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What Makes a Leader? by Daniel Goleman

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Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:

The Idea in Brief—the core idea The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work

1 Article Summary

2 What Makes a Leader?

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What Makes a Leader?

page 1

The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice

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Asked to define the ideal leader, many would emphasize traits such as intelligence, toughness, determination, and vision. Often left off the list are softer, more per- sonal qualities—but recent studies indi- cate that they are also essential. Although a certain degree of analytical and technical skill is a minimum requirement for success, what is called “emotional intelligence” may be the key attribute that distinguishes out- standing performers from those who are merely adequate. For example, in a 1996 study of a global food and beverage com- pany, where senior managers had a certain critical mass of emotional intelligence, their divisions outperformed yearly earnings goals by 20%. Division leaders without that critical mass underperformed by almost the same amount.

There are five components to emotional intel- ligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, moti- vation, empathy, and social skill. All five traits sound desirable to just about everyone. But organizations too often implicitly discourage their people from developing them.

SELF-MANAGEMENT SKILLS

1. Self-awareness. Emotional intelligence begins with this trait. People with a high de- gree of self-awareness know their weak- nesses and aren’t afraid to talk about them. Someone who understands that he works poorly under tight deadlines, for example, will work hard to plan his time carefully, and will let his colleagues know why. Many executives looking for potential leaders mistake such candor for “wimpiness.”

2. Self-regulation. This attribute flows from self-awareness, but runs in a different direc- tion. People with this trait are able to control their impulses or even channel them for good purposes.

3. Motivation. A passion for achievement for its own sake—not simply the ability to re- spond to whatever incentives a company offers—is the kind of motivation that is es- sential for leadership.

THE ABILITY TO RELATE TO OTHERS

4. Empathy. In addition to self-management skills, emotional intelligence requires a facility for dealing with others. And that starts with empathy—taking into account the feelings of others when making decisions—as opposed to taking on everyone’s troubles.

Example: Consider two division chiefs at a company forced to make layoffs. One manager gave a hard-hitting speech emphasizing the num- ber of people who would be fired. The other manager, while not hiding the bad news, took into account his people’s anxi- eties. He promised to keep them informed

and to treat everyone fairly. Many execu- tives would have refrained from such a show of consideration, lest they appear to lack toughness. But the tough man- ager demoralized his talented people— most of whom ended up leaving his di- vision voluntarily.

5. Social skill. All the preceding traits culmi- nate in this fifth one: the ability to build rap- port with others, to get them to cooperate, to move them in a direction you desire. Man- agers who simply try to be sociable—while lacking the other components of emotional intelligence—are likely to fail. Social skill, by contrast, is friendliness with a purpose.

CAN YOU BOOST YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?

Absolutely—but not with traditional training programs that target the rational part of the brain. Extended practice, feedback from col- leagues, and your own enthusiasm for making the change are essential to becoming an ef- fective leader.

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What Makes a Leader? by Daniel Goleman

harvard business review • january 2004 page 2

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IQ and technical skills are important, but emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership.

It was Daniel Goleman who first brought the

term “emotional intelligence” to a wide audience

with his 1995 book of that name, and it was Goleman

who first applied the concept to business with his

1998 HBR article, reprinted here. In his research

at nearly 200 large, global companies, Goleman

found that while the qualities traditionally associ-

ated with leadership—such as intelligence,

toughness, determination, and vision—are re-

quired for success, they are insufficient. Truly ef-

fective leaders are also distinguished by a high

degree of emotional intelligence, which includes

self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, em-

pathy, and social skill.

These qualities may sound “soft” and unbusi-

nesslike, but Goleman found direct ties between

emotional intelligence and measurable busi-

ness results. While emotional intelligence’s rele-

vance to business has continued to spark debate

over the past six years, Goleman’s article re-

mains the definitive reference on the subject,

with a description of each component of emo-

tional intelligence and a detailed discussion of

how to recognize it in potential leaders, how

and why it connects to performance, and how it

can be learned.

Every businessperson knows a story about a highly intelligent, highly skilled executive who was promoted into a leadership posi- tion only to fail at the job. And they also know a story about someone with solid—but not extraordinary—intellectual abilities and tech- nical skills who was promoted into a similar position and then soared.

Such anecdotes support the widespread be- lief that identifying individuals with the “right stuff” to be leaders is more art than science. After all, the personal styles of superb leaders vary: Some leaders are subdued and analyti- cal; others shout their manifestos from the mountaintops. And just as important, different situations call for different types of leader- ship. Most mergers need a sensitive negotiator at the helm, whereas many turnarounds re- quire a more forceful authority.

