Leadership: Social Intelligence And The Biology Of Leadership

Psychologist Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence outlines five areas essential to achieving a high level of emotional intelligence (EQ): self-awareness, self-regulation, social skill, empathy, and motivation (George, 2015). Possessing a high EQ is invaluable as it allows individuals to connect with others on an interpersonal and emotional level rather than in a strictly intellectual matter. However, EQ and IQ are not mutually exclusive, instead, it is essential for both to be joined together to achieve an optimal level of leadership. Leaders who lack EQ and lead only with their intellect tend to dismiss the opinions of others and dominate decision making (George, 2015). Such leaders have the tendency to surround themselves with subordinates who are complacent and submissive. As a result,

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

The text book also talks about that we need to recognize the important of interactions among leaders, followers, and the situation, in order to better understand the process of leadership. Indeed, interviewee underlines the importance of situation as well as the relationship between leaders and followers, in leadership, and said that leaders need to observe and analysis the situation as well as understand followers’ attitudes and

The theme of leadership in the ward does not mirror the outside world very accurately, as in contemporary society a leader of a society or an organisation is almost always accountable to a person senior to him. This is not seen in the novel, as Big Nurse seems to be answerable to no one, in fact, it is arguable that everyone answers to her. A hierarchy or class system operates inside the ward which can be clearly seen throughout the course of the novel. Patients living within the ward are ‘classed’ according to the state of their mental health or to the condition of which they suffer from. Chief describes the method of discriminating patients from

Waldman, D. A., P. A. Balthazard and S. J. Peterson: 2011b, 'Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Leadership', The Leadership Quarterly 22(6),

Throughout time the question of “ Are leaders born or made?” continues to be debated. This question has been part of several myths that try to explain what makes a person a leader. According to the trait approach theory, it sets a benchmark for what certain traits an individual must possess in order to make them a leader. Before leadership traits were considered innate. However, as time has progressed research has indicated that situations differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Therefore, an individual does not possess certain traits, rather it is the relationship between the person and its society that make him/her leader. All leaders must have a set of skills that help them lead subordinates to reach an overall vision. A vision must originate from both the leader and its followers, and it is the leader's job to articulate the vision. Furthermore, leaders demonstrate the capacity to lead their followers and

Our text book offers another interesting point that supports Mrs. McKnight’s insights. The text book says that mental intelligence will get you into a management position but it stops being helpful after entry into that position. A leader needs to have good emotional intelligence to continue to lead. Self awareness has to do with my purpose and I am working towards finding that in this class. I know that I worry about how other people perceive me but I do not think that is the same thing as recognizing it, which is social awareness. I think that I will have to spend some time mastering the first two elements of emotional intelligence before I can work on self regulation. I do not know how I can stick to a path and make corrections to get back to it, until I have established a clear path.

As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.

Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex

The topic of leadership is historically one of the most widely researched when it comes to explorations of organizational behavior. The success of any institution or organization is pegged on the quality of its leadership because it is the determining factor on the pattern and speed at which it achieves its growth goals. Leaders are responsible for steering an organization toward its goal by mobilizing resources (both human and material) and maximizing their efficiency. The key deliverables for many leaders include employee well-being, teamwork, adherence to organizational processes and procedures, innovation, crisis

Be, Know and Do, these three words are known by all NCOs in the Army, they represent the characteristics of an effective leader. From these three words also come the three leader`s attribute of character, present and intellect. As a leader I possess all three but intellect is my strongest attribute. A leader with intellectual capacity possess mental agility, sound judgement, innovation, interpersonal tact and domain knowledge according to the Leadership Requirements Model in ADP 6-22. All these 5 categories make the conceptual components of a leader`s intellect. As a leader in today`s Army I use the conceptual components every day to lead my Soldier and solve problems to accomplish my mission.

In Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership, Boyatzis and Goleman provide the biological evidence that supports their theory that social intelligence is a set of interpersonal competencies that are required in order to be an effective leader. Their support for their theory is derived from research completed by neuroscientists who have determined that the action of certain of neurons in the brain; specifically mirror neurons, spindle cells, and oscillators, show that positive behaviour exhibited by a leader will without doubt be mirrored by subordinates. Boyatzis and Goleman briefly look at the effect gender and stress might have on social intelligence, while also outlining their idea of the seven major qualities of a social intelligent leader. Throughout the article, it is stated that social intelligence is something that not only occurs naturally in select individuals, but with hard work and persistence it may be obtained through changes made to the behaviours of any leader.

“The greater a leader’s skill at transmitting emotions, the more forcefully the emotions will spread. Such transmission does not depend on theatrics, of course, since people place close attention to a leader, even subtle expressions of emotion can have great impact” (Goleman, et. al, 2002, para. 3). As

Countless times leaders operate on instinct that has grown from what they have seen in the past. What leaders see others do sets the stage for what they may do in the future. A leader of sound character will exhibit that character at all times.” (p. 7-13)

Leadership is about the interaction between the leader, the followers and the situation (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p. 15-26). If a given situation changes, the interaction between the leaders and followers can change dramatically. The leaders who understand well this interaction have a huge advantage because leaders are able to: