EQ, known as Emotional Intelligence can play a big role in your success at work and your time away from work.  CEOs need EQ more than ever. Today, it’s routine for CEOs to manage rapidly changing technology, outside economic forces, restrictive regulations, a more mobile staff, diverse workforces, locations, and skill sets. Of course, CEOs are not the only people with busy lives, it’s the norm for everyone.

We all experience stress from the demands on our time. The demands from our boss on projects we need to complete yesterday! The demands from our families not only add stress, but sometimes guilt. I should call Aunt Martha, I could have visited cousin Fred while he was in the hospital, and poor second cousin twice removed, Mary living all alone. Of course, Mary probably likes it that way, but you still store the guilt, just in case. During the holidays, demands are compounded due to increasing our social activities, trying to meet year-end deadlines, getting projects ready for launch for the new year, and people who expect to be included in our scope of attention. If ever we need to call on our EQ, it’s during the holidays.

The new FLSA Overtime Rule is causing quite a stir. This blog’s intent is not to lobby for or against any such rule, but more to help prepare you for its impact. If you wish a more in depth understanding of this ruling, here are three links that can help:

1. The Final Rule from the Wage and Hour Division
2. A report on the rule’s economic impact
3. SHRM’s Stand on the new rule

Obviously, this new ruling will be a disrupter (to use the newest biz buzzword) to businesses of most every size and shape. If change or elimination of this law is a target for you and your business, it will take time. While raising the overtime threshold may be a good idea, doubling it is not and many businesses will face several burdensome backlashes because of it.  In the meantime, business owners and CEOs must (stop me if you’ve heard this before) adapt to change and here are some you will be facing.

We all know that one of the main reasons organizations need to address turnover is that it is expensive. In fact, one source suggests that costs can range, on average, from $10,000 to $200,000 USD. When looking at total costs, many factors play into these estimates. Certainly, the level of the position matters. While a valuable employee, a janitor is a lot less expensive to replace that a CEO. Even at an average expenditure of $4,000 USD for a lower level employee, it is obvious that turnover can chew up your bottom line and spit it out.

Direct costs we associate with turnover are job postings, recruiting, drug testing, and background checks. Other costs that may not be as obvious are lost productivity, lost expertise, low morale, and poor customer service. These too are costly to both the bottom line, your brand, and may even lead to even higher turnover.

Executives, like everyone else, struggle with career decisions, paths, and strategies. Just because you’re on the executive team or that you report directly to the CEO, doesn’t mean that your CEO is aware of all your talents, has a vision of your capabilities and what you can achieve for the future of the organization, or that he or she is even vaguely aware of your career goals and how they fit with the organization’s strategic plan. So where does that leave you?

It leaves you in control. One of the research sources for this article suggests that career management used to be in the hands of the organization. I disagree. You are the one who must always take responsibility for the path of your own career. Just as good management requires strategic planning for the long-term future and the investment of time and resources, so does career planning. Resting on your laurels or being comfortable or thinking that you have arrived all ring the death knell for a successful career.