I have found, however, that the most effec- tive leaders are alike in one crucial way: They

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What Makes a Leader? •••BE S T O F HBR 1998

harvard business review • january 2004 page 3

all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. It’s not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They do mat- ter, but mainly as “threshold capabilities”; that is, they are the entry-level requirements for ex- ecutive positions. But my research, along with other recent studies, clearly shows that emo- tional intelligence is the sine qua non of leader- ship. Without it, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader.

In the course of the past year, my col- leagues and I have focused on how emotional intelligence operates at work. We have examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and effective performance, especially in leaders. And we have observed how emotional intelli- gence shows itself on the job. How can you tell if someone has high emotional intelli- gence, for example, and how can you recog- nize it in yourself ? In the following pages, we’ll explore these questions, taking each of the components of emotional intelligence— self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, em- pathy, and social skill—in turn.

Evaluating Emotional Intelligence Most large companies today have employed trained psychologists to develop what are known as “competency models” to aid them in identifying, training, and promoting likely stars in the leadership firmament. The psy- chologists have also developed such models for lower-level positions. And in recent years, I have analyzed competency models from 188 companies, most of which were large and glo- bal and included the likes of Lucent Technolo- gies, British Airways, and Credit Suisse.

In carrying out this work, my objective was to determine which personal capabilities drove outstanding performance within these organi- zations, and to what degree they did so. I grouped capabilities into three categories: purely technical skills like accounting and business planning; cognitive abilities like analytical rea- soning; and competencies demonstrating emo- tional intelligence, such as the ability to work with others and effectiveness in leading change.

To create some of the competency models, psychologists asked senior managers at the companies to identify the capabilities that typi- fied the organization’s most outstanding leaders. To create other models, the psychologists used

objective criteria, such as a division’s profit- ability, to differentiate the star performers at senior levels within their organizations from the average ones. Those individuals were then extensively interviewed and tested, and their capabilities were compared. This process re- sulted in the creation of lists of ingredients for highly effective leaders. The lists ranged in length from seven to 15 items and included such ingredients as initiative and strategic vision.

When I analyzed all this data, I found dra- matic results. To be sure, intellect was a driver of outstanding performance. Cognitive skills such as big-picture thinking and long-term vi- sion were particularly important. But when I calculated the ratio of technical skills, IQ, and emotional intelligence as ingredients of excellent performance, emotional intelligence proved to be twice as important as the others for jobs at all levels.

Moreover, my analysis showed that emo- tional intelligence played an increasingly impor- tant role at the highest levels of the company, where differences in technical skills are of neg- ligible importance. In other words, the higher the rank of a person considered to be a star per- former, the more emotional intelligence capa- bilities showed up as the reason for his or her effectiveness. When I compared star perform- ers with average ones in senior leadership posi- tions, nearly 90% of the difference in their pro- files was attributable to emotional intelligence factors rather than cognitive abilities.

Other researchers have confirmed that emo- tional intelligence not only distinguishes out- standing leaders but can also be linked to strong performance. The findings of the late David McClelland, the renowned researcher in human and organizational behavior, are a good exam- ple. In a 1996 study of a global food and bever- age company, McClelland found that when se- nior managers had a critical mass of emotional intelligence capabilities, their divisions outper- formed yearly earnings goals by 20%. Mean- while, division leaders without that critical mass underperformed by almost the same amount. McClelland’s findings, interestingly, held as true in the company’s U.S. divisions as in its divisions in Asia and Europe.

In short, the numbers are beginning to tell us a persuasive story about the link between a company’s success and the emotional intelli- gence of its leaders. And just as important, re- search is also demonstrating that people can, if

Daniel Goleman is the author of Emo- tional Intelligence (Bantam, 1995) and a coauthor of Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence (Har- vard Business School, 2002). He is the

cochairman of the Consortium for Re-

search on Emotional Intelligence in Or-

ganizations, which is based at Rutgers

University’s Graduate School of Ap-

plied and Professional Psychology in

Piscataway, New Jersey. He can be

reached at [email protected].

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What Makes a Leader? •••BE S T O F HBR 1998

harvard business review • january 2004 page 4

they take the right approach, develop their emotional intelligence. (See the sidebar “Can Emotional Intelligence Be Learned?”)

Self-Awareness Self-awareness is the first component of emo- tional intelligence—which makes sense when one considers that the Delphic oracle gave the advice to “know thyself” thousands of years ago. Self-awareness means having a deep un- derstanding of one’s emotions, strengths, weak- nesses, needs, and drives. People with strong self-awareness are neither overly critical nor un- realistically hopeful. Rather, they are honest— with themselves and with others.

People who have a high degree of self- awareness recognize how their feelings affect them, other people, and their job performance. Thus, a self-aware person who knows that tight deadlines bring out the worst in him plans his time carefully and gets his work done well in ad- vance. Another person with high self-awareness will be able to work with a demanding client. She will understand the client’s impact on her moods and the deeper reasons for her frustra-

tion. “Their trivial demands take us away from the real work that needs to be done,” she might explain. And she will go one step further and turn her anger into something constructive.

Self-awareness extends to a person’s under- standing of his or her values and goals. Some- one who is highly self-aware knows where he is headed and why; so, for example, he will be able to be firm in turning down a job offer that is tempting financially but does not fit with his principles or long-term goals. A person who lacks self-awareness is apt to make decisions that bring on inner turmoil by treading on buried values. “The money looked good so I signed on,” someone might say two years into a job, “but the work means so little to me that I’m constantly bored.” The decisions of self-aware people mesh with their values; consequently, they often find work to be energizing.

How can one recognize self-awareness? First and foremost, it shows itself as candor and an ability to assess oneself realistically. People with high self-awareness are able to speak accu- rately and openly—although not necessarily effusively or confessionally—about their emo-

Self-Awareness

Self-Regulation

Motivation

Empathy

Social Skill

Definition

the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effect on others

the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods

the propensity to suspend judgment – to think before acting

a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status

a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence

the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people

skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions

proficiency in managing relationships and building networks

an ability to find common ground and build rapport

Hallmarks

self-confidence

realistic self-assessment

self-deprecating sense of humor

trustworthiness and integrity

comfort with ambiguity

openness to change

strong drive to achieve

optimism, even in the face of failure

organizational commitment

expertise in building and retaining talent

cross-cultural sensitivity

service to clients and customers

effectiveness in leading change

persuasiveness

expertise in building and leading teams

The Five Components of Emotional Intelligence at Work

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What Makes a Leader? •••BE S T O F HBR 1998

harvard business review • january 2004 page 5

tions and the impact they have on their work. For instance, one manager I know of was skeptical about a new personal-shopper service that her company, a major department-store chain, was about to introduce. Without prompting from her team or her boss, she offered them an ex- planation: “It’s hard for me to get behind the rollout of this service,” she admitted, “because I really wanted to run the project, but I wasn’t selected. Bear with me while I deal with that.” The manager did indeed examine her feelings;

a week later, she was supporting the project fully. Such self-knowledge often shows itself in the

hiring process. Ask a candidate to describe a time he got carried away by his feelings and did something he later regretted. Self-aware candidates will be frank in admitting to failure— and will often tell their tales with a smile. One of the hallmarks of self-awareness is a self-deprecating sense of humor.

Self-awareness can also be identified during performance reviews. Self-aware people know—

Can Emotional Intelligence Be Learned? For ages, people have debated if leaders are

born or made. So too goes the debate about

emotional intelligence. Are people born with

certain levels of empathy, for example, or do

they acquire empathy as a result of life’s expe-

riences? The answer is both. Scientific inquiry

strongly suggests that there is a genetic com-

ponent to emotional intelligence. Psychological

and developmental research indicates that

nurture plays a role as well. How much of each

perhaps will never be known, but research and

practice clearly demonstrate that emotional

intelligence can be learned.

One thing is certain: Emotional intelligence

increases with age. There is an old-fashioned

word for the phenomenon: maturity. Yet even

with maturity, some people still need training

to enhance their emotional intelligence. Un-

fortunately, far too many training programs

that intend to build leadership skills—including

emotional intelligence—are a waste of time

and money. The problem is simple: They focus

on the wrong part of the brain.

Emotional intelligence is born largely in the

neurotransmitters of the brain’s limbic sys-

tem, which governs feelings, impulses, and

drives. Research indicates that the limbic sys-

tem learns best through motivation, extended

practice, and feedback. Compare this with the

kind of learning that goes on in the neocortex,

which governs analytical and technical ability.

The neocortex grasps concepts and logic. It is

the part of the brain that figures out how to

use a computer or make a sales call by reading

a book. Not surprisingly—but mistakenly—it

is also the part of the brain targeted by most

training programs aimed at enhancing emo-

tional intelligence. When such programs take,

in effect, a neocortical approach, my research

with the Consortium for Research on Emo-

tional Intelligence in Organizations has shown

they can even have a negative impact on peo-

ple’s job performance.

To enhance emotional intelligence, organi-

zations must refocus their training to include

the limbic system. They must help people

break old behavioral habits and establish new

ones. That not only takes much more time

than conventional training programs, it also

requires an individualized approach.

Imagine an executive who is thought to be

low on empathy by her colleagues. Part of that

deficit shows itself as an inability to listen; she

interrupts people and doesn’t pay close atten-

tion to what they’re saying. To fix the problem,

the executive needs to be motivated to

change, and then she needs practice and feed-

back from others in the company. A colleague

or coach could be tapped to let the executive

know when she has been observed failing to

listen. She would then have to replay the inci-

dent and give a better response; that is, dem-

onstrate her ability to absorb what others are

saying. And the executive could be directed to

observe certain executives who listen well and

to mimic their behavior.

With persistence and practice, such a process

can lead to lasting results. I know one Wall

Street executive who sought to improve his

empathy—specifically his ability to read peo-

ple’s reactions and see their perspectives. Be-

fore beginning his quest, the executive’s sub-

ordinates were terrified of working with him.

People even went so far as to hide bad news

from him. Naturally, he was shocked when fi-

nally confronted with these facts. He went

home and told his family—but they only con-

firmed what he had heard at work. When their

opinions on any given subject did not mesh

with his, they, too, were frightened of him.

Enlisting the help of a coach, the executive

went to work to heighten his empathy

through practice and feedback. His first step

was to take a vacation to a foreign country

where he did not speak the language. While

there, he monitored his reactions to the unfa-

miliar and his openness to people who were

different from him. When he returned home,

humbled by his week abroad, the executive

asked his coach to shadow him for parts of

the day, several times a week, to critique how

he treated people with new or different per-

spectives. At the same time, he consciously

used on-the-job interactions as opportunities

to practice “hearing” ideas that differed from

his. Finally, the executive had himself video-

taped in meetings and asked those who

worked for and with him to critique his abil-

ity to acknowledge and understand the feel-

ings of others. It took several months, but the

executive’s emotional intelligence did ulti-

mately rise, and the improvement was re-

flected in his overall performance on the job.

It’s important to emphasize that building

one’s emotional intelligence cannot—will

not—happen without sincere desire and con-

certed effort. A brief seminar won’t help; nor

can one buy a how-to manual. It is much

harder to learn to empathize—to internalize

empathy as a natural response to people—

than it is to become adept at regression analy-

sis. But it can be done. “Nothing great was

ever achieved without enthusiasm,” wrote

Ralph Waldo Emerson. If your goal is to be-

come a real leader, these words can serve as a

guidepost in your efforts to develop high

emotional intelligence.

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What Makes a Leader? •••BE S T O F HBR 1998

harvard business review • january 2004 page 6

and are comfortable talking about—their limi- tations and strengths, and they often demon- strate a thirst for constructive criticism. By contrast, people with low self-awareness inter- pret the message that they need to improve as a threat or a sign of failure.

Self-aware people can also be recognized by their self-confidence. They have a firm grasp of their capabilities and are less likely to set them- selves up to fail by, for example, overstretching on assignments. They know, too, when to ask for help. And the risks they take on the job are calculated. They won’t ask for a challenge that they know they can’t handle alone. They’ll play to their strengths.

Consider the actions of a midlevel employee who was invited to sit in on a strategy meeting with her company’s top executives. Although she was the most junior person in the room, she did not sit there quietly, listening in awe- struck or fearful silence. She knew she had a head for clear logic and the skill to present ideas persuasively, and she offered cogent sug- gestions about the company’s strategy. At the same time, her self-awareness stopped her from wandering into territory where she knew she was weak.

Despite the value of having self-aware peo- ple in the workplace, my research indicates that senior executives don’t often give self- awareness the credit it deserves when they look for potential leaders. Many executives mistake candor about feelings for “wimpiness” and fail to give due respect to employees who openly acknowledge their shortcomings. Such people are too readily dismissed as “not tough enough” to lead others.

In fact, the opposite is true. In the first place, people generally admire and respect candor. Furthermore, leaders are constantly required to make judgment calls that require a candid assessment of capabilities—their own and those of others. Do we have the management exper- tise to acquire a competitor? Can we launch a new product within six months? People who assess themselves honestly—that is, self-aware people—are well suited to do the same for the organizations they run.

Self-Regulation Biological impulses drive our emotions. We cannot do away with them—but we can do much to manage them. Self-regulation, which is like an ongoing inner conversation, is the

component of emotional intelligence that frees us from being prisoners of our feelings. People engaged in such a conversation feel bad moods and emotional impulses just as everyone else does, but they find ways to control them and even to channel them in useful ways.

Imagine an executive who has just watched a team of his employees present a botched analy- sis to the company’s board of directors. In the gloom that follows, the executive might find himself tempted to pound on the table in anger or kick over a chair. He could leap up and scream at the group. Or he might maintain a grim si- lence, glaring at everyone before stalking off.

But if he had a gift for self-regulation, he would choose a different approach. He would pick his words carefully, acknowledging the team’s poor performance without rushing to any hasty judgment. He would then step back to consider the reasons for the failure. Are they personal—a lack of effort? Are there any miti- gating factors? What was his role in the debacle? After considering these questions, he would call the team together, lay out the incident’s con- sequences, and offer his feelings about it. He would then present his analysis of the problem and a well-considered solution.

Why does self-regulation matter so much for leaders? First of all, people who are in control of their feelings and impulses—that is, people who are reasonable—are able to create an en- vironment of trust and fairness. In such an en- vironment, politics and infighting are sharply reduced and productivity is high. Talented people flock to the organization and aren’t tempted to leave. And self-regulation has a trickle-down effect. No one wants to be known as a hothead when the boss is known for her calm approach. Fewer bad moods at the top mean fewer throughout the organization.

Second, self-regulation is important for com- petitive reasons. Everyone knows that business today is rife with ambiguity and change. Com- panies merge and break apart regularly. Tech- nology transforms work at a dizzying pace. Peo- ple who have mastered their emotions are able to roll with the changes. When a new program is announced, they don’t panic; instead, they are able to suspend judgment, seek out infor- mation, and listen to the executives as they ex- plain the new program. As the initiative moves forward, these people are able to move with it.

Sometimes they even lead the way. Consider the case of a manager at a large manufacturing

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What Makes a Leader? •••BE S T O F HBR 1998

harvard business review • january 2004 page 7

company. Like her colleagues, she had used a certain software program for five years. The program drove how she collected and reported data and how she thought about the com- pany’s strategy. One day, senior executives announced that a new program was to be in- stalled that would radically change how infor- mation was gathered and assessed within the organization. While many people in the com- pany complained bitterly about how disrup- tive the change would be, the manager mulled over the reasons for the new program and was convinced of its potential to improve perfor- mance. She eagerly attended training sessions— some of her colleagues refused to do so—and was eventually promoted to run several divi- sions, in part because she used the new tech- nology so effectively.

I want to push the importance of self- regulation to leadership even further and make the case that it enhances integrity, which is not only a personal virtue but also an orga- nizational strength. Many of the bad things that happen in companies are a function of impulsive behavior. People rarely plan to exag- gerate profits, pad expense accounts, dip into the till, or abuse power for selfish ends. Instead, an opportunity presents itself, and people with low impulse control just say yes.

By contrast, consider the behavior of the se- nior executive at a large food company. The executive was scrupulously honest in his nego- tiations with local distributors. He would routinely lay out his cost structure in detail, thereby giving the distributors a realistic un- derstanding of the company’s pricing. This ap- proach meant the executive couldn’t always drive a hard bargain. Now, on occasion, he felt the urge to increase profits by withhold- ing information about the company’s costs. But he challenged that impulse—he saw that it made more sense in the long run to counter- act it. His emotional self-regulation paid off in strong, lasting relationships with distributors that benefited the company more than any short-term financial gains would have.

The signs of emotional self-regulation, there- fore, are easy to see: a propensity for reflection and thoughtfulness; comfort with ambiguity and change; and integrity—an ability to say no to impulsive urges.

Like self-awareness, self-regulation often does not get its due. People who can master their emotions are sometimes seen as cold fish—

their considered responses are taken as a lack of passion. People with fiery temperaments are frequently thought of as “classic” leaders— their outbursts are considered hallmarks of charisma and power. But when such people make it to the top, their impulsiveness often works against them. In my research, extreme displays of negative emotion have never emerged as a driver of good leadership.

Motivation If there is one trait that virtually all effective leaders have, it is motivation. They are driven to achieve beyond expectations—their own and everyone else’s. The key word here is achieve. Plenty of people are motivated by ex- ternal factors, such as a big salary or the status that comes from having an impressive title or being part of a prestigious company. By con- trast, those with leadership potential are moti- vated by a deeply embedded desire to achieve for the sake of achievement.

If you are looking for leaders, how can you identify people who are motivated by the drive to achieve rather than by external rewards? The first sign is a passion for the work itself—such people seek out creative challenges, love to learn, and take great pride in a job well done. They also display an unflagging energy to do things better. People with such energy often seem restless with the status quo. They are persistent with their questions about why things are done one way rather than another; they are eager to explore new approaches to their work.

A cosmetics company manager, for example, was frustrated that he had to wait two weeks to get sales results from people in the field. He finally tracked down an automated phone sys- tem that would beep each of his salespeople at 5 pm every day. An automated message then prompted them to punch in their numbers— how many calls and sales they had made that day. The system shortened the feedback time on sales results from weeks to hours.

That story illustrates two other common traits of people who are driven to achieve. They are for- ever raising the performance bar, and they like to keep score. Take the performance bar first. During performance reviews, people with high levels of motivation might ask to be “stretched” by their superiors. Of course, an employee who combines self-awareness with internal motiva- tion will recognize her limits—but she won’t settle for objectives that seem too easy to fulfill.

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What Makes a Leader? •••BE S T O F HBR 1998

harvard business review • january 2004 page 8

And it follows naturally that people who are driven to do better also want a way of tracking progress—their own, their team’s, and their company’s. Whereas people with low achieve- ment motivation are often fuzzy about results, those with high achievement motivation often keep score by tracking such hard measures as profitability or market share. I know of a money manager who starts and ends his day on the In- ternet, gauging the performance of his stock fund against four industry-set benchmarks.

Interestingly, people with high motivation remain optimistic even when the score is against them. In such cases, self-regulation combines with achievement motivation to overcome the frustration and depression that come after a setback or failure. Take the case of an another portfolio manager at a large investment com- pany. After several successful years, her fund tumbled for three consecutive quarters, lead- ing three large institutional clients to shift their business elsewhere.

Some executives would have blamed the nosedive on circumstances outside their control; others might have seen the setback as evidence of personal failure. This portfolio manager, however, saw an opportunity to prove she could lead a turnaround. Two years later, when she was promoted to a very senior level in the company, she described the experience as “the best thing that ever happened to me; I learned so much from it.”

Executives trying to recognize high levels of achievement motivation in their people can look for one last piece of evidence: commit- ment to the organization. When people love their jobs for the work itself, they often feel committed to the organizations that make that work possible. Committed employees are likely to stay with an organization even when they are pursued by headhunters waving money.

It’s not difficult to understand how and why a motivation to achieve translates into strong leadership. If you set the performance bar high for yourself, you will do the same for the organization when you are in a position to do so. Likewise, a drive to surpass goals and an interest in keeping score can be conta- gious. Leaders with these traits can often build a team of managers around them with the same traits. And of course, optimism and organizational commitment are fundamental to leadership—just try to imagine running a company without them.

Empathy Of all the dimensions of emotional intelligence, empathy is the most easily recognized. We have all felt the empathy of a sensitive teacher or friend; we have all been struck by its absence in an unfeeling coach or boss. But when it comes to business, we rarely hear people praised, let alone rewarded, for their empathy. The very word seems unbusinesslike, out of place amid the tough realities of the marketplace.

But empathy doesn’t mean a kind of “I’m OK, you’re OK” mushiness. For a leader, that is, it doesn’t mean adopting other people’s emotions as one’s own and trying to please everybody. That would be a nightmare—it would make action impossible. Rather, empa- thy means thoughtfully considering employees’ feelings—along with other factors—in the pro- cess of making intelligent decisions.

For an example of empathy in action, con- sider what happened when two giant brokerage companies merged, creating redundant jobs in all their divisions. One division manager called his people together and gave a gloomy speech that emphasized the number of people who would soon be fired. The manager of another division gave his people a different kind of speech. He was up-front about his own worry and confusion, and he promised to keep peo- ple informed and to treat everyone fairly.

The difference between these two managers was empathy. The first manager was too wor- ried about his own fate to consider the feelings of his anxiety-stricken colleagues. The second knew intuitively what his people were feeling, and he acknowledged their fears with his words. Is it any surprise that the first manager saw his division sink as many demoralized peo- ple, especially the most talented, departed? By contrast, the second manager continued to be a strong leader, his best people stayed, and his division remained as productive as ever.

Empathy is particularly important today as a component of leadership for at least three rea- sons: the increasing use of teams; the rapid pace of globalization; and the growing need to retain talent.

Consider the challenge of leading a team. As anyone who has ever been a part of one can at- test, teams are cauldrons of bubbling emo- tions. They are often charged with reaching a consensus—which is hard enough with two people and much more difficult as the num- bers increase. Even in groups with as few as

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four or five members, alliances form and clash- ing agendas get set. A team’s leader must be able to sense and understand the viewpoints of everyone around the table.

That’s exactly what a marketing manager at a large information technology company was able to do when she was appointed to lead a troubled team. The group was in turmoil, over- loaded by work and missing deadlines. Ten- sions were high among the members. Tinker- ing with procedures was not enough to bring the group together and make it an effective part of the company.

So the manager took several steps. In a se- ries of one-on-one sessions, she took the time to listen to everyone in the group—what was frustrating them, how they rated their col- leagues, whether they felt they had been ig- nored. And then she directed the team in a way that brought it together: She encouraged people to speak more openly about their frus- trations, and she helped people raise construc- tive complaints during meetings. In short, her empathy allowed her to understand her team’s emotional makeup. The result was not just heightened collaboration among members but also added business, as the team was called on for help by a wider range of internal clients.

Globalization is another reason for the rising importance of empathy for business leaders. Cross-cultural dialogue can easily lead to mis- cues and misunderstandings. Empathy is an antidote. People who have it are attuned to subtleties in body language; they can hear the message beneath the words being spoken. Be- yond that, they have a deep understanding of both the existence and the importance of cultural and ethnic differences.

Consider the case of an American consultant whose team had just pitched a project to a po- tential Japanese client. In its dealings with Americans, the team was accustomed to being bombarded with questions after such a pro- posal, but this time it was greeted with a long silence. Other members of the team, taking the silence as disapproval, were ready to pack and leave. The lead consultant gestured them to stop. Although he was not particularly familiar with Japanese culture, he read the cli- ent’s face and posture and sensed not rejection but interest—even deep consideration. He was right: When the client finally spoke, it was to give the consulting firm the job.

Finally, empathy plays a key role in the re-

tention of talent, particularly in today’s infor- mation economy. Leaders have always needed empathy to develop and keep good people, but today the stakes are higher. When good people leave, they take the company’s knowl- edge with them.

That’s where coaching and mentoring come in. It has repeatedly been shown that coaching and mentoring pay off not just in better per- formance but also in increased job satisfac- tion and decreased turnover. But what makes coaching and mentoring work best is the na- ture of the relationship. Outstanding coaches and mentors get inside the heads of the people they are helping. They sense how to give effec- tive feedback. They know when to push for better performance and when to hold back. In the way they motivate their protégés, they demonstrate empathy in action.

In what is probably sounding like a refrain, let me repeat that empathy doesn’t get much respect in business. People wonder how leaders can make hard decisions if they are “feeling” for all the people who will be affected. But leaders with empathy do more than sympa- thize with people around them: They use their knowledge to improve their companies in sub- tle but important ways.

Social Skill The first three components of emotional in- telligence are self-management skills. The last two, empathy and social skill, concern a per- son’s ability to manage relationships with others. As a component of emotional intelli- gence, social skill is not as simple as it sounds. It’s not just a matter of friendliness, although people with high levels of social skill are rarely mean-spirited. Social skill, rather, is friendli- ness with a purpose: moving people in the di- rection you desire, whether that’s agreement on a new marketing strategy or enthusiasm about a new product.

Socially skilled people tend to have a wide circle of acquaintances, and they have a knack for finding common ground with people of all kinds—a knack for building rapport. That doesn’t mean they socialize continually; it means they work according to the assumption that nothing important gets done alone. Such people have a network in place when the time for action comes.

Social skill is the culmination of the other dimensions of emotional intelligence. People

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tend to be very effective at managing relation- ships when they can understand and control their own emotions and can empathize with the feelings of others. Even motivation con- tributes to social skill. Remember that people who are driven to achieve tend to be optimistic, even in the face of setbacks or failure. When people are upbeat, their “glow” is cast upon conversations and other social encounters. They are popular, and for good reason.

Because it is the outcome of the other di- mensions of emotional intelligence, social skill is recognizable on the job in many ways that will by now sound familiar. Socially skilled people, for instance, are adept at man- aging teams—that’s their empathy at work. Likewise, they are expert persuaders—a mani- festation of self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy combined. Given those skills, good persuaders know when to make an emotional plea, for instance, and when an appeal to reason will work better. And moti- vation, when publicly visible, makes such people excellent collaborators; their passion for the work spreads to others, and they are driven to find solutions.

