Ever asked yourself what’s missing in your skillset and wondered about how well you read people? Emotional literacy – knowing how others are feeling is the key to unlocking access to their business minds.

Plato, Aristotle, Kant and Hume:  philosphers who recognized the role emotion plays in rational action.

Madeleine Baird Materials takes it a step further: to be truly great, one needs to accept the relation between ambition and vision: and refine the focus.

How modern Leaders choose to wield their power is altogether more sophisticated than even ten years ago. See here.

Nelson Mandela: the emotionally intelligent leader   Posted by Patricia Martin, HayGroup,

Nelson Mandela’s biographer Anthony Sampson wrote during Mandela’s 27 years in jail “he developed the art of politics: how to relate to all kinds of people, how to persuade and cajole, how to turn his warders into dependents and how to become master in his own prison”. Great leaders have great self-awareness and social awareness; they also know how to manage them selves and relationships to get the most out of others.

Study: Gender Differences in Emotional Intelligence, UTAR Perak campus, p 5.1

Emotional intelligence is an important trait for the leaders (Petrides et al, 2006). A good leader should control their own emotion well, and show the empathy to the followers, so that people are will to do anything for them. For example, Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader able to control the emotion an empathize with people well, and this made the Burmese adore and listen to her.

Warren Buffett, Temperament is key to his success
Prep Beijing quote US News/BizTech

… Buffett as the ultimate example of how a properly trained mind can overcome the sorts of emotions and flawed reasoning that can derail even the brainiest investors. …. According to the author of The Emotionally Intelligent Investor, Buffett relies heavily on at least two emotional brain processes: intuition and empathy.

Making Education Work: A report commissioned by Pearson from an Independent Advisory Group chaired by Professor Sir Roy Anderson and with Sir Mike Rake, CBI President and formerly of KPMG

… It is recommended a broadening of curriculum and that so-called ‘soft skills’ like emotional intelligence, empathy, team working and other interpersonal skills are given more prominence in equipping young people effectively for the workplace.

The Top 10 Emotionally-Intelligent Fortune 500 CEOs

4. Jamie Dimon (JPMorganChase): At Harvard Business School, Dimon said “You all know about IQ and EQ. Your IQs are all high enough for you to be very successful, but where people often fall short is on the EQ. It’s something you develop over time. A lot of management skills are EQ, because management is all about how people function.
5. John Donahoe (eBay): Donahoe inherited a difficult situation from Meg Whitman with the need to truly alter the company’s business strategy. As a role model for Jim Collins’ Level 5 and Bill George’s True North leaders, Donahoe’s disciplined self-awareness and his listening ability have created a deeply loyal team and a healthy, evolving culture.

Emotional Intelligence Sets Leaders apart
by Janet Williams, Business Improvement Architects

There are too many examples of poor leadership in the workplace, from within all levels of organizations, the attributes of this poor leadership are easily identified.

But have you ever noticed those leaders and managers that everyone admires and who just seem to have a knack at being excellent leaders? What is this elusive quality that good leaders have that sets them apart?

According to Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ, it is likely that these leaders and managers have a high Emotional Intelligence Quotient or EQ.

These people are recognized as stars within their organization and for their ability to work with people and accomplish great things.