Editor’s Note: Emotional Intelligence: The Key to Successful Leadership

As the pandemic fatigue hits new highs, it can severely impact our ability to make sound decisions. And for leaders, it becomes even more difficult, as they have to deal with pressures of remote management, setbacks, failures and all this while, managing their own emotions. And ultimately if they don’t manage their emotions well, they might not be able to positively influence the emotions of others. Emotional Intelligence (EQ), hence becomes a pretty hot topic in the workplace.

Is EQ a leadership superpower? How can leaders increase their emotional intelligence? Why a post-Covid world demands greater emotional intelligence? The September edition of Leadership Excellence answers all these questions and more.

There is no doubt that leaders who respond to crises with creativity and agility will thrive post-Covid-19. So how does a strong leader provide comfort, stability and support now, when their people need them the most? Check out the cover article by Janine Allen, EQ Is The New MBA, where she talks about the effective skills that will define positive leadership going forward.

Daniela DeTommaso’s article, Is It Time To Rethink Your Leadership Style? talks about how empathy and emotional intelligence will pave the way to an empowered workforce.

Being empathetic doesn’t suggest giving employees an unending free pass to not work due to unfortunate events. Actually, this powerful skill can help your business be successful. By creating a positive work environment, you’ll retain employees and maintain or increase productivity, says Hailima I. Yates, in her thought-provoking article, How To Become A More Empathetic Leader.

In his article, Transform Your Life And Leadership With Emotional Agility, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover points out why emotional agility is important and necessary in leadership.

With a post-pandemic reality on the horizon, EQ is one of the most valuable skills a leader can bring to the table. Daniel Goleman, an authority on emotional intelligence in the workplace rightly points out that, “[n]o matter what leaders set out to do—whether it’s creating a strategy or mobilizing teams to action—their success depends on how they do it. Even if they get everything else just right, if leaders fail in this primal task of driving emotions in the right direction, nothing they do will work as well as it could or should.” We have an opportunity now, as the workplace attempts a return to normal, to re-evaluate our priorities as leaders. So let us do our best!

We hope you enjoy reading all the articles on emotional intelligence included in this issue and do not forget to get back to us with your valuable feedback and comments!

Cheers!