The most valuable business insights never become out-of-date. They retain their relevance from one generation to the next. For example, consider this brief excerpt from an article written by Daniel Goleman for Harvard Business Review (June 1996) in which he explains what distinguishes great leaders from merely good ones. It’s emotional intelligence: a group of five skills that enable the best leaders to maximize their own and their followers’ performance.

“I have found that the most effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: They all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. It’s not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They do matter, but only as “threshold capabilities”; that is, that they are entry-level requirements for executive positions. But my research, along with other recent studies, clearly shows that emotional intelligence is the sin qua non of leadership. Without it, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader.”

According to Goleman, the EI skills are:

• Self-awareness – knowing one’s strengths, weaknesses, drives, values, and impact on others

• Self-regulation – controlling or redirecting disruptive I pulses and moods

• Motivation – relishing achievement for its own sake

• Empathy – understanding other people’s emotional makeup

• Social skill – building rapport with others to move them in desired directions

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Recommended readings:

Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

Working with Emotional Intelligence

Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships

Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence, co-authored with Richard E. Boyatzis and Annie McKee

Daniel Goleman co-chairs the Consortium for Research on Emotion al Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University.