One area interesting to watch in relation to the U.S. visa changes, would be the international student flow towards the U.S., and potential financial impact (especially on the universities). Most students tend to seek continuity with work options and better opportunities, after their studies. These would be the short term impacts. In the longer run, this may also hold potential for few ripple effects beyond that (including on local small town economies that are university based).
According to a Wall Street Journal article couple of days back,
* The US enrolled a record 1.1 million international students in 2023-24 – who contributed $43.8 billion dollars to the US economy through tuition, food and living expenses, according to NAFSA, Association of International Educators.
* International student enrolment is sagging at many universities, particularly at the Masters level (due to increased scrutiny of visa applicants, policies aimed at shrinking the number of international students and shifts in the technology job market).
* As per the article, some universities that are very well know (Princeton, Cornell, Caltech) said their international enrolments are similar to prior years but others are seeing clear declines.
Therefore, it seems like the long tail of the remaining universities would be the ones to watch in the coming year(s).
Source: Colleges Rush To Retain Foreign Students; Sara Randazzo; September 23, 2025; The Wall Street Journal.
PURPOSE & IMPACT
Month: September 2025
A recent discussion about the origins of Emotional Intelligence got me thinking about this topic. Dr. Daniel Goleman has been one of the most well known faces/experts in emotional intelligence, thanks to his book. He actually got the idea from couple of other professors, John Mayer and Peter Salovey. Here are some notes from an interview.
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“According to Dr. Goleman, it all began with two psychology professors on a summer’s day: “John Mayer and Peter Salovey invented the whole field,” Goleman explains, “when they were chatting about politics while painting a house.” Salovey (President of Yale University) and Mayer (Professor at University of New Hampshire) were talking about their research on cognition and emotion. They wondered: How could someone so smart act so dumb?
Their conclusion: Smart decision-making requires more than the intellect as measured by traditional IQ.
…Goleman continues the story, “And because of that conversation, they published a wonderful seminal article — but in an obscure journal. The moment I saw their concept of emotional intelligence all kinds of bells went off. And I thought, ‘I have to write about this!’”
Goleman is quick to add, “I don’t see myself as particularly gifted in this domain. I am a psychologist, a researcher and a writer, but I am not a guru of emotional intelligence”. “I am a commentator…”
Goleman credits the researchers and innovators. “All I did was amplify someone else’s idea, and other people have run with it…”
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From another paper, that looks bit earlier:
“It was not until 1985 that the term ‘emotional intelligence’ was first used in a doctoral dissertation by Wayne Payne. In 1987, an article published by Keith Beasley in Mensa Magazine uses the term ‘emotional quotient.’ Reuven Bar-On, an Israeli psychologist proposed a quantitative approach to creating “an EQ comparable to an IQ score” in the first copy of his doctoral dissertation, which was submitted in 1985. In 1990, psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer published their landmark article, ‘Emotional Intelligence,’ in the journal ‘Imagination, Cognition, and Personality’. In 1995, the concept of emotional intelligence was popularised after the publication of Daniel Goleman’s book ‘Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ’. “
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Few other names/studies are referred to in the early development of emotional intelligence – Michael Beldoch(1964), B. Leuner(1966), Howard Gardner (1983), Wayne Payne(1985), Stanley Greenspan(1989).
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Would be happy to learn more or be corrected, if anyone has more to add.
Sources:
* Dr. Daniel Goleman Explains the History of Emotional Intelligence; Joshua Freedman; Feb 29, 2024; Six Seconds
* The origins of Emotional Intelligence theory; Impellus
* History of Emotional Intelligence: Origins, Evolution, and Background; Ashveen Sahni; August 17, 2024; Kapable
These are valuable notes on CEO/leadership stress, from a recent BCG article, ‘The Physically and Mentally Fit CEO’.
* When a CEO burns out, entire companies feel it, with thousands of livelihoods hanging in the balance.
* “Lots of cognitive studies show decision making gets poorer when you’re fatigued or burned out or mentally stressed…If you don’t have the mental space, the clarity, the conviction, and the energy to do the job, you are hamstringing the enterprise.”
* Media glare only compounds the pressure, turning leadership into a 24/7 performance watched by investors, employees, and the public.
* There are actions CEOs can take to help them spot the signs of burnout and build greater physical and mental resilience.
* “Corporate environments typically lack structured debriefings after highly stressful events”. “In the military, personnel debrief after missions, or in hospitals, teams may debrief after traumatic medical events. These sessions help individuals process what happened by sharing the experience with colleagues, which further reduces stress, and fosters resilience.”
* “It’s rare for almost any human being to spend significant time in a flow state.”
Five Actions for Building Physical and Mental Resilience
1. Get enough sleep.
2. Manage your energy—as well as your time.
“..research suggests that when CEOs use even a few of those resources in their personal lives they can be more intentional about the time they free up for sleep, for exercise, for friends and family-as well as for more effective work”
3. Ruthlessly delegate.
4. Make time for reflection.
5. Establish peer networks.
“..feel less isolated, more energized, and gained an advisory group of peers…”
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Source:
The Physically and Mentally Fit CEO; BCG; James Brownsell; August 5, 2025
There are some valuable notes from neuroscience research for leaders on how to improve responsibility and accountability in their organizations. The article is ‘Latest From the Lab: Ownership drives responsibility’ from the NeuroLeadership Institute, published on July 28, 2025
(Image- Gerd Altmann, Pixabay)
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” While 91% of managers and employees say accountability is important at work, 97% of managers say they struggle to hold their teams accountable.say they struggle to hold their teams accountable.
* A recent study suggests that our sense of responsibility, and the brain activity that supports it, can emerge from having a sense of control or agency in our work, as opposed to merely following orders.
* In a newly published brain imaging study, researchers showed that the act of merely following someone else’s orders, or not having ownership of our decisions, reduces our sense of responsibility for the actions that follow. In other words, how responsible we feel, stems from having a “stake in the game,” or some degree of ownership in the work.
* This study builds on a growing body of work into how accountability happens in the workplace. Taking responsibility for the work done and the impact made is one of the characteristics of accountability, a concept that…is a current challenge facing many.
* Prior research has shown that when we lose our sense of control, such as when we’re obeying orders or being told to do something, this immediately reduces our perception of responsibility. We feel less responsible for an outcome if someone else, especially with a higher status or rank, told us to do it. This poses a major challenge to organizations…
* Behaviors that managers could engage in to drive their team towards accountability:
– reminding a team member during a weekly check-in of the reason their work is critical, whether/how it’s aligned with an organizational goal or a team goal (will increase engagement of the networks in the brain associated with the “why” behind the work).
– managers can help employees feel a greater sense of ownership over their work by making the work meaningful to the individual or align it with their career goal. (will act to increase the person’s sense of agency, and ultimately, responsibility for the work.)”
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About Tojo Eapen
Leadership Coach, Consultant, HR Leader with diverse, global experiences (U.S.A, Europe, APAC).
Master of Human Resource Management from Rutgers University, New Jersey, U.S.A. Recipient of the U.S. Garden State Council SHRM HR Leadership Scholarship.
Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from College of Engineering, Trivandrum, India.
Certifications: MBTI, Hogan, RBL Leadership Code, SHL 360, Team Management Profile, NeuroLeadership Results & Team Coaching.
Facilitated coaching sessions, workshops and programs with multicultural teams in Helsinki, London, Berlin, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kerala, in addition to multiple Global/Virtual sessions.
Mission: Enable healthy, purposeful, and impactful organizations, through leadership knowledge and wisdom.
Contact
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