Ayesha Tidwell, Finance Leadership Program
Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Leadership
What is Emotional Intelligence?
The ability to manage ourselves and
our relationships effectively.
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Another way to think about EI
For every action (or lack of action) there is a reaction or
consequence.
• For every interaction (or lack of interaction) there is a
reaction or consequence.
Simply put, emotional intelligence is…
Understanding the reaction or consequence
any given interaction (or lack thereof) will
produce and acting in such a way to
intentionally attain the reaction or
consequences you desire.
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Challenge #1:
IQ vs. EI
Common Assumption: I am very intelligent and my finance and
technical skills are top notch. My analytical skills are very well
developed. I don’t need emotional intelligence. Those “soft skills” won’t
matter much, especially if I am smart and my technical skills are
superior.
Reality: IQ and intelligence are important but they are threshold
capabilities, meaning they are entry level requirements for executive
positions. Emotional intelligence is the “sine qua non” of leadership.
Without it, a person can have the best training, an incisive, analytical
mind, and an endless supply of great ideas, but she/he still won’t make a
great leader.
The most effective leaders share one common trait: they all have a
high degree of emotional intelligence.
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What is Leadership?
Delivering results through people.
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Challenge #2: What if I don’t want to be a leader?
Describe a situation, professional or social, in which
emotional intelligence capabilities are not useful or
relevant for success?
• Leadership is not a prerequisite for emotional intelligence.
• Emotional intelligence is relevant to anyone living in a
society with other people.
• Emotional intelligence is a prerequisite for anyone who
wants to be an effective leader.
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Who are you drawn to?
Friends
Roommates
Parents
Teachers
Siblings
Your
Favorite
people
• Who is your most favorite
person in each category?
Coworkers
Boyfriends
Girlfriends
Coaches
Bosses
• Think about the people
you know in each
category.
• Why are they your
favorite? How do you feel
when you are with them?
• Do you see any
common traits between
all your favorite people?
• How many of the EI
components do they
possess?
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The Five Components of Emotional Intelligence
Self Awareness
Self-Regulation
Motivation
Empathy
Social Skill
The ability to
recognize and
understand your
moods, emotions,
and drives, as well
as their effect on
your performance
and others.
The ability to control
or redirect disruptive
impulses and moods.
The ability to think
before acting.
A passion for work
for reasons beyond
money or status. A
love of learning and
achievement.
The ability to
understand the
emotional make-up
of other people.
Skill in treating
people according to
their reactions.
Proficiency in
managing
relationships and
building networks. An
ability to find common
ground and build
rapport.
 Self-confidence
 Realistic selfassessment
 Self-deprecating
sense of humor
 Trustworthiness
 Integrity
 Comfort with
ambiguity
 Openness to
change
 Strong drive to
achieve
 Optimism, even
in the face of
failure
 Organizational
commitment
 Passion for
learning
 Building and
keeping strong
relationships
 Cross-cultural
sensitivity and
tolerance
 Excellent
customer
service
 Effectiveness in
accepting or
leading change
 Persuasiveness
 Expertise building
and leading teams
 Good
communication
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How does a great leader act?
Think about the great leaders you know
personally. Describe the one thing that
makes them special to you.
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Leadership Types
People
First!
Extreme
Social
Leader
Common Traits:
•Everyone’s buddy
•Avoids conflict
•Socializes with
subordinates outside
of work
•Trusted
What is wrong with
this type if used all
the time?
Come
with me
Do what
I say!
?
Extreme
Controlling
Leader
What is the
ideal type?
Authoritative Leader
Common Traits:
•Builds trust and credibility with
people
•Always working towards
attainment of business goals
Common Traits:
•Mean/no emotion
•Controlling
•Micromanager
•Inflexible
•Black & white
What is wrong
with this type if
used all
the time?
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Connection b/w EI and Performance
Individual
Productive, engaged workforce;
Contributors innovation; nimble and
adaptable; customer service a
priority; ambassadors for the
company
Think of great people
you have worked with
before. Did they
display emotional
intelligence?
