Working with Emotional Intelligence.

Goleman, Daniel. Bantam Books, Random House Publishers, New York, 1998.

Reviewed by Milan Shipka, WELD program.

According to Goleman, the single most important factor in success as a leader in the workplace is emotional intelligence.  Furthermore, emotional intelligence accounts for far more than technical intelligence in determining whether individuals in leadership positions will become "rising stars" or simply achieve mediocre results in the workplace.

Emotional intelligence consists of a learned set of competencies that determine how we interact with people.  These competencies fall into two broad categories, personal and social competencies.  The first broad category, personal competencies, includes self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation.  Within these three areas of personal competencies are many sub-competencies.  From my point of view, the most important sub-competencies include accurate self-assessment, trustworthiness, adaptability, initiative, and optimism.  The second broad category, social competencies, includes empathy and social skills.  Again, like personal competencies, the categories in social competencies include numerous sub-competencies.  From my point of view, the most important sub-competencies include understanding others, developing others, service orientation, communication, and team capabilities.

I have stated sub-competencies that I view as important.  Other readers may identify with other sub-competencies and rank importance of each differently.  Regardless of the ranking the reader defines, two important points are brought out in this book.  First, all competencies can be learned with practice and attention to the details of each competency.  Second, based on occupational psychological research, the most successful leaders display well developed skill in at least six of the sub-competencies spread across the two broad categories.  Skill in greater than six sub-competencies is generally indicative of greater leadership success.

This is a good book and brings home things that are at least partly common sense.  The drawback is that Goleman goes on and on and on... with repetitive examples.  At times, I had to fight off frustration at wanting the author to "just get on with it"!  Nevertheless, I recommend Working with Emotional Intelligence as a book that will help you examine your people skills and your ability to apply those skills in your own leadership endeavors.