The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

What role does emotional intelligence play in that story?

I think emotional quotient/emotional intelligence and social quotient/social intelligence are both extremely important attributes in a successful leader in a modern environment. That being said, the different type of leadership skills that may need to be played out exhibited, manifested at a particular time, or in a particular organisational culture, will need to be very different.

If we have a manager with extremely good emotional intelligence/social intelligence working in a very disciplinary, functional, numbers oriented, process oriented environment then we have the most terrible cultural mis-match. Both the organisation is going to find this person rather strange and the person is going to find the organisation rather frustrating. Similarly if we’re at war, literally at war, yes clearly soldiers and military leaders sometimes need to display incredible emotional intelligence to the people around them in the most frightening situations but at certain other times they need to present authority. Very simple leadership is sometimes about authority.

Those are some polar extremes there but in certain business situations there comes a point where we need to say “I’m very sorry, but this is the way it’s going to be.” To associate leadership with authority is perhaps a very strong historical link, but sometimes it’s still relevant. The emotional intelligence and social intelligence are very critical in modern business environments, especially in smaller companies that are operating outside of a traditional corporate setup. However if you’re walking into a traditional corporate setup, perhaps an organisation with a strong Japanese type culture or something like that, then you might find other functional, technical attributes significantly more important in your leadership style than emotional intelligence.

A holistic approach?

I think an approach that fits the requirements, if you’re willing to adapt and if your style is clearly very different to the culture in which you’re operating then you either make a quick decision as to whether you can influence the culture more in the direction that you feel comfortable or whether you need to influence your life in a different direction with a different company where you’ll feel more at home.