Business leaders who maintain that emotions are best kept out of the work environment do so at their organization's peril. Bestselling author Daniel Goleman's theories on emotional intelligence (EI) have radically altered common understanding of what "being smart" entails, and in Primal Leadership, he and his coauthors present the case for cultivating emotionally intelligent leaders. Since the actions of the leader apparently account for up to 70 percent of employees' perception of the climate of their organization, Goleman and his team emphasize the importance of developing what they term "resonant leadership." Focusing on the four domains of emotional intelligence--self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management--they explore what contributes to and detracts from resonant leadership, and how the development of these four EI competencies spawns different leadership styles. The best leaders maintain a style repertoire, switching easily between "visionary," "coaching," "affiliative," and "democratic," and making rare use of less effective "pace-setting" and "commanding" styles. The authors' discussion of these methods is informed by research on the workplace climates engendered by the leadership styles of more than 3,870 executives. Indeed, the experiences of leaders in a wide range of work environments lend real-life examples to much of the advice Goleman et al. offer, from developing the motivation to change and creating an improvement plan based on learning rather than performance outcomes, to experimenting with new behaviors and nurturing supportive relationships that encourage change and growth. The book's final section takes the personal process of developing resonant leadership and applies it to the entire organizational culture. --S. Ketchum


From Publishers Weekly
"The fundamental task of leaders... is to prime good feeling in those they lead. That occurs when a leader creates resonance a reservoir of positivity that unleashes the best in people. At its root, then, the primal job of leadership is emotional." So argue Goleman (Emotional Intelligence) and EI (emotional intelligence) experts Boyatzis and McKee. They use the word "primal" not only in its original sense, but also to stress that making employees feel good (i.e., inspired and empowered) is the job a leader should do first. To prove that the need to lead and to respond to leadership is innate, the authors cite numerous biological studies of how people learn and react to situations (e.g., an executive's use of innate self-awareness helps her to be open to criticism). And to demonstrate the importance of emotion to leadership, they note countless examples of different types of leaders in similar situations, and point out that the ones who get their employees emotionally engaged accomplish far more. Perhaps most intriguing is the brief appendix, where the authors compare the importance of IQ and EI in determining a leader's effectiveness. Their conclusion that EI is more important isn't surprising, but their reasoning is. Since one has to be fairly smart to be a senior manager, IQ among top managers doesn't vary widely. However, EI does. Thus, the authors argue, those managers with higher EI will be more successful. (Mar. 11)Forecast: Goleman already has a legion of fans from his early books on EI. His publisher is banking on his fame; the house has planned a $250,000 campaign and a 100,000 first printing.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Goleman (Emotional Intelligence) teams with Richard E. Boyatzis (Weatherhead Sch. of Management, Case Western Reserve) and Annie McKee (Management Development Services, North America, Hay Group) to focus on the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and successful leadership. The authors define EI as handling one's emotions well when dealing with others and go on to describe how EI makes good leaders. Throughout, the authors talk about leaders exhibiting "resonance," defined as bringing out the best in people by being positive about their emotions, and "dissonance," defined as bringing out the worst in people by undermining their emotions. The book is arranged in three sections, with the first section describing the characteristics of resonant and dissonant leadership as well as the four dimensions of EI, which are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. This section also describes the different types of leadership styles, such as visionary, coaching, and commanding. The second section outlines the steps one needs to take to become a more positive leader, and the third section discusses how to use these newfound skills to build a better organization. Real-life leadership stories are provided throughout. Recommended for public, corporate, and academic libraries. Stacey Marien, American Univ., Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Goleman's groundbreaking work on emotional intelligence is the basis for the audio's message: Leaders do best when they stay emotionally connected to the realities of their business and to their team's personal goals and needs. Vivid examples from the authors' consulting practice make the program move along quickly. These stories support insights that will be critical for complex organizations to survive the shortcomings of the command-and-control leadership culture. Going beyond academic thinking, the authors offer many suggestions on how to apply their ideas to various companies with different needs and internalized histories. Paced here for easy comprehension, the audio is a reminder that all team efforts are more effective when every person on the team is respected and guided with informed authority. T.W. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
"Great leaders move us, . . . ignite passion, and inspire the best in us"--so the authors offer as the premise of this provocative book. In and of itself, this assertion is hardly groundbreaking. The book distinguishes itself by departing from ho-hum leadership treatises to put forth a winning concept the authors call emotional intelligence, which is defined as the ability to handle our emotions and our relationships in a positive way. Goleman is a researcher and author of the best-selling Emotional Intelligence (1995); Richard Boyatzis is a professor of management; and the third coauthor, Annie McKee, is a graduate-level education instructor. Drawing on their own field observations as well as research into brain functioning and chemistry, the authors demonstrate the connection between emotional intelligence and leadership. Leaders, in their estimation, can and must drive their organizations by using positive emotions. Basically speaking, people want to work for those who exude upbeat feelings. Conversely, "the power of toxic leadership to poison the emotional climate of a workplace" is considerable. Well-written, intelligent, approachable, and stimulating business books have a way of sneaking onto best-seller lists. This one just might do exactly that. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Daniel Goleman's international bestseller Emotional Intelligence forever changed our concept of "being smart," showing how emotional intelligence (EI)-how we handle ourselves and our relationships-can determine life success more than IQ. Then, Working with Emotional Intelligence revealed how stellar career performance also depends on EI. Now, Goleman teams with renowned EI researchers Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee to explore the role of emotional intelligence in leadership. Unveiling neuroscientific links between organizational success or failure and "primal leadership," the authors argue that a leader's emotions are contagious. If a leader resonates energy and enthusiasm, an organization thrives; if a leader spreads negativity and dissonance, it flounders. This breakthrough concept charges leaders with driving emotions in the right direction to have a positive impact on earnings or strategy. Drawing from decades of analysis within world-class organizations, the authors show that resonant leaders-whether CEOs or managers, coaches or politicians-excel not just through skill and smarts, but by connecting with others using EI competencies like empathy and self-awareness. And they employ up to six leadership styles-from visionary to coaching to pacesetting-fluidly interchanging them as the situation demands. The authors identify a proven process through which leaders can learn to: · Assess, develop, and sustain personal EI competencies over time · Inspire and motivate people · Cultivate resonant leadership throughout teams and organizations · Leverage resonance to increase bottom-line performance The book no leader in any walk of life can afford to miss, this unforgettable work transforms the art of leadership into the science of results. Authors: Daniel Goleman is Codirector of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University. Richard Boyatzis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Annie McKee serves on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and consults to business and organization leaders worldwide.


