Daniel Goleman’s Bestseller -“The Emotionally Intelligent Leader”: Book Review & Key takeaways for all

A groundbreaking book “The Emotionally Intelligent Leader” helps to understand if you are a great leader or merely a good one. There are certain attributes that makes you fall on either of the sides. Daniel Goleman introduces this concept of “Emotional Intelligence” with an important question — “What makes a leader?”. Studies out there have shown that people with high IQ (Intelligence Quotient) & high technical skills are not guaranteed with success. These skills are definitely needed but are merely considered as entry criteria. People composed of high degree of EI (emotional intelligence) can be a categorized as distinguished leaders. Daniel Goleman describes chief components of “Emotional Intelligence” as;

Self-awareness

Self-regulation,

Motivation,

Empathy

Social skill

This leads to another Q in a row — “Can EI be learnt?”

For ages, there has been debates if a great leader is born or made…like wise the EI is naturally present or can be learnt? Answer is both….As per psychological studies, people are born with certain degree of EI but they do acquire this as they grow in their lives, with their experiences and their maturity.

Mr. Daniel beautifully describes about a “A focused leader” in this book. Every leader should cultivate “Focusing on Yourself” that includes:

· Self-awareness — hearing your inner voice and paying attention to your own emotions.

· Self-control — cognitive control in order to put the right attention on where it is needed.

Once you get in touch with your own self-awareness & self-control, you can shed light on being aware of others emotions too — this is referred as “Focusing on Others”. Leader who focusses on others’ emotions can be easily recognized despite of their organizational ranks. As they stand out, they emerge as natural leaders . When we talk about “others” we get pulled into an important subject called “Empathy”. It is very important in effective leadership. Empathy triad reveals 3 of its kinds:

· Cognitive empathy — ability to understand other person’s perspective. This enables leaders to explain themselves in more meaningful ways.

· Emotional empathy — ability to feel what someone feels. This is important for effective mentoring & managing.

· Empathic concern — ability to sense what another person needs from you.

Through this book, Mr. Daniel introduces the audience to six leadership styles. These styles definitely teaches us how we adapt different styles in different situations.

Putting it all together:

With a view of six leadership styles, you can clearly see how EI is important in building resonant leadership. Psychological models helps us to understand people around us, their interactions, & their styles. A great leader guides the team towards the vision, provide action plan, remove road blockers & help keep up the spirit. When done right, a great leader can unlock the team’s full potential and help the team achieve the goals and indeed this would contribute to organizational growth as well.

Why Use Leadership Styles?

One of the greatest misconceptions about leadership styles is to believe that a leader needs to adhere to a single leadership style. No, its not that way! It’s about being a leader in different situations so moving between the styles is a must to cope up with the changing situations.

What’s your style?

Which styles can best suit you? What is your prominent leadership style? And which characteristics remind you of leaders who inspire you? Understanding various leadership styles, assessing yourself, and reflecting on the impact on others can be a good exercise to make yourself and your team successful leaders and create high-performance teams.

Preethi Guruswamy Sobhitha Neelanath Shilpi Mitra Surabhi Kumari Deeksha Jaiswal Devi Anantharaman