Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

During the recent five-day “Enlightened Business Summit” focused on Emotional Intelligence, leaders of several Top 100 Companies, from some of the most innovative and successful workplaces in the world, and from several powerful global non-profit organizations spoke about the power of emotions in leadership and in business. Although moods and emotions are an essential domain of human life and organizational action, until recently, emotions have been banned from the workplace and professional environments while rationality and cognition have been rewarded as the primary means of knowing.

It has been demonstrated through work by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio (Descarte’s Error), and through research reviewed by David Brooks (The Social Animal) that good judgment requires emotional input. The idea of non-emotional thinking is actually an emotional state itself, one without passion and ownership. Good judgment is an essential leadership competency and a desirable quality for any human being.  Working in an environment without passion and ownership is, among other things, de-motivating. Daniel Pink (“Drive”, “A New Mind”) speaks of three emotion-based qualities that are motivational for humans in a work setting: 1) Autonomy - a sense of self direction; 2) Mastery - humans like to get better at what they do; 3) Purpose - people want to know why they are doing something, that it is meaningful, and that they are contributing. A survey of over 12,000 people (reported by Daniel Pink) reveals that there is one overall factor that leads to job satisfaction, which is “making progress in meaningful work.” Autonomy, mastery, purpose are all dimensions of human experience involving moods and emotions.

Organizations exist for the coordination of action to produce a shared future, and are places where humans come together to make things happen. “Emotions direct our attention and mobilize us,” and predispose people to particular kinds of action. For example, a resigned team will perform less successfully than an ambitious team.  Moods and emotions are contagious, and we CAN change our emotions through increasing our awareness while we utilize emotional skills. As leaders (and we are all leaders) it is our responsibility to create and sustain moods in the workplace that generate communication, creativity, collaboration, ambition, innovation, success etc. Along with self-awareness, empathy and relationship management, mood management is a quality of emotional intelligence that leaders must be skilled at personally as well as with their teams and organizations.

The world and our current global crises are calling for leadership, and leadership is a human skill. More than ever, we need emotionally intelligent leaders who can stay calm, clear and centered, and can articulate the way forward in the midst of fear and anxiety. Being human is about connecting to self, others, the world. Leaders must be able to connect with what they care about, and with what others truly care about, and must be communicative, bold, focused and resilient in bringing forth the work to actualize this human care.

Leaders are being called forth to deal with unprecedented situations and complexities in today’s world. Technology will not serve here; rather capacities of self-awareness, emotional management, empathy, and relationship management are effective beacons. Executive coaches can help leaders develop this type of emotional intelligence in themselves, and can help them create and sustain productive emotional contexts in which people work out of a sense of purpose and contribution. Our emotional intelligence must catch up, and surpass, our technological intelligence, for leadership is a truly human phenomenon.

Kymberly Johnson is an executive and leadership coach experienced in guiding leaders to evolve into, and embody, their unique and profound leadership capabilities. With the awareness that systems and cultures must continue to progress, Kymberly brings extensive knowledge of human and adult development to enliven innovative and conscious leadership practices available in today’s world. Read More