Some people laugh at the idea of emotional intelligence, but that just shows they lack it.
Over the years psychologists, organisational behaviour experts, and others have researched the phenomenon to understand what makes some individuals leaders. Do smarter people make better leaders? Although the the obvious answer is “yes,” it depends on what you mean by “smart.” Almost a century of research on basic intelligence better known as IQ suggests that IQ is slightly to moderately related to attaining a leadership position and to a leader’s success. But that doesn’t always fit with people’s experience. Some who we consider geniuses don’t always make good leaders (e.g., scientists, brilliant mathematicians, breakthrough artists). In fact, we see leaders who don’t appear particularly smart. So, IQ matters, but not as much as we might think. There are, however, other types of intelligence.
There has been huge interest in what is called emotional intelligence. It was Daniel Goleman who first brought the term “emotional intelligence” to a wide audience with his 1995 book of that name, and it was he who first applied the concept to business with his 1998 Harvard Business Review article. In his research at nearly 200 large, global companies, Goleman found that while the qualities traditionally associated with leadership—i.e., intelligence, toughness, determination, vision—are required for success, they are insufficient. Truly effective leaders are also distinguished by a high degree of emotional intelligence, which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.
Qualities such as assertiveness, adaptability, and conscientiousness were cited as the most important. Is Emotional Quotient related to leadership? Yes. It’s important for creating good relationships between leaders and followers. Transformational leaders—leaders who are positive, inspiring, and who empower and develop followers—are better leaders, explains psychologist and leadership expert Ronald E. Riggio. Transformational leaders are usually described as enthusiastic, passionate, genuine, and energetic. These qualities may sound soft and unbusinesslike, but Goleman found direct ties between emotional intelligence and measurable business results.
SO how do we become effective leaders? The good news is that the competencies discussed above are pliable. They can be developed. Training in leadership development that are conducted by cognitive psychologists focus on development of emotional intelligence and social skills. Most large companies today have employed trained psychologists to develop what are known as “competency models” to aid them in identifying, training, and promoting likely stars in the leadership firmament. The psychologists have also developed such models for lower-level positions. Rationality, emotional well-being and regulation, decision making, and logical reasoning are all part of the competencies developed.
In the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower, leadership is “the art of getting someone else to get something you want done because he wants to do it.”
For more on emotional intelligence, read Gabriel Orgrease’s Emotional Intelligence of Mass Extinction.
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References:
Bar-On, Reuven(Ed); Parker, James D. A.(Ed). The handbook of emotional intelligence: Theory, development, assessment, and application at home, school, and in the workplace.
Bass, Bernard M. (2008). The handbook of leadership (4th ed., with Ruth Bass).
Daniel Goleman – Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1995)
Riggio, R.E., Murphy, S.E., & Pirozzolo, F.J. (2002). Multiple intelligences and leadership. Erlbaum.
Photo—ssoosay/Flickr
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A must read post!
There are also many psychologists who argue that Emotional Intelligence (EI) doesn’t exist. However, I think this is an academic arguement as whilst they may not agree with the overall concept they do tend to agree with the existence of the constituents of EI such as self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and behavioural agility. Instead we need to focus on the impact of EI. Researchers from Henley Management College in the UK (Dulewicz & Higgs) found that EI contributes to 36% of the factors that determine success for leaders.
The other 64% were?
.. and not heard HMC mentioned in years. How’s the Regatta?
I think ’emotional intelligence’ is just some silly fad-notion that doesn’t really exist outside imagination.
It’s interesting that people like BASTAI would deny the existence of emotional intelligence. I mean, there are other terms for this concept, like non-cognitive skills, social skills, people skills, soft skills, interpersonal skills. What do you call these? Are these too made up? And it has not been my experience that “women rock and men suck” at it. We run a summer camp (http://www.longacre.com/) and teach leadership to teenagers. Some of these teenagers are good with others, some less so. It’s just like athletics or art or math or anything else.
Emotional intelligence does not exist other than as a genderpolitikally motivated scientific fraud.
It was fabricated from the ground up to lend scientific-looking support to female supremacism. Accordingly, emotional intelligence is presented as an extremely important “makes you truly human” faculty at which, by design, women rock and men suck. That’s all there is to it.
I am really interested that the issue and subject of Emotional Intelligence has been raised – but there has been no dialogue or even an invitation to dialogue of what that means in being a Good Man. I’m always happy to see content coming in from a wider global perspective, no matter how glancing the association. I Joke about the middle aged spread around here, and how youth is missing in both how they see goodness and either aspire to what others say it is, or see it as wrong and want to change some wrong headed ways. I just… Read more »
“The one thing I do find of concern is how so many useful ideas and terms such as ‘Emotional Intelligence’ end up being monopolised around a profit and loss model, or The American Dream Model.” The question then is: How much of that happens because some marketing meatball is looking for a fresh angle – which is natural, and more important, their job – and how much of it happens because society feels unable/reluctant/guilty to engage with such issues unless they can be expressed materially? “I am really interested that the issue and subject of Emotional Intelligence has been raised… Read more »