Recently, I’ve received two separate requests (a company and a professional association) to develop workshops around cultivating emotionally intelligent leadership. It has been exciting to immerse myself in this learning and make connections to other work.
Daniel Goleman developed the initial work on emotional intelligence, which emerged from a series of articles he wrote as a science writer for the New York Times. Goleman developed the idea of emotional intelligence and continues to be a leading scholar. His initial book Emotional Intelligence is the original for much of this work, but at this point is a bit dated with a publication date of 1995.
Goleman’s work is active and still valuable and he is a great follow on LinkedIn. This video below is a more recent reflection of his work.
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is a newer accessible book for busy leaders who are looking to learn about the basics of emotional intelligence. It’s a quick overview with lots of quick suggestions for developing your emotional intelligence. If you purchase the book, you get a quick self-reported assessment that offers you some baseline information. I found this helpful in keeping the topic simple but not so helpful diving in deep to the concept of emotional intelligence or how to develop it.
Even though Brené Brown doesn’t use the term emotional intelligence, her newest book Dare to Lead is full of powerful insights into the importance of human connection in leading organizations. She has many wonderful suggestions for how to cultivate our emotional intelligence. Dare to Lead is a great summary of the best from Brené Brown’s other books compiled specifically for leaders of all kind of organizations. A wonderful, powerful, useful read.
I read this years ago and re-read it again for this project. Emotionally Intelligent Leadership is a book to develop emotionally intelligent leadership for students. This book uses the three domains of Consciousness of Self, Consciousness of Other, and Consciousness of Context. It is co-authored by my friend and colleague Paige Haber-Curran, who was kind enough to join me, Mamta Accapadi, and Marilee Bresciani Ludvik for this Student Affairs Live episode on Emotionally Intelligence in Leadership and Social Justice.
Emotional intelligence is not a complicated concept. Although these scholars frame it slightly differently or use slightly different language, I see it as the four quadrants at the intersections of self and relationships and awareness and management: Self Awareness, Self Management, Relationship Awareness, and Relationship Management. I’m eager for these opportunities to engage leaders in intentional activities grounded in science to help them cultivate their emotional intelligence.
This learning and content development will allow me to offer a new Toward Thriving Series of keynotes or interactive workshops on applying neuroscience and positive psychology, mindful leadership, and emotional intelligence for leaders of all kinds.
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