Book Info
Focusing on the four domains of emotional intelligence-self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management-they explore what contributes to and detracts from resonant leadership, and how the development of these four EI competencies spawns different leadership styles.


From the Author
By, Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee We started to write a book about leadership, resonance and emotional intelligence. We ended up living it for the past two years with each other. The three of us have been studying emotional intelligence competencies and consulting with executives for decades on how to excel as leaders. As the ideas and experiences were brought together, we found an excitement that was contagious. It was fun. And it was contagious to others around us. That is the point of the book. Great leaders move us by creating a resonance with others. Mayor Guiliani did not win widespread acclaim because he broadcast the financial impact of the September 11th disaster. He spoke to our hearts and our need to believe in each other and he struck a resonant chord in many all over the world. Each person's emotional intelligence feeds this resonance like banging on a drum louder and louder and setting off vibrations in other drums nearby. In the book we trace the neural circuitry that drives the actions known as emotional intelligence and their link to outstanding performance in many types of organizations. Just as you begin to wonder if this is genetically determined, we offer evidence on years of longitudinal studies showing that people can develop these competencies. The process of improving one's emotional intelligence is described with stories of people who have done it- people who have sustained the improvements for seven years following beginning the process. Leaders can use these steps and their own emotional intelligence to create this resonance in teams and organizational cultures. The effect is that others get excited and do things they had not thought possible previously. We hope you can join us in this excitement. We hope that the ideas and examples in the book create a resonance in you, the reader. Then you can lead others in discovering how people can use their collective talent to build effective and meaningful teams, organizations, and families.


About the Author
Daniel Goleman is Co-Director of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University. Richard Boyatzis is Professor of Organizational Behavior and Chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Annie McKee is Director of Management Development Services, North America, at the Hay Group.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Daniel Goleman's international bestseller Emotional Intelligence forever changed our concept of "being smart," showing how emotional intelligence (EI)-how we handle ourselves and our relationships-can determine life success more than IQ. Then, Working with Emotional Intelligence revealed how stellar career performance also depends on EI.

Now, Goleman teams with renowned EI researchers Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee to explore the role of emotional intelligence in leadership. Unveiling neuroscientific links between organizational success or failure and "primal leadership," the authors argue that a leader's emotions are contagious. If a leader resonates energy and enthusiasm, an organization thrives; if a leader spreads negativity and dissonance, it flounders. This breakthrough concept charges leaders with driving emotions in the right direction to have a positive impact on earnings or strategy.

Drawing from decades of analysis within world-class organizations, the authors show that resonant leaders-whether CEOs or managers, coaches or politicians-excel not just through skill and smarts, but by connecting with others using EI competencies like empathy and self-awareness. And they employ up to six leadership styles-from visionary to coaching to pacesetting-fluidly interchanging them as the situation demands.