Leaders
Effective; drive results; retain
people
Rudy Guliani
Colin Powell
Jack Welch
Kerry Killinger
Enterprise
EI culture impacts up to 1/3 of
financial performance* in
addition to economic conditions
and competitive dynamics
Southwest, Nucor
Steel, Walmart, Dell,
Toyota, Ebay, GE
*financial performance = return on sales, revenue growth, efficiency and profitability
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The Financial Benefits of EI
“The Wyatt consulting firm published a study in 2000, which states that significantly
improving human capital practices can create a 30 percent increase in stockholder value.”
Real
Revenue
Sustainable
Growth
Loyal
Customers
Engaged
Employees
Immediate managers are the key to engaged employees.
If your employees give you top scores to the following questions, the company is well on its way to a
engaged and productive workplace:






Do I know what is expected of me at work?
Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

Source: First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
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The Other Benefits of EI
Mastery of EI improves all relationships, hence quality of life
increases.
Dating/Marriage
Parent/Child
Community
Church/Spiritual
Teams
Professional
Siblings/Family
Volunteer
What other relationships can improve?
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Create an extraordinary life with EI
A Sample Unintentional Life:
 Parents picked school
 Parents picked major
 Not much extracurricular
involvement
 Take first job offered
 Get promoted in same job or field
 Has not moved far from home
 Marry young
 Have kids early
 Don’t travel much
 Follow directions and don’t rock the
boat
A Sample Intentional Life:
 As early as high school identified
interests, passions and future goals
 Researched and selected
school/major based on alignment
with future goals
 Researched and selected jobs
based on alignment with personal
priorities (work, life, etc.)
 Not afraid of varied and different
positions; may seek them out
 Geographic locations intentional
based on life goals
 Family plans (marriage, kids,
house) are part of master life plan
 May travel often
When you look back on your life, have you lived the life you dreamed?
Now is the time to begin your intentional, extraordinary life!
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Growing EI
•
EI can be learned
•
Take months, not days
•
You can’t go to a seminar or read a “how to” manual to learn it
•
EI is born in the neurotransmitters of the brain’s limbic system which
governs feelings, impulses, and drives
•
The limbic system learns best through motivation, extended practice
and feedback
•
EI also increases with age or maturity
•
Discover your strengths and weaknesses
•Personality tests such as Myers Briggs
•Ask for feedback
•Create a life plan outlining what you want accomplish in life and how
to achieve those goals
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WaMu’s Programs and EI
Our Broad Plan:
•
IQ and technical expertise are “threshold competencies”. A
certain level of IQ and knowledge or technical expertise is
necessary to get you in the door.
•
It is the combination of emotional intelligence and technical
knowledge that separate the star performers from the
average ones.
•
We provide planned personal development, to assure that
each Associate has the right balance of skills for future
leadership success.
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Excerpt: McCombs BBA Commencement 2004
Keynote Speaker - Herb Kelleher, the founder and
chairman of Southwest Airlines:
To be an effective, positive leader, I believe that you need, at a minimum, the
following characteristics.
1. You have to be genuinely interested in, and like, people. Show them
tolerance, patience, respect and empathy. Drown them in a tsunami of
gratitude for their marvelous works. Show them that you admire, value
and love them as individuals, rather than just as "producers." Through
word, and by deed, join in their every personal exaltation and their every
personal mishap and grief. People will respond with an esprit de corps--a
desire to perform because they want to, not because they have to. An
organization bound by love is far more powerful than one bound by fear.
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Some Related Links
Articles:
“What Makes a Leader” by Daniel Goleman
Harvard Business Review, November- December 1998
“Leadership That Gets Results” by Daniel Goleman
Harvard Business Review, March - April 2000
Books:
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman
Leadership by Rudy Giuliani
Jack Welch on Leadership by Robert Slater
NUTS! By Kevin Freiberg, Jackie Freiberg, Tom Peters
Web Resources
General Colin Powell, A Leadership Primer
http://www.blaisdell.com/powell/
Keynote Herb Kelleher at the McCombs BBA Commencement 2004
http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/news/speaker_series/kelleherspeech.asp
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Questions?
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