Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader: A Guide to Cultivating Effective Leadership and Organizations

by Christopher D. Connors

Discover the secret to business success and transform your career—starting today

Success requires more than hard work and good you need to be able to understand, inspire, and motivate those around you. Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader helps you hone your emotional intelligence (EQ)—the ability to be aware of, control, and express your emotions, as well as handle interpersonal relationships empathetically—and enhance your ability to lead.

Building off proven research, this user-friendly guide teaches you the pillars of high-EQ leadership. Whether it's developing self-awareness or bolstering empathy, discover simple and easy-to-use exercises that you can make use of on your own. You'll even learn about emotionally intelligent leaders and how they've utilized this skill as part of their successes.

Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader

Become the leader you've always wanted to be with this emotional intelligence enhancing guide.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Psychology

176 pages, Paperback

Published May 19, 2020

About the author

Christopher D. Connors is a #1 Bestselling author, executive coach and globally recognized expert on emotional intelligence. Christopher works with executives and leaders at Fortune 1000 companies and with organizations spanning many industries. His writing has appeared in World Economic Forum, CNBC, Thrive Global, and Medium. His book, Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader, is one of the top selling emotional intelligence books in the world. Book Authority ranks it as the #2 book on its “20 Best Self Awareness Books of All Time” of all time list.

Christopher’s first book, The Value of You, has helped thousands of professionals create an authentic, values-based life. His newest book, The Champion Leader, will be published by Wiley in May 2024. His video-based course, Leading with Emotional Intelligence, is a top leadership course on LinkedIn Learning.

Christopher’s business and coaching experience comes from working with CEOs, top leaders, and organizations from around the world. He is one of most in-demand leadership speakers in the world. He’s worked with organizations like William Morris Endeavor (WME), Northrop Grumman, U.S. Army, Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch, GitLab, the Florida State government, Google, and many more.

Christopher is happily married to his lovely southern belle CEO wife and is the proud father of three large, rambunctious sports-loving boys. He lives in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Visit him at: https://chrisdconnors.com.

Reviews

[Tom Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too bad this book was not around twenty years ago when I was put into a position for which I was woefully ill prepared. It would have saved me a lot of time and heartache. Take it from someone who has been there and done that, read the book.

Chris Connors says, "We can all increase and improve our emotional intelligence. It all begins with self-awareness, with knowing who you really are." This is the focus of his book as he step-by-step helps the reader understand and implement the nuances of what this means. He goes on to say, "If you’re going to lead others effectively, you need to have your own house in order." Followed by , "In order to give value to others in your organization, you must first introspectively look within and be firm in your values, strategy, and goals."

Connors has provided the "modern leader" a fantastic tool to help them get a grip on leading their team, organization, or company. He has carefully mapped out the various elements necessary to develop emotional intelligence and how you and those you lead will benefit from you having done so.

He doesn't sugar coat the issues. He outlines what should be done, illustrates the problems, and then shows how those who have been successful have implemented what he is suggesting. This is a well written book. It does not lag but keeps the reader engaged. It is not another boring business book, but one that will help you become all that you want to be as a successful leader.

Upon request, the publisher, with no preset conditions, sent me a copy of the book to review.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book answers: what is a leader, what are the different types of leadership, and how to be an effective leader. Quick read. Its rudimentary style makes the target audience entrepreneur/business students instead of actual CEO's. The "Resonate Leaders" chapter is lacking depth. At the very least, the book is motivating.

I was given a copy of this book from Callisto Publishing.

[Filip Scotts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up at the strong suggestion of one of our senior leaders- it did not disappoint. I've long been interested in emotional intelligence. Frankly, I've found it hard to understand. This book focuses directly on how to use it in specific situations at work and in life. Recommending it now to my team in particular because of the exercises throughout. This is a "how-to" book that has a lot of great application to leaders and employees alike.

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great guide on how to utilize emotional intelligence as a leader to motivate those you are leading. I thought that some of the advice was redundant, but there were some great pieces of advice and the stories were relevant and inspiring.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy.

A good book for getting into being a better leader but it can not just be read, it must also be put into practice.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for professional development as well as keep my knowledge from grad school sharp, because my degree was based in management/business and we talked about EQ. With that said, I am going to dive into this review, which is going to be more about the thoughts I had as I read, instead of based solely on content. If you want a statement about content then I will say this was easy-to-digest and I have heard a lot of this before in my business classes.

