How to boost your EQ at the office—even if you work remotely, according to a career expert

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Earlier this spring, I spoke with self-made millionaire Steve Adcock about financial regrets. He cited one thing he wished he knew in his 20s that could have made him wealthier, faster. "Your personality will get you 10 times richer than your intelligence," Adcock told me. "I learned that throughout my career, slowly but surely. I worked with a lot of smart people, no doubt about it. But those smartest people in the office weren't necessarily the ones getting the raises and promotions." The big bucks, Adcock said, were going to the people who used their emotional intelligence — sometimes called EQ — to develop the important relationships you need to rise through the ranks. "EQ is going to get you way more money and way more opportunities for promotion than IQ," Adcock said. I interviewed Vicki Salemi, a career expert with Monster.com on ways to boost your EQ in the workplace. For many workers, that involves putting in a lot of face time with the right people. That can make things tricky for fully remote workers like me, for whom face time means, well, FaceTime. Compounding the problem is that my coworkers are in the office three days a week commiserating about their commutes, ducking out together for lunch and chatting before meetings. If you're on the outside looking in, Salemi says you'll have to make a little extra effort to be the kind of person people are eager to throw promotions and raises at, which may feel a little funny at first. "It may feel a little outside of your comfort zone — that's natural," she says. "But hopefully it will come across as genuine and authentic."