I would offer this – it takes time to develop, for some, years. for me as well. I was lucky to serve as company commander under a battalion commander for 22 months who truly epitomized emotional intelligence. this guy was truly amazing at it – he is now retired, his name was Alex Deraney though, and a great American in every way. I feel that I’ve grown and taken a big step forward, mostly, by learning from watching him. Having been lucky to have such a great example, I can say that I moved from the negative into the positive, maybe an average, middle-ground. You see, you can also have leaders who lack this and as new cadets, depending on where you end up, those around you may impact your development during the formative first years, in my opinion. Some will be better than others, better than me, when starting out, but if you discuss the tenets of EI now, you will be ahead.