Literature
Book Review
Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence
By Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatis and Ann McKee
What do you believe the most important element of leadership is – confidence, vision, charisma, presentation skills, or charisma? What if I informed you that the most important element of leadership is emotional connection; would you believe it?
“The fundamental task of leaders is to prime good feeling in those they lead,” so say the authors of Primal Leadership. What are we to make of this notion? Does it jive with our own experiences with leadership at work and in our personal lives? How have we dealt with our own opportunities to lead and how did our approaches work out?
Before reading this book I had never considered this perspective and I certainly did not understand the fundamental or “primal” nature of this viewpoint. My most common experiences with people in leadership positions (particularly at work) was that most often their primary focus was on output without regard to how it was achieved; emotions were not considered or welcome.
While clearly more is required of an effective leader than just creating positive emotions in his followers; if this function is not performed effective leadership cannot be sustained. The authors explore the biological and social foundations of leadership in depth and apply their research at the individuals, teams, and organization’s.
Goleman, Boyatis and McKee inform us that our brains are “open loops” that depend heavily on external sources to function effectively; each of us relies on our relationships with others for our own emotional stability. Emotions are contagious; by creating a “reservoir of positivity” leaders free up the best in themselves and others. Listening empathically to other people’s perspectives leaders tune into the “emotional channels” between people that create resonance.
Smiles constitute the most contagious signal we possess. When we laugh we enhance our brain’s ability (and others) to work well; conversely when we are perpetually stressed out and do not feel safe, we reduce our brain’s ability to do good work and cut off new positive ways of acting. Toxic emotions are also catching.
As he has done in previous writings, Goleman (and his co-authors) conclude that a person’s Emotional Intelligence (EQ) determines their success in life much more then their Cognitive Intelligence (IQ). According to them there are four major components to emotional intelligence; self-awareness, self-management, social awareness (empathy), and relationship management. Self-awareness forms the basis for the other elements, because without being aware of our own emotions we are not able to manage them and consequently less able to understand and deal with them in others.
Mastering the elements of Emotional Intelligence expands our ability to use the different leadership methods available to each of us and most importantly, to choose the leadership approach that most closely matches a given situation. Leadership styles are broken down into two categories: resonant, including visionary, coaching, affiliative, and democratic and dissonant, including pace setting and commanding. The styles to which individual leaders will gravitate towards is a function of their belief systems.
People’s governing beliefs can be broken down into three main philosophies. The central theme of a Pragmatic Philosophy is that usefulness determines the worth of an idea, effort, person, group, or organization. High in personal responsibility and self-management their individualistic orientation draws them to a pace setting style.
The central theme of an Intellectual Philosophy is a desire to understand people, things and the world by constructing an image of how they work and providing some emotional security in predicting the future. Relying heavily on logical thought, this style leans toward a visionary style of leadership. Leaders with this viewpoint can lack the understanding of the need to connect with others and persuade them about their vision’s advantages.
The central theme of a Humanist Philosophy is that close personal relationships give meaning to life; loyalty is valued over mastery of a job skill. Committed to human values, humanistic leaders move toward the leadership styles that emphasize interaction with others – democratic, affiliative, and coaching.
As individuals our personal motivations provide the key to generating and maintaining the efforts required to sustain significant personal growth. Understanding and accepting the parts of ourselves that we want to keep as well as the parts we want to develop fuels our readiness to change.
Groups behave a lot like the individuals that comprise them; they have their own collective moods and ways of acting. Leaders make a mistake when they choose to ignore existing values of their team; conversely they do well when they choose to honor the feelings, beliefs of those around them.
People can not be forced to change; they will change only when they feel personally motivated to do so. Slowing down and resisting the “need for speed;” engaging in honest dialogue actually speeds the change process. Through honesty and authenticity leaders create a legitimacy and safety around speaking the truth for others. Doing this helps create this habit for the group and encourages truth seeking and risk taking.
When the members of an organization merely understand a strategy they are likely to fail; it is only when they passionately commit to a strategy that significant and relevant change occurs in support of a shared vision. They must be connected to the vision and believe they have the ability to do something about it.
People change when they are emotionally engaged and committed; therefore a key tenant to leadership is connecting the personal values and goals of individuals with the needs strategy of the organization as a whole. Most organizations do not even consider this.
Another reason most “change” initiatives frequently fail is that the methods employed focus on the thinking part of the brain and ignore its stronger, more established emotional centers. Our “emotional brains” are slower to learn, the well worn pathways must be replaced by different “well worn” pathways and this takes time, repetition, and application. The current proliferation of executive coaching in corporations demonstrates some recognition of these facts.
The authors of Primal Leadership make it clear that holding people accountable for achieving results remains a vital element of effective leadership; as you have already read there are many ways to accomplish this. They make the case that to truly lead each of us must learn to manage the “emotions” in ourselves and others; that is primary!
September 2008
© 2008 Robert Hackman, M3 Board of Trustee Member, MS, SPHR
September 2008