But sometimes social skill shows itself in ways the other emotional intelligence com- ponents do not. For instance, socially skilled people may at times appear not to be working while at work. They seem to be idly schmoozing—chatting in the hallways with colleagues or joking around with people who are not even connected to their “real” jobs. So- cially skilled people, however, don’t think it makes sense to arbitrarily limit the scope of their relationships. They build bonds widely because they know that in these fluid times, they may need help someday from people they are just getting to know today.

For example, consider the case of an execu- tive in the strategy department of a global computer manufacturer. By 1993, he was con- vinced that the company’s future lay with the Internet. Over the course of the next year, he found kindred spirits and used his social skill to stitch together a virtual community that cut across levels, divisions, and nations. He then used this de facto team to put up a corporate Web site, among the first by a major company. And, on his own initiative, with no budget or

formal status, he signed up the company to par- ticipate in an annual Internet industry conven- tion. Calling on his allies and persuading various divisions to donate funds, he recruited more than 50 people from a dozen different units to represent the company at the convention.

Management took notice: Within a year of the conference, the executive’s team formed the basis for the company’s first Internet divi- sion, and he was formally put in charge of it. To get there, the executive had ignored con- ventional boundaries, forging and maintain- ing connections with people in every corner of the organization.

Is social skill considered a key leadership ca- pability in most companies? The answer is yes, especially when compared with the other com- ponents of emotional intelligence. People seem to know intuitively that leaders need to manage relationships effectively; no leader is an island. After all, the leader’s task is to get work done through other people, and social skill makes that possible. A leader who cannot express her empathy may as well not have it at all. And a leader’s motivation will be useless if he cannot communicate his passion to the or- ganization. Social skill allows leaders to put their emotional intelligence to work.

It would be foolish to assert that good-old- fashioned IQ and technical ability are not im- portant ingredients in strong leadership. But the recipe would not be complete without emotional intelligence. It was once thought that the components of emotional intelli- gence were “nice to have” in business leaders. But now we know that, for the sake of perfor- mance, these are ingredients that leaders “need to have.”

It is fortunate, then, that emotional intelli- gence can be learned. The process is not easy. It takes time and, most of all, commitment. But the benefits that come from having a well- developed emotional intelligence, both for the individual and for the organization, make it worth the effort.

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Further Reading A R T I C L E S The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact by Henry Mintzberg Harvard Business Review March–April 1990 Product no. 90210

Whereas Goleman emphasizes emotional in- telligence, Mintzberg focuses on specific skills. In this HBR Classic, Mintzberg uses his and other research to debunk myths about the manager’s role. Managerial work involves in- terpersonal roles, informational roles, and de- cisional roles, he notes. These in turn require the ability to develop peer relationships, carry out negotiations, motivate subordinates, re- solve conflicts, establish information net- works and disseminate information, make de- cisions with little or ambiguous information, and allocate resources. Good self-management skills are characteristic of most leaders; out- standing leaders also have the ability to em- pathize with others and to use social skills to advance an agenda.

The Work of Leadership by Ronald A. Heifetz and Donald L. Laurie Harvard Business Review January–February 1997 Product no. 4150

Successfully leading an organization through an adaptive challenge calls for leaders with a high degree of emotional intelligence. But Heifetz and Laurie focus on the requirements of adaptive work, not on emotional maturity. The principles for leading adaptive work in- clude: “getting on the balcony,” forming a picture of the entire pattern of activity; identi- fying the key challenge; regulating distress; maintaining disciplined attention; giving the work back to the people; and protecting voices of leadership from below.

The Ways Chief Executive Officers Lead by Charles M. Farkas and Suzy Wetlaufer Harvard Business Review May–June 1996 Product no. 96303

CEOs inspire a variety of sentiments ranging from awe to wrath, but there’s little debate over CEOs’ importance in the business world. The authors conducted 160 interviews with executives around the world. Instead of find- ing 160 different approaches, they found five, each with a singular focus: strategy, people, expertise, controls, or change. The five com- ponents of emotional intelligence, singly or in combination, have a great effect on how each focus is expressed in an organization.

B O O K John P. Kotter on What Leaders Really Do by John P. Kotter Harvard Business School Press 1999 Product no. 8974

In this collection of six articles, Kotter shares his observations on the nature of leadership gained over the past 30 years. Without leader- ship that can deal successfully with today’s in- creasingly fast-moving and competitive busi- ness environment, he warns, organizations will slow down, stagnate, and lose their way. He presents his views on the current state of leadership through ten observations and re- visits his now famous eight-step process for organizational transformation. In contrast to Goleman’s article on emotional intelligence, which is about leadership qualities, Kotter’s work focuses on action: What does a leader do to lead? And how will leadership need to be different in the future?