The authors identify a proven process through which leaders can learn to:

￯﾿ﾽ Assess, develop, and sustain personal EI competencies over time

￯﾿ﾽ Inspire and motivate people

￯﾿ﾽ Cultivate resonant leadership throughout teams and organizations

￯﾿ﾽ Leverage resonance to increase bottom-line performance

The book no leader in any walk of life can afford to miss, this unforgettable work transforms the art of leadership into the science of results.

SYNOPSIS

Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

By Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee

For every suicide bomber on September 11th or executive at Enron, there are hundreds of leaders like Rudi Guiliani, Oprah Winfrey, Niall Fitzgerald, Keki Dadiseth, and Antony Burgmans of Unilever, Monica Sharma of the United Nations, James Staley of Roadway, and John Lauer of Oglebay Norton. They help us elevate the human spirit and make society, our organizations, our families, and lives better. They do it by using their emotional intelligence to create an atmosphere in which people want to do and be their best.

We wrote this book to help reverse the alarming trend of only seeing the examples of the lack of emotional intelligence and the havoc it imposes in our lives and society that bombard us daily. Based on decades of research and consulting to executives and organizations, we sought to explain the links between outstanding leaders and their emotional intelligence.

There are three major points in this book. First, great leaders move us. They do it by creating a resonance with our emotions and a shared desire to be a part of something effective and meaningful. They are emotionally intelligent, and their emotional intelligence is driven by neural circuits and emerges in clearly observable actions. It is through leadership styles based on emotional intelligent acts that enable them to establish this resonance with others. Second, people can develop these competencies. Based on a series of longitudinal studies, the process by which adults can significantly improve their emotional intelligence is described with many examples. These are exciting results. People have not only been shown to sustain these improvement seven years later, but also continue to grow and develop years after beginning the process. Third, leaders at all levels in organizations can create resonant teams and cultures that breed emotional intelligence and the best in others.

We hope you find the story as exciting as it has been for us in working with others and making these discoveries. Being a part of the creative and energizing process of people becoming leaders is a source of hope. And we all need more of that these days.

FROM THE CRITICS

USA Today

Now, here is a concept that every new (and old) boss should take to heart: The duty of a leader is to prime positive feelings in workers..... clear, concise writing style is helpful in explaining complex processes in easy-to-understand language....Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee have turned a difficult trick: attacking a tired subject in an invigorating way.

Publishers Weekly

"The fundamental task of leaders... is to prime good feeling in those they lead. That occurs when a leader creates resonance a reservoir of positivity that unleashes the best in people. At its root, then, the primal job of leadership is emotional." So argue Goleman (Emotional Intelligence) and EI (emotional intelligence) experts Boyatzis and McKee. They use the word "primal" not only in its original sense, but also to stress that making employees feel good (i.e., inspired and empowered) is the job a leader should do first. To prove that the need to lead and to respond to leadership is innate, the authors cite numerous biological studies of how people learn and react to situations (e.g., an executive's use of innate self-awareness helps her to be open to criticism). And to demonstrate the importance of emotion to leadership, they note countless examples of different types of leaders in similar situations, and point out that the ones who get their employees emotionally engaged accomplish far more. Perhaps most intriguing is the brief appendix, where the authors compare the importance of IQ and EI in determining a leader's effectiveness. Their conclusion that EI is more important isn't surprising, but their reasoning is. Since one has to be fairly smart to be a senior manager, IQ among top managers doesn't vary widely. However, EI does. Thus, the authors argue, those managers with higher EI will be more successful. (Mar. 11) Forecast: Goleman already has a legion of fans from his early books on EI. His publisher is banking on his fame; the house has planned a $250,000 campaign and a 100,000 first printing. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Goleman (Emotional Intelligence) teams with Richard E. Boyatzis (Weatherhead Sch. of Management, Case Western Reserve) and Annie McKee (Management Development Services, North America, Hay Group) to focus on the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and successful leadership. The authors define EI as handling one's emotions well when dealing with others and go on to describe how EI makes good leaders. Throughout, the authors talk about leaders exhibiting "resonance," defined as bringing out the best in people by being positive about their emotions, and "dissonance," defined as bringing out the worst in people by undermining their emotions. The book is arranged in three sections, with the first section describing the characteristics of resonant and dissonant leadership as well as the four dimensions of EI, which are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. This section also describes the different types of leadership styles, such as visionary, coaching, and commanding. The second section outlines the steps one needs to take to become a more positive leader, and the third section discusses how to use these newfound skills to build a better organization. Real-life leadership stories are provided throughout. Recommended for public, corporate, and academic libraries. Stacey Marien, American Univ., Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Goleman (emotional intelligence in organizations, Rutgers U.) Richard Joyatzis (organizational behavior, Case Western Reserve U.) and Annie McKee (education, U. of Pennsylvania) explain how successful leaders use a reservoir of positivity to stimulate good feeling in those they lead. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Great leaders move us. They ignite our passion and inspire the best in us. When we try to explain why they are so effective, we speak of strategy, vision, or powerful ideas. But the reality is much more primal: Great leadership works through the emotions.

