A leader needs to be of higher emotional quotient

A leader needs to be of higher emotional quotient

Emotional Quotient!
EI (Emotional Intelligence) – this is something I wanted to learn and understand more about. When I finally found time to read more about it and relate more to it in real life situations, I found it to be a rather exciting topic.
What is EI and how is it measured?
EI is one’s ability to assess and manage the emotions of self and that of others. EQ (Emotional Quotient) is how one measures on it. What is the fundamental difference between IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ. IQ is mostly an inherent ability, whereas EQ is an ability that is developed over a period of time and one that needs to be constantly practiced.
IQ can be the driver of success in schools and universities. EQ is the driver for success in life.

We all would have found many people who are extremely intelligent but very difficult to work along with. People
fear or feel uncomfortable to work with them. This puts them in a situation where they are just unable to build and
work with vibrant and highly motivated teams. These are people with high IQ, but low on EQ. What really happens
here is that their growth and success is directly dependent on their own self.

In the case of people with high EQ, the success and growth is the combined effort of the motivated teams that they
have created and led. They manage their emotions and that of the team and guide them all well for a much broader
and sustaining success.

I was eager to find out about brilliant people but who were not great team players (Funnily, these people talk about teams all the time, but in real sense, do not build teams that are equally motivated, share the joy of taking up challenges together, helping each other and succeeding together). I was surprised to find a piece of information on Steve Jobs that goes as below.

“Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple who was a close friend of Jobs, said that some of his best friends from Apple said they would never work with Jobs again given the chance.”

Upon further research, it comes out clearly that Steve Jobs was not an easy person to work with. Well, he respected brilliant people and liked to work with them. Understandably, his measure bar of brilliance was at a high level, but in an organization, is it always possible to have all brilliant people? We get to work with people of different personalities, competencies, and different levels of brilliance. This is where the critical importance of EQ of the leaders becomes important.

Skills can be obtained. Knowledge can be acquired. Emotional brilliance can we worked upon and improved when one realizes the importance of it.

It may not be of that importance when one is at a lower level in an organization or in a role (like research) where
the result is directly related to the inputs of one self. But, when one grows to a leadership position, their individual capability and brilliance alone is not the deciding factor. They need to carry a team that delivers efficiently and for that to happen,

A LEADER NEEDS TO BE OF HIGHER Emotional Quotient.

Syed Farhadh Ali | Chief Business Officer, iInterchange Systems

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the writer’s and are not an indication of the company’s view, action or strategy.