Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves open by presenting emotional intelligence as a set of specific, measurable, learnable skills, building on established research to provide a more practically applied framework than purely theoretical treatments.

Why this practical framing matters:

• Many readers understand emotional intelligence's importance conceptually but lack a clear, actionable path for actually developing these capabilities
• The authors' framework, developed alongside a specific assessment tool, provides both measurement and targeted improvement strategies
• This practical orientation distinguishes the book from more purely conceptual or research-summary treatments of emotional intelligence

This opening establishes the book's distinctive practical, skills-based orientation, setting up its subsequent structured framework and strategies.