The authors of Primal Leadership write that humankind's original leaders earned their place because their leadership was emotionally compelling. In the modern organization, this primordial emotional task remains. Leaders must drive the collective emotions in a positive direction and clear the smog created by toxic emotions, whether it is on the shop floor or in the boardroom.

When leaders drive emotions positively, they bring out everyone's best. When they drive emotions negatively, they spawn dissonance, undermining the emotional foundations that let people shine. The authors of Primal Leadership explain that the key to making primal leadership work to everyone's advantage lies in the leadership competencies of emotional intelligence; how leaders handle themselves and their relationships. Leaders who exercise primal leadership drive the emotions of those they lead in the right direction.

Matters of the Heart and Mind
Gifted leadership occurs where heart and head - feeling and thought - meet. These are the two things that allow a leader to soar. The authors write that all leaders need enough intellect to handle the tasks and challenges at hand. However, intellect alone won't make a leader. Leaders execute a vision by motivating, guiding, inspiring, listening, persuading, and creating resonance. As a result, the manner in which leaders act - not just what they do, but how they do it - is a fundamental key to effective leadership. The reason lies in the design of the human brain.

The brain is an open loop. The authors explore how we rely on connections with other people for our emotional stability. Scientists describe the open-loop system as "interpersonal limbic regulation," whereby one person transmits signals that can alter hormone levels, cardiovascular function, sleep rhythms, and even immune function inside the body of another. Other people can change our very physiology and our emotions.

The authors describe how the continual interplay of limbic open loops among members of a group creates a kind of emotional soup, with everyone adding his or her flavor to the mix. Negative emotions - especially chronic anger, anxiety or a sense of futility - powerfully disrupt work, hijacking attentions from the tasks at hand.

On the other hand, when people feel good, they work at their best. The authors write that feeling good lubricates mental efficiency, making people better at understanding information and making complex judgments. For example, insurance agents with a glass-is-half-full attitude make more sales, in part because they are able to withstand rejection better than their more pessimistic peers.

Cooperative Teams
A study on 62 CEOs and their top management shows just how important mood is. The CEOs and their management team members were assessed on how upbeat - energetic, enthusiastic and determined - they were. They were also asked how much conflict the top team experienced. The study found that the more positive the overall moods of people in the top management team, the more cooperative they worked together and the better the company's business results. The study concluded that the longer a company was run by a management team that did not get along, the poorer the company's market return.

The authors write that every large organization has pockets of resonance and dissonance. The overall ratio determines the organization's emotional climate and performance. To shift the ratio toward resonance, cultivate a dispersed cadre of emotionally intelligent leaders. To do that, the authors write, leadership training must be the strategic priority and be managed at the highest level. Commitment must come from the top. That's because new leadership means a new mindset and new behaviors, and in order for these to stick, the organization's culture, systems and processes all need to change.

Let's say that as a leader, you get it. You've set the stage by assessing the culture, examining the reality and the ideal. You've created resonance around the idea of change, and you've identified the people who will take top leadership roles. The next step is to design a process that lets those leaders uncover their own dreams and personal ideals, examine their strengths and their gaps, and use their daily work as a learning laboratory. The authors explain that this process must also be self-directed and include the following elements: A tie-in to the organization's culture. Seminars emphasizing individual change. Learning about emotional competencies. Creative learning experiences. Relationships that support learning, such as executive coaching.

Why Soundview Likes This Book
Using many in-depth examples of how the concepts of primal leadership work and how the power of emotional intelligent can be used to effect organizations, Primal Leadership delivers many poignant messages about a topic that deserves more attention. The book's focus on real-life scenarios and modern business problems keeps its intellectual ideas grounded in reality, and helps it develop and demonstrate its pertinent ideas. The numerous examples it uses to illustrate these ideas turn this book into an exciting examination of fresh concepts and valuable learning. Copyright (c) 2002 Soundview Executive Book Summaries Read all 6 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Sound and practical advice on leading effectively, based on science and business experience, from the leader in the field of emotional intelligence."