Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

Don’t get all primal one me – I’ve got a leader to back me up.

I just finished another book off of my “Learning List”:

Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Annie McKee, & Richard E. Boyatzis

Publisher: Harvard Business Press; 1 edition (March 15, 2002) ISBN-10: 157851486X ISBN-13: 978-1578514861

Rating: 6.4 / 14.0

Pros: I enjoyed the noted science behind the methods and observations mentioned.  It’s also nice to see these good and bad characteristics of leadership parsed out into clear and succinct categories / traits.

Cons: Nothing really too tangibly sift-able from this read.  I suppose the title’s use of the word “realizing” is more telling than I originally considered.

Assessment: Worth looking at (especially if a friend already bought it or it is at the library), but don’t expect any concrete take-aways.

My notes are below:

General:

• Mind / emotion: open loop limbic system > we rely on external input / stimuli to regulate.
• Laughing is the neurologically shortest path from limbic system to limbic system / brain to brain.
• For every 1% improvement in the service climate, there is a 2% improvement in revenue.  Climate is not the sole influence on performance but it can account for 20-30% of business performance.  Roughly 50-70% of the employees’ view of the climate can be traced back to one person: the leader/boss.
• The intellect cannot lead, it can only serve.

4 Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence:

• Self-Awareness(3 EI Competencies) – deep understanding of one’s emotions, values, beliefs, honest, values, goals, dreams.  Attuned to what feels right for them.  Propensity for self-reflection / meditation to think things over.  There is an actual physiological response to intuition in the GI tract – a literal “gut-feeling”
  1. Emotional Awareness– attuned to inner signals and how they affect self – see big picture – speak openly
  2. Accurate Self Assessment – know limitations and strength / sense of humor about self – welcome constructive feedback
  3. Self Confidence – knowing abilities with accuracies – sense of presence – self assurance

  – Self-Management (6 EI Competencies) – focused drive to achieve goals, have emotions under control; effective leadership demands one can control and determine one’s own feelings.

  1. Self-control – can manage and control disturbing situations
  2. Transparency – live their values, openness to others, integrity
  3. Adaptability – flexible and adjustable to new challenges / change
  4. Achievement – high personal standards that drive them to success / goals / worthiness, continually learning
  5. Initiative – have what it takes to control on destiny, see and create opportunities
  6. Optimism – roll with the punches, expect changes for the better in some way
• Social-Awareness (3 EI Competencies)
  1. Empathy – able to attune to a wide range of emotional signals, listen attentively, able to get along well with most
  2. Organizational Awareness – politically astute, understand political forces at work and guiding values
  3. Service – monitor customer/client satisfaction closely which also helps those working directly with them be better
• Relationship Management (6 EI Competencies) – handling other people’s emotions
  1. Inspiration – creation resonance, share mission
  2. Influence – knowing how to build buy-in, persuasive, engaging
  3. Developing Others – understand goals, strengths/weaknesses of other, coaches, mentors
  4. Change Catalysts – notice and chance the status quo
  5. Conflict Management – able to draw out all parties, find common ideal everyone can endorse
  6. Teamwork & Collaboration – atmosphere of friendly collegiality, enthusiastic commitment to task

  6 Main Leadership Styles (which are interchangeable – not mutually exclusive):

  1. The Visionary: strongly drives emotional climate upward.  Articulate where group is going but not how to get there.  Freedom, everyone is working toward a shared goal in their own way.  Retains most valuable employees.  Help others see how/why their work fits into the big picture.  Research suggest this approach to management is most effective.  Remind workers of the overall goal in progress.  Inspirational leadership.  Articulate a purpose that rings true and genuinely believe in the purpose.  Transparency is important.  Empathy matters most to the visionary to articulate a truly inspirational vision.  Visionary has trouble when working with a team of experts who are more experienced that he/she is – will be seen as out-of-touch and/or pompous.
  2. Coaching Style: establish rapport and trust with employees, creates personal touch, feel of ongoing conversation / not just the bosses.  Encourage employees to determine long term goals and plans.  Link daily work to these long term goals and plans.  Good at delegating and challenging employees.  Usually tolerate a short term failure in view of larger gain.  When this style is executed poorly, it looks like micromanaging or excessive control.  This can undermine confidence and cause negative impact on performance / under-appreciated employees.
  3. Affiliation Style: most concerned with promoting harmony, value downtime in the organizational cycle, want and strive for a team connectiveness and cohesiveness, focus on emotional needs of employees (even over the work goals), lift the spirits of employees.  Flaws include work/performance is second to the people and can suffer, can be too concerned with what people think about them.  This style should not be used alone; it can allow for poor performance issues to go uncorrected and give the impression that mediocrity is tolerated.
  4. Democratic Style: leader is uncertain about which direction to take and needs ideas from employees.  Good listeners and collaborators and really instill confidence in employees that the leader actually cares.  Can result in never-ending “idea sessions” or long, drawn-out meetings.  Can lead to lack on focus in a crisis situation or when employee is not informed enough about the situation.
  5. Pace-Setting Style: Drives to achieve by trying to continually improve performance, champions initiative, not motivated by monetary rewards but rather by meeting high self-imposed goals.  Should be used sparingly and only where it truly works.  Leader is obsessive about doing things better, faster, and cheaper – is good for an entrepreneurial situation.  Can lead to people feeling too pushed and can shoot morale down quickly.  The more pressure put on employees by the leader the more the employees feel stretched / morale dips.
  6. Commanding Style: this is the “do this because I say so” style and this is usually the least effective style.  This can be useful in a situation when shock and emergency action is needed.  Attacking the “old culture” instead of the talent is a useful way to approach this style.  Emotional self-control and self-awareness is crucial to use this style effectively.

  Then a bunch of “soft skills” information followed.  I listened, but went lax on the notes as I have covered this material recently.