Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

This lesson's readings and videos share the results of various research studies that found a strong link between leadership success and high emotional intelligence. Goleman's other writings detail study results which show the differentiating role of emotional intelligence competencies on effective performance in leadership (and other professional roles). For example, he cites a landmark study of top executives who derailed which found two common traits to be rigidity (lack of adapting to change or accepting feedback from others) and poor relationships.[16] As well as reporting on longitudinal studies examining the relative contributions of IQ and social-emotional intelligence to professional success, Cherniss[17] also gives a good review of the historical roots of emotional intelligence and describes different instruments to measure it.

More recent studies support the earlier findings, in terms of the specific emotional intelliegence skills that support leadership success and the missing skills that are associated with derailment. One study[18] found a connection between company profitability and the executives’ levels of empathy, self-regard, reality testing and problem solving. They also reported that the top executives had significantly higher emotional intelligence scores than the normative population on more than half of the EQ-I subscales.[19]

In today’s work environments, leaders need to build trust relationships, foster teamwork, and collaborate with and coach a variety of people. It stands to reason that self- and other-awareness, emotional self-management, and relationship skills are essential to success.

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