Work and life are keeping me busy these days, so I don't have a lot of time to blog. But while doing some reading for work on strategic leadership, I came across a list of characteristics of a strong leader. One of them, emotional intelligence, is something that I strive to teach my children. And apparently it will not only make them good people, but also help them become leaders. All the better!
So what are the components of emotional intelligence?
According to Daniel Goldman (who coined the term) and Charles W.L. Hill and Gareth R. Jones (the authors of Strategic Management – An Integrated Approach), it has five components:
- Self-awareness – the ability to understand one's own moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effect on others.
- Self-regulation – the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses or moods, that is, to think before acting.
- Motivation – a passion for work that goes beyond money or status and a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence.
- Empathy – the ability to understand the feelings and viewpoints of subordinates and to take those into account when making decisions.
- Social skills – friendliness with a purpose.
Although designed for business leaders, I think this is a great wish list for parents that are trying to raise an emotionally intelligent child. When I'm not flooded with work, I'll try to write a bit more on each of these five components and what parenting strategies can be used to help our kids develop these characteristics.
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Yeah, if you ever come up with a good system for teaching this to kids with autism…please hunt me down!
I have been reading similar articles throughout the years. Here are a few that you might enjoy that further instill the notion of other types of intellect and how to nurture them in our children as well as in adults. In Oprah, 2008 there was an article that talked about how self-esteem is better reframed as self-mastery. The major contributors were Carol Dweck, Daniel Goleman and Roy Baumeister and a company called Six Seconds. Also, Edward Hallowell has written a great book, called, The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness.
Thank you for the recommended reading Maureen!
Mayer & Salevi wrote about emotional intelligence in 1990, and defined it as the ability to read, understand and work with emotions. Goleman, after getting permission from the original researchers to use the term, added traits such as extroversion and optimism to EI – and popularized the term in his book. Research on the more narrow concept of emotional intelligence has linked it to success in job interviews and academic achievement, even for students in impoverished environments.
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