Leadership has become a subject of numerous inspirational articles, books, and psychological training. One such work is the article of Daniel Goleman named What Makes a Leader? The central idea of this outstanding paper is that the level of IQ and technical skills will not necessarily help in becoming a leader; what matters is having what the author has introduced as emotional intelligence. Goleman claims that this trait is twice as important as IQ, various skills, critical thinking, and training. It can assist in becoming a leader, improving one’s performance, and leading one’s company to success. Emotional intelligence comprises five key elements – self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, motivation, and social skill (Goleman, 2004), and they all are of equal significance.
The author provides a clear definition of the constituents of the primary character trait of leaders and draws examples of their application in everyday life, work, and their role in becoming a leader. The first constituent of emotional intelligence is self-awareness. It means that an individual is realistic about his/her emotions, weaknesses, strengths, and needs. Self-aware people never think of themselves too seriously. What this feature is beneficial for is, for example, filling the vacancy of your dream because you will easily determine your strong and weak sides and your goals that will assist in choosing the position and climbing the career ladder.
The next element is self-regulation. This trait should be developed to become free of one’s feelings and emotions, especially negative ones. Such people do not panic when the change is approaching; they are open to accept it and take the maximum out of it. The ability of self-regulation cannot be underestimated when working with people because it is a perfect tool for keeping the atmosphere of friendship in a team and avoiding unnecessary conflicts.
Motivation is another trait of emotionally intelligent people. It is a drive towards achieving a goal and, in fact, without motivation, it is impossible to live. What is also special about such individuals is that they never give up, are optimistic, and keep track of the results of their activities. The next constituent is empathy. It is about understanding the feelings of other people and treating them following their emotional state. This trait is vital for guaranteeing an atmosphere of openness and trustworthiness in a team. Finally, the feature of emotionally intelligent people is a social skill that comes down to the ability to build new networks and managing existing relationships (Goleman, 2004).
The article embraces the concept of leadership that was covered in the class. It focuses on the characteristics of leadership and, to a certain extent, on its effectiveness. Moreover, it stresses the traits of a true leader. It should be noted that the approach to leadership developed by Goleman is mentioned in the book as one of the ways to defining the effectiveness of leadership together with the alternative Big Five model designed by Goldberg (Carpenter, Bauer & Erdogan, 2010).
Reading the article made me think about improving my performance and life as a whole. I believe that the ideas presented by Goleman can be applied not only to becoming a leader but also to improving the quality of life. I also thought about my employer, Foster Care, and how the article could be used in my organization. First of all, what I see in my current employer is the motivation to change the world for the better and help little children who need families and empathy. In addition to it, the management of Foster Care is characterized by social skills because it is crucial when working with people. There are still ways to improve, however, developing the skills of self-awareness and self-regulation. That is why I think the information from the article can be used for improving the performance of my current employer. I do not want to mention becoming about the leader in the industry because I believe that running an adoption agency is not about leadership, but about changing lives.
References
Carpenter, M., Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2010). Principles of management. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. Web.
Goleman, D. (2004). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, 82(1), 82-91. Web.