Self Awareness Critical to Leadership

In this article by Paul Power, published in the Mount Eliza Business Review and posted on the Hay Group web site, the author makes a case that self awareness, which he equates with emotional intelligence, is a must-have virtue for today's leader.   He defines emotional intelligence as, "the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and managing emotions effectively in ourselves and others."

Some ideas:

• "Leadership and Management are two sides of the coin.  The former relates to change and growth, the latter concerned with continuity and stability."
• Daniel Goleman developed the Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI), "a 360-degree tool designed to asses a leaders emotional intelligent behavior"  It consists of four qualities:

1.  Self Awareness:  emotional self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, and self-confidence

2.  Social Awareness:  emotional self-awareness, organizational awareness and self-confidence

3.  Self Management:  emotional self-control, transparency, adaptability, achievement orientation and optimism

4.  Relational Management:  influence, developing others, inspirational leadership, change catalyst, conflict management and teamwork and collaboration skills.

• Self awareness is a critical component the three of the four qualities.  The author suggests that leaders can improve their self awareness by pursuing a series of five discoveries:

1. Who am I and who do I want to be?
2. How do other people see me?  How do I come across to others?
3. What are my goals?  What is my vision for the future?
4. Am I prepared to practice things differently?
5. Who will support me on my journey?

Have you read Daniel Goleman's book, Emotional Intelligence, or Working with Emotional Intelligence?