The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) was popularized after the publication of psychologist and New York Times science writer Daniel Goleman’s book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.
In his best-selling book, Goleman calls out five aspects of emotional intelligence:
1. Being self aware2. Managing emotions
3. Motivating ourselves
4. Feeling empathy
5. Handling relationships
The higher your EI score, the more you embody the above. As leaders, in order to truly lead, we must ensure that we maintain a high EI score and put all of the above into practice every day. Our success as leaders depends on it!
The top four aspects tie into how well we know and manage our emotions. Like it or not, as human beings our emotions play a major role in who we are. Most of us do not even realize that our emotions drive many of the decisions we make, how we interact with others, and how we lead.
Emotions also play into how we handle relationships. As leaders we must have strong relationship skills. This includes not only building relationships, but also managing those relationships.
As CEOs, the individuals within our organization take their cues from us in how we put into practice the five aspects that Goleman lays out. It's vital to the long-term success of our organizations that we as leaders commit to embracing the principals of emotional intelligence.
