The character arc of Daniel Goleman

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 7 March 1946 in Stockton, California. Between then and now sit Amherst College, a Harvard doctorate in 1974, a first book in 1977, twelve years at The New York Times from 1984, two organisations founded in 1993 and 1996, Emotional Intelligence in 1995, Focus in 2013 and Altered Traits in 2017. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Daniel Goleman?

He named the thing everybody had missed.

He took his first degree at Amherst College, graduating with honours, studied at Berkeley through Amherst's independent scholar programme, and took his doctorate in clinical psychology at Harvard in 1974. He lectured at Stanford in the 1970s. His first book, The Varieties of Meditative Experience, came in 1977, which is about twenty years before the rest of the world became interested in the subject.

In 1984 The New York Times recruited him to write about behavioural science, and he stayed twelve years. That is the hinge of the line: a trained psychologist spending more than a decade explaining research to people who had not trained in it, which is the exact apprenticeship the famous book required.

Emotional Intelligence was published in 1995 and stayed on bestseller lists for more than eighteen months. Its argument is now so widely accepted that it is hard to remember it was ever news: that how well a person reads and handles feeling, their own and other people's, predicts more about how their life goes than a test score does. Working with Emotional Intelligence followed in 1998, Focus in 2013 and Altered Traits, with Richard Davidson, in 2017. He co-founded the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning at Yale in 1993 and a research consortium in 1996, and sits on the board of the Mind and Life Institute.

The moments

Daniel Goleman's timeline.

The 1970s

Jun 1974

A Harvard doctorate

Milestone, and it changed everything. Three institutions, and a doctorate in clinical psychology at twenty eight.

Jun 1977

A first book on meditation

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A book about meditation, twenty years before anybody else was interested.

The 1980s

1 Jun 1983

Practise, or explain

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: write for a newspaper, taken, or stay in clinical work. Twelve years of explaining research is exactly the apprenticeship Emotional Intelligence required, and it came out in 1995.

Sep 1984

Twelve years at the Times

Milestone, and it changed everything. A trained psychologist, spending a decade explaining research to people who had not trained in it.

~1985

Vital Lies, Simple Truths

Milestone. A second book, on the things people manage not to notice.

The 1990s

Sep 1993

A collaborative at Yale

Milestone, and it changed his direction. An organisation for schools, two years before the book that explained why.

Sep 1995

Emotional Intelligence

Milestone, and it changed everything. Eighteen months on the lists, and an idea that is now so accepted it is hard to remember it was news.

Sep 1996

A research consortium

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The idea taken from schools into workplaces, with research attached.

Sep 1998

Working with it

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The same argument, written for the office rather than the home.

The 2010s

8 Oct 2013

Focus

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Attention, treated as the skill underneath all the others.

5 Sep 2017

Altered Traits

Milestone, and it changed everything. Forty years after the first book on meditation, the evidence for it, written with a neuroscientist.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is a phrase used in every school and every company, and behind it the plain claim that how you handle feeling matters at least as much as what you know.

What he wrote

Books by Daniel Goleman

1977
The Varieties of Meditative Experience
His first book, published about twenty years before the rest of the world became interested in the subject.
1985
Vital Lies, Simple Truths
On self-deception, and the things people manage not to notice.
1995
Emotional Intelligence
Why it can matter more than IQ. More than eighteen months on bestseller lists, and an idea now so accepted it is hard to remember it was news.
1998
Working with Emotional Intelligence
The same argument, written for the office rather than the home.
2013
Focus
The hidden driver of excellence. Attention treated as the skill underneath all the others.
2017
Altered Traits
Written with Richard Davidson, on what meditation does and does not do, forty years after his first book on it.

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Daniel Goleman: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Daniel Goleman's character arc?

A Harvard doctorate in clinical psychology, a first book about meditation twenty years too early, twelve years explaining behavioural science in a newspaper, and then the book that named emotional intelligence and put the phrase everywhere.

What is Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman?

His book of 1995, which stayed on bestseller lists for more than eighteen months. Its argument is that how well a person reads and handles emotion, their own and other people's, predicts more about how their life goes than a test score does.

Did Daniel Goleman work for The New York Times?

Yes, for twelve years from 1984, writing about behavioural science. It is the hinge of his line: a trained psychologist spending a decade explaining research to readers who had not trained in it.

Where did Daniel Goleman study?

Amherst College, where he graduated magna cum laude, the University of California, Berkeley through Amherst's independent scholar programme, and Harvard University, where he took his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1974.

What is Focus by Daniel Goleman?

His book of 2013, subtitled the hidden driver of excellence. It takes attention as the skill sitting underneath all the others, and follows the emotional intelligence work by nearly twenty years.

What organisations did Daniel Goleman found?

The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning at Yale in 1993, and the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations in 1996, which he co-directs at Rutgers University.

What is Altered Traits by Daniel Goleman?

His book of 2017, written with the neuroscientist Richard Davidson, on what meditation actually does. It arrives forty years after his own first book on the subject, this time with the evidence attached.

Where does this timeline of Daniel Goleman's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Daniel Goleman isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Daniel Goleman, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
The New York Times, behavioural science coverage from 1984.
Publisher records for Emotional Intelligence, Focus and Altered Traits.