Bestselling author Daniel Goleman's theories on emotional intelligence 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. Business leaders who maintain that emotions are best kept out of the work environment do so at their organisation's peril. Since the actions of the leader apparently account for up to 70 per cent of employees' perception of the climate of their organisation, Goleman and his team emphasise 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 behaviours 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 organisational culture.--S Ketchum

2008-07-02 Enlightening common sense

This audio CD (all 7 of them!) were a real inspiration to me. I will no doubt be listening to them again and again to consolidate and build on the application of Emotional Intelligence. What makes this so captivating is the regular examples of leadership styles within organisations. I have already recommended this audio CD/book to friends and colleagues.