Emotional Intelligence does not necessarily equal success.
There has been a lot written over the past several years on emotional intelligence (i.e. understanding and managing yourself and others). It has been assumed that high emotional intelligence equals success in leadership. My experience has shown me that this is not necessarily the case. People with low emotional intelligence are sometimes successful leaders. People with high emotional intelligence can be unsuccessful leaders. What then is the magic to leadership success and how much of a role does emotional intelligence play?
First let's define emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence (EI), often measured as an Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), describes an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensive entry on EI.
Daniel Goleman outlines the following four competencies of emotional intelligence: 1. Self Awareness 2. Social Awareness 3. Self Management 4. Relationship Management
In short EI is, "How well you understand and manage yourself and how well you understand and manage others". If you manage yourself and others well, you have high emotional intelligence. When you think about this, it seems that high emotional intelligence should drive leadership success. In my experience it does not (not that high EI is not a good thing to have in and of itself - it is).
What is the magic? The magic is a combination of three things: the situation, edge and EI.
Successful leadership is a balance.
Situation -- situation drives how much EI vs edge you need and drives "luck". You need more edge in a turnaround situation than you do when you are taking over for a beloved leader. If you come after the "beloved leader" you need a lot more EI than edge. Where does luck come in? Most people who have had success know that some of it is due to being in the right place at the right time. You take on a leadership role and the economy is in an upswing, yes, you are good but it is easier than when you start in a downturn.
Edge -- Leadership is lonely at times. Edge is your ability to take a position that is not popular with everyone and to stay the course. Edge is your ability to deliver tough messages even if it is difficult. Edge is an unrelenting focus on results. Great leaders have this focus. They have it with at least some emotional intelligence.
High emotional intelligence will drive how much people like working with you. However, if everyone likes you, you are probably not a leader. Leadership is about making changes and about pushing people and organizations to do something new - by its very nature, this causes some discomfort and conflict.
I have also come across a lot of leaders who are highly successful without high EI. They are great on edge. Many people don't enjoy working for them but the organization thrives. Are they as good as they could be? No but they are successful.
In my experience, the really great leaders have relatively high emotional intelligence and relatively high edge and they understand how to shift the balance to suit the situation. The balance of these two depends upon what the situation calls for. A little luck is also helpful.