Introduction
No earth-shattering thoughts

Chapter 1: Resonant Leaders
This was interesting. The only person I have heard of was Tyler Perry and I did not realized he was a leader. I just think of him as an actor/comedian, so this was very enlightening.

Chapter 2: Pillars of Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
Self-Awareness: I like to see I have a handle on this, but with anything there is room for improvement. When I was looking at the checklist, there was somethings I think in the negative, especially how think others view me. I know I need to learn to think more positively on my traits.
Self-Management: This is something I am cognizant and always striving to be better. I am emotional person, which means I have had some reactions that I know do not always match the situation. In those situations, I know to work through it and think about "Why am I having this reaction and what can I learn from it."
Motivation: Using the Motivation Pulse Check, I need to think more about the first two bullet points. I try to keep a positive outlook, especially when the people around me are having a gloomy outlook. It makes no sense for everybody to think negative. In the long run, negativity does not have much use, because it can make you and others feel down and can create problems in a team and/or an organization. I will definitely say I have drive, which I try to gel with self-management. I am working on being delighted when we accomplish things as a team.
Empathy: In this section, the author mentions "servant leadership" and once it was described I immediately thought of Jesus, because Jesus help others without seeking anything in return.
Social Skills: Based on the assessment, I think I am definitely striving, but I think there are areas of improvement. With all of these pillars, I will be the first person to admit that I am hard on myself.

Chapter 3: Leadership Styles
Visionary: N/A
Coaching: N/A
Affiliative: N/A
Democratic: Recently, I watched this anime called Kuroko No Basket, which focuses on a group of talented high school Japanese basketball players. It centers around Kuroko, who I thought is a democratic leader. He was always thinking about the team and how you win as a team. If this anime continued, I could see Kuroko becoming team captain.
Pacesetting: N/A
Commanding: N/A

Chapter 4: Becoming an Emotionally Intelligent Leader
No immediate thoughts came to mind

Chapter 5: Creating Emotionally Intelligent Organization
Coming soon

Chapter 6: Sustaining Changes
Coming soon

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a mix of highlights from other business books, anecdotes and stories of successful businesspeople, and in the first part of the book, practical and bit-sized activities and questionnaires to help the reader apply the principles to their own lives. It's a good primer for someone who is looking for inspiration or trying to figure out how to become a leader, but I would say it's a little too basic for people who are already in leadership roles. Combining and distilling the knowledge of many business classics into one slim volume is very difficult, and I hope that readers who have not experienced those books go to the source materials for further reading. The first two-thirds of the book are the strongest with focus on self-assessment and self-awareness as the building blocks of emotional intelligence. A good first read for business students and junior employees looking to build leadership roles. Thanks to the publisher for a NetGalley, opinons are my own.

[Kimberly H · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Required reading for an upcoming leadership retreat for my work. If you’re not familiar with emotional intelligence, this read is short and introductory, but I found it insubstantial. There are some application exercises at the end of each chapter, which rate that extra .5 star and are decent, but in the narrative, the author only presents limited examples of what success is, and they’re all corporate (okay, so there is a sports coach thrown in here or there). Connors places emphasis on modern leaders who are considered as such because of their ability to operate with high degrees of emotional intelligence used to exert influence over those who work for them. The result is high profit margins. Plus, he doesn’t directly interview these leaders: he regurgitates snippets and quotes from other sources. It reads too much like a motivational speaker’s fleshed out notes.

[Chris Eaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It makes some good points

This book makes some very good points about being a leader. It also gets repeative and a bit hollow at times. It leans heavily on quoting other authors and name dropping famous CEO's without being vety detailed on their personal challenges. It's not inspiring to me that someone is simply a specific gender or race. I want to know where they found their motivation and the decision making processes they use. Ultimately this book is full of quotes, buzzwords, and famous names. It waz required reading for my promotional test.

I did take away some very good points on leadership and that's why I gave it three stars. "Good" but ultimately forgetable.

