Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence: Selected Writings
Daniel Goleman
More Than Sound (2011)
How leaders can “help people to get and stay in the brain zone [flow] where they can work at their Best”
What we have in this volume are nine essays, accompanied by an Appendix in which Goleman briefly shares new insights with regard to several leadership competencies previously discussed in one of his books, Primal Leadership (March 15, 2002): self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need leadership at all levels and in all areas. If viewed as “gardeners,” C-level executives should have a “green thumb” that enables them to “grow” leaders for all those levels and areas. The aforementioned core competencies will provide a framework for that immensely important process.
As I completed my reading of this book, I was again reminded of my favorite passage in Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching:
“Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves.”
Therein lies the power of emotional intelligence and anyone is capable of developing it and then continuously strengthening it. For those preparing for a career in business or have only recently embarked on, and who aspire to become leaders, this book is a “must read” — as is its companion volume, The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights, both published by More Than Sound (2011). I also highly recommend the aforementioned Primal Leadership as well as LEADERSHIP: A Master Class, a set of nine DVDs which provide Daniel Goleman’s one-on-one conversations with several “masters” of thought leadership: Daniel J. Siegel (“The Leader’s Mind”), Warren Bennis (The Socially Intelligent Leader”), Erica Ariel Fox (“Getting Beyond Yes”), Claudio Fernández-Aråoz (“Talent Strategy”), Bill George (“Authentic Leadership”), Teresa Amabile (“Create to Innovate”), Howard Gardner (“Today’s Leadership Imperative”), and George Kohlrieser (“High Performance Leadership”).