Sudha Murthy on EQ: Why emotional awareness matters in daily life

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 10, 2026 11:39 AM IST

Infosys foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy. (Express photo by Oinam Anand)

Author and philanthropist Sudha Murthy once took to X to share a video highlighting the necessity of both men and women in each other’s lives. “In my view, men and women are equal but in different ways. They complement each other like two wheels of a bicycle; you can’t move forward without the other,” she captioned the video. While adding that men and women are wired differently — with one being more compassionate and nurturing, and the other balancing it out with logic and pragmatism — Murthy also talked about the differing emotional and intelligence quotients in both.

“You should first define what equality is. Both genders are different. Life is like a cart or a bicycle. There are two wheels. One wheel is male, the other one is female. You require both wheels to move. You can’t say, ‘I don’t want the other wheel at all,’ because life will not progress. But, women and men are wired differently,” she said, adding men may have a high IQ but not necessarily the same emotional quotient as women.

Her thoughts prompted us to dig deeper into what emotional quotient really entails.

In my view, men and women are equal but in different ways. They complement each other like two wheels of a bicycle; you can’t move forward without the other. pic.twitter.com/MMShEOtg9Q

— Smt. Sudha Murty (@SmtSudhaMurty) June 27, 2024

According to Priyamvada Tendulkar, a counselling psychologist, emotional quotient is the ability to understand, recognise, evaluate and express one’s emotions effectively. Adding that it is important to be aware of one’s emotions and to control one’s reactions to others’ feelings and emotions, she said that without emotional quotient, you simply cannot have a quality life.

“Human beings are emotional creatures, whether you believe it or not, and emotions add colour to our lives. Life without emotions is simply colourless and robotic,” Tendulkar told indianexpress.com.

How can you cultivate EQ?

According to Tendulkar, first of all, it is necessary to develop awareness of one’s own feelings as well as of others’. “You can start with observing your reactions to anyone else’s actions, or even look at others’ reactions to be able to gauge what they are feeling in a particular moment,” she said.

“You can also look at feeling wheels, where the inner circle comprises 4-5  basic emotions such as anger, sadness, happiness, jealousy, etc., and the outer circle has more detailed emotions listed out. If you can pinpoint your basic emotion, figuring out a sub-section of that would be the easy next step,” suggested Tendulkar.

But why is EQ important?

Tendulkar said that developing and nurturing emotional quotient is necessary for interpersonal and intrapersonal success in life.

Story continues below this ad

“If you are someone deficient in emotional quotient, life can catch you off-guard any second, and in really horrible positions. You may be caught in the middle of a meltdown in front of your boss, or have a nasty case of road rage- situations which you simply want to avoid,” said Tendulkar.

Thus, it becomes important to understand and develop your emotional intelligence for a better, more vibrant life.

DISCLAIMER: This article is based on information from the public domain and/or the experts we spoke to.