Emotional Intelligence: The Ingredient for Effective Leaders

Emotional Intelligence has been identified as the single most important competency for effective leadership. According to Dan Goleman’s ground-breaking book,”Nothing else, including gender, education, geographic area, age, or hours worked came as close to predicting success as did emotional competencies.” Competencies “that have been identified in internal research at hundreds of corporations and organizations as distinguishing outstanding performers.” Self-control is a vital ingredient for a meaningful, satisfying life. Productive relationships can either flourish or wither as a result of our ability, or inability, to exert control over our behavior. By first understanding how emotions influence our behavior, we can prevent negative emotions from driving us to behaviors we later regret.

Successful participants will:

• Gain insight into Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences and the truth behind the saying, “What matters most is not how smart you are, but how you are smart.”
• Take a measure of their own current level of Emotional Intelligence
• Revisit past situations they may regret and apply a step-by-step process to strengthen their own EI proactive “muscle,” in order to prevent similar instances in the future
• Describe the importance of exercising “integrity in the moment of choice,” to choose responses that align with their goals when faced with adverse circumstances.
• Practice Emotional Intelligence behaviors in order to create positive outcomes in spite of negative emotions.