Emotional Intelligence Has 12 Elements. Which Do You Need to Work On?

There are many models of emotional intelligence, each with its own set of abilities; they are often lumped together as “EQ” in the popular vernacular. We prefer “EI,” which we define as comprising four domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Nested within each domain are twelve EI competencies, learned and learnable capabilities that allow outstanding performance at work or as a leader.

Daniel Goleman

Keep in mind the distinction between a threshold competence and a distinguishing one. A threshold skill means everyone must meet this criterion just to be considered for a job. […] After that, though, are distinguishing competencies, the skills or abilities that you find in star performers in an organization but not in those who are mediocre – those just good enough to keep their job. … [ Read more ]

Daniel Goleman

An organization’s strategy represents the desired pattern of organizational attention, on which everyone should share a degree of focus, each in their particular way. A given strategy makes choices about what to ignore and what matters: Market share or profit? Current competitors or potential ones? Which new technologies? When leaders choose strategy, they are guiding attention.

The Well-Focused Leader

Directing attention where it needs to go is a primal task of leadership. Below, Daniel Goleman considers how leadership hinges on capturing and directing the collective attention, and argues that new strategy means reorienting from business as usual to a fresh focus.

What People Analytics Can’t Capture

Many businesses are reaping rewards from big data analytics. But there are also some areas of disappointment. Experts caution that big data, like any other, is only as good as the questions being asked – and that some algorithms can make unhelpful assumptions.

Daniel Goleman

The bedrock of character is self-discipline; the virtuous life, as philosophers since Aristotle have observed, is based on self-control. A related keystone of character is being able to motivate and guide oneself, whether in doing homework, finishing a job, or getting up in the morning. And, as we have seen, the ability to defer gratification and to control and channel one’s urges to act is … [ Read more ]

Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor

In Transparency, the authors – a powerhouse trio in the field of leadership – look at what conspires against “a culture of candor” in organizations to create disastrous results, and suggest ways that leaders can achieve healthy and honest openness. They explore the lightning-rod concept of “transparency” – which has fast become the buzzword not only in business and corporate settings but in government and … [ Read more ]

Tea and Empathy with Daniel Goleman

The author of Emotional Intelligence says business leaders will need greater interpersonal awareness in an era of corporate transparency.

Daniel Goleman

The GMAT is a surrogate of IQ because it measures analytic abilities. Getting in the 90th percentile positions you for a career platform that starts out at a very high level. But, everyone else on that career platform has similar cognitive aptitudes. There’s very little to distinguish you on an intellectual basis. The other aptitudes turn out to matter more for real-world success, because there … [ Read more ]

Business: The Ultimate Resource

This book is an ambitiously conceived and fully realized one-volume encyclopedia of business. It includes over 150 best practice essays written by topic experts, several hundred management and action checklists, summaries of seventy seminal business, bios of business greats, a business dictionary, a world business almanac, and an extensive topic-based listing of additional information sources (books, magazines, Internet, and associations).

Leading Resonant Teams

Leader to Leader talks to Daniel Goleman about resonant and dissonant leadership and about the 6 leadership styles (visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetter, commanding)