Primal Leadership, With a New Preface by the Authors: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence (Unleashing the Power of Emotinal Intelligence)

by Daniel Goleman

the benefit of moving toward the dream. • Slow down in order to speed up. A target-shooting coach we know tells his students, “If you’re in a combat situation, you can’t miss fast enough to save your life.” So too with building resonance and an emotionally intelligent organization—the shotgun approach to change doesn’t work. The process of slowing down and bringing people into the conversation about their systems and their culture is one we don’t see enough in organizations but that nevertheless is critical. Processes such as dynamic inquiry require a supportive, coaching approach and democratic style: The leader must really listen to what people have to say about the culture and the emotional reality of the organization. Both the coaching style—where a leader deeply listens to individuals—and the democratic style—where a group in dialogue builds consensus—can ensure that people are brought into the change process in a way that builds their commitment. Emotionally intelligent leaders rely on these styles as a way to slow things down enough to get a strong sense of exactly what’s needed to give people the support they need to flourish. • Start at the top with a bottom-up strategy. Top leadership must be committed to facing the truth about the emotional reality of the organization, and they must be committed to creating resonance around a vision of the ideal. But that’s not enough: A bottom-up strategy is needed as well, because resonance only develops when everyone is attun...