoting with apologies to its author, whose name I can't recall:

Emotional intelligence is not a skill — it's the art of staying human. 👌

Here's hoping organizations grasp this even before individuals do…