Glasgow may not be everybody’s idea of a natural home for the emotionally intelligent. But intelligence in the city takes many forms, as Chris Smith of the Gilmorehill learning centre reminded last Saturday’s conference on emotional intelligence (page nine).
She congratulated the vast audience on finding its way to the university’s grand Bute Hall. Had they encountered one newspaper vendor at Queen Street Station, they might not have been so lucky.
“Could you tell me how to get to Glasgow University?” he was asked.
“Aye - just you stick in at school.”
The occasion was the first visit to Scotland of the American guru of emotional intelligence, Dan Goleman. Clearly practising what he preaches, Goleman was a dab hand at the reassuring response - “that’s an astute point you make”; “it’s an important point”; “a very good question”; “that’s interesting - and you may be right”.
The main problem was not of his making - the formidable combination of the Bute Hall acoustics and the west of Scotland accent.
He had to ask virtually all those who took part in the question and answer session to repeat their questions - until one explained his speech impediment to New Yorker Goleman thus: “I worked for a couple of years in California.”
