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Leadership Truth #5 - Great Leaders Have High Emotional Intelligence

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: Simply stated, Emotional Intelligence is the ability to work with people at all levels. The degree of success of an individual in this world is much more closely aligned with the level of Emotional Intelligence than IQ.

Leadership Truth #5 - Great Leaders Have High Emotional Intelligence

A prerequisite for any leader is the ability to work well with people at all levels. That is a crude definition of Emotional Intelligence as the term was coined by Daniel Goleman. In the bad old days, leaders could bark out orders in any environment much the same as a drill sergeant does, and people would jump to the commands. Not a lot of damage was done, because that was how leaders were expected to behave based on the old military leadership style of command and control.

Leaders with low Emotional Intelligence have a fatal blind spot because they cannot see how others are interpreting their actions. These weak leaders believe everything is OK and that people generally respect them. Sure there are problems from time to time, but that is expected in any organization. The blind spot means that leaders with low Emotional Intelligence are living in a world that does not exist. Their assumptions about reality are far enough off that they damage trust almost every time people interface with them. Paradoxically, these leaders are blissful, because their reality is a rosy picture. They feel in command and everyone is doing what they say, so where is the problem?

The problem is that this paradigm results in an environment where people are disengaged, and are only achieving a tiny fraction of what would be possible if the right culture was present. The leader is deluding himself, leaving huge amounts of potential untapped, and having to constantly tack against the wind in order to make any forward progress at all.

Contrast this with agreat leader who has high Emotional Intelligence. Things may not always be rosy, but at least the leader has an accurate understanding of the environment. This is gained mostly through listening, including the ability to read body language well, since there is roughly six times more meaning in body language than in words. Being more objective about the underlying tone of the organization allows for interventions at the right time and in the right way, thus conserving valuable resources.

A key characteristic of a leader with high Emotional intelligence is an accurate understanding of himself. He is in touch and in tune with his inner self and his relation to the job. The perception is accurate: not puffed up or defensive. In addition, there is an accurate perception of his relationships with others. The view is clarified and amplified as the leader learns more about the Table Stakes, Enabling Actions, and Reinforces Candor daily.

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Article Tags: Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Trust, Values, Vision



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