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leaders: emotional intelligence
do leaders experience emotions?
some would say that leaders are required to have little or no emotions so that they can react to situations and make decisions quicker with-out the need to consider how they feel about a situation, so that they may make quicker decisions that could, effectively, change the outcome of a decision to the point of saving lives.
some would say having little or no emotions is cold-hearted, but it has been getting us by in the world so far, albeit some would say emotions are required for everyone, but the leaders of our world would either not be aware they have little or no emotions, or be aware of it and deny that functional part of their mind.
on the other side, it is almost impossible to say what the world would be like if everyone was in touch with their emotions.
would it be riskier to put someone in charge who is highly emotionally charged?
do leaders have time-out where they explore their emotions? should they?
Niklas Schulze
Your question shows that you have no meaning for a larger group of people.
Morgan Barnes
griffin tucker 10+
Morgan Barnes
griffin tucker 10+
Morgan Barnes
Take Care.
Morgan
griffin tucker 10+
seeya around.
-griffin.
David Hamilton 50+
The history of leadership is one of stoicism, suppressing emotion. A leader must be as emotionless, and quick witted as possible when making decisions on a battlefield or else lives will be lost. Dr. Ghaemi makes the argument, however, that the truly great leaders are completely incapable of doing this... so they fake it.
The fractured, depressed, ranting, ebrasive comments in the journals of many of the worlds greatest leaders, would sound like absolute madness to the people surrounding them, at the time they were written. He in essence, even picks a disease, that he thinks makes the absolutely perfect leader, especially in times of great distress, bi-polar disorder.
When in the manic phase, people with bipolar disorder are capable of maintaining a steely gaze, an air of confidence, and strength in even the most desperate of situations... Then they go to a room in the dark, sit alone... and destroy themselves... It was a very compelling read.
“When our world is in tumult, mentally ill leaders function best.” Or: “In the storm of crisis, complete sanity can steer us astray, while some insanity brings us to port.”
“The best crisis leaders are either mentally ill or mentally abnormal; the worst crisis leaders are mentally healthy.”
Dr. Ghaemi also goes on to suggest that, for example, in his studies of Tony Blair, and George Bush, he found nowhere near as much regret, shame, empathy, or sadness, as one would expect. Even in private writings and conversations, they still see to think they did okay.
griffin tucker 10+
thank-you very much for this post, it is extremely relevant and interesting.
griffin tucker 10+
EDIT: just changed the original post to say emotions rather than emotional intelligence.
Eric Henry
It may be less necessary to get stakeholder buy-in, see who the influencers are, and change minds within the organization a person leads (e.g. CEOs with manufacturing staff, mid-level management, and process champions) than it is to use this trait interacting with those in other organizations (e.g. CEOs with stock analysts, government regulators, and new media).
John Allyn
James Zhang 30+
"Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Various models and definitions have been proposed of which the ability and trait EI models are the most widely accepted in the scientific literature. Ability EI is usually measured using maximum performance tests and has stronger relationships with traditional intelligence, whereas trait EI is usually measured using self-report questionnaires and has stronger relationships with personality. Criticisms have centered on whether the construct is a real intelligence and whether it has incremental validity over IQ and the Big Five personality dimensions."
John Allyn
Salim Solaiman 50+
Another thing heard being on discussion for leaders is AQ i.e. Adversity Quotient.....
Sebastian Helenius
My theory is that the characters often portrayed as 'gods' long ago in history were leaders of immense emotional intelligence with far superior levels of empathy to that which we are able to recognize today.
I feel that you are, at heart, an optimistic entity. I also pray that soon we see the return of one or several of these 'gods' to conjure up some magic for the human species to witness. World peace in the blink of an eye, perhaps?
James Zhang 30+
John Allyn
Fritzie Reisner 100+
James Zhang 30+
James Zhang 30+
I think EQ can be a very powerful tool to lead people. But it also depends on the context of the circumstances, and the audience.