[Emily Valentin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book disappointed me in many ways. The author doesn't know how to connect with the reader at all. He presents stale, unimaginative ideas, and doesn't even seek to word them in new ways. He has a limited, unrealistic view of "success" and focuses on jobs in office settings only. The examples of supposed role models are businessmen with questionable ethics. But I guess it could be helpful if you missed the "getting along with your peers" lessons in kindergarten.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good primer for EQ for leaders. Easy to read and follow along with, journaling exercises at the end of each chapter to help with implementation. I wish the examples would have been more detailed - i like hearing how various companies led and succeeded in change management, but didn’t feel like “because they had emotional intelligence” really explained *how* they did it. I was hoping for more insight into internal conversations, what went right AND what didn’t.

[Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on what emotional intelligence is and how effective leaders incorporate meaningful and successful “EQ” into their management of staff/people. Great quotes and highlights of nonconventional leaders. I learned useful information about CEOs of companies I see all the time but had no idea some of the inclusive and positive practices. The author included numerous exercises for those looking to improve or gauge their EQ.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Connors gives a pretty standard treatment of what makes a good leader- my most important takeaway is how important it is to know yourself. The case studies seem somewhat superficial, simple, and 1-dimensional. The book gives a great framework and reflective question set at the end for self-assessment.

[Lance Osborn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book takes Daniel Goleman's work and turns it into a self-help book for corporatists. The best thing I can say about this book is that it is short, even though the flowery language and repetition make it about twice as long as it should have been.

The whole book reads like someone took a Joel Osteen sermon and removed any references to Jesus.

[Alicia Robben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a quick read to motivate the modern leader. I enjoyed learning new tips on how to use emotional intelligence in the workplace. I would have liked to see less stories/famous references and more statistical content. Overall great read!

Thanks to Callisto Media and NetGalley!

[T M. Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good start to understanding the role EI plays in fostering a successful leadershkp. It does however cover allot of the same content as many motivational books. If you are just starting to focus on improving your leadership skills, this might be a good place to start.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe this book would be interesting to read with a group. Reading by myself it was just kind of boring. There’s some valuable information but not enough that it felt like it was worth my time really.

[Chrissy M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. I liked the examples of people who have been successful in life with the principles it teaches. There were a few things I disagreed with but that’s because I base most things out of my faith in Jesus. Would recommend this book though!

[Emily Rosén · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick read with some good tips to get started. I was anticipating deeper content, though.

[Kent Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good concepts in the book, but pretty shallow examples, and not really much of a book on emotional intelligence

[Dianne]

OK

[Chris Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and covers the topic well, but a bit more academic than I had hoped. Some good information and offers easy to implement ideas.

[among · Rating 1 out of 5]

shot myself

[Melinda Farley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why I even had this book downloaded on my app, it doesn't apply much to me but there were some interesting thoughts.

[Stephanie Ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed an alternate perspective of emotionally intelligent leadership styles. It's a bit dated now, but still insightful.

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a lot of exercises in this book but it was light on content and what there was tended to be prescriptive. The section on leadership styles was interesting.

[Brittany Ohnsman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, I wasn't able to finish it though due to timing. I'm about 75% complete. I like the different exercises and discussion on leadership styles.

[octavio · Rating 2 out of 5]

read this for work -- some great information but boring

[Alessia Sotgiu · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good and with a lot of exercises.

[Jennipha Ricks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader is a must-read for anyone looking to elevate their leadership game. The book breaks down emotional intelligence (EQ) into four core components: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management, offering practical strategies to connect with others, inspire teams, and navigate workplace challenges. It’s not just theory; the book is packed with real-world examples, actionable tips, and research-backed insights that make EQ feel achievable and relevant for today’s fast-paced, ever-changing work environment.

What sets this book apart is its relatable, conversational tone. It’s like having a mentor in your pocket, guiding you through the messy, human side of leadership. Whether you’re a seasoned executive or a rising manager, the advice is practical and easy to apply, from managing stress to giving feedback and building trust. The Kindle format makes it perfect for on-the-go reading, with the ability to highlight and take notes as you go.

If you’re ready to move beyond traditional leadership tactics and embrace a more empathetic, emotionally intelligent approach, this book is your roadmap. It’s not about perfection, it’s about progress. And the payoff? Becoming the kind of leader who not only gets results but also creates a positive, empowering workplace culture. A total game-changer.