The EQ Leader

A roadmap to success for tomorrow's leaders

The EQ Leader provides an evidence-based model for exceptional leadership, and a four-pillar roadmap for real-world practice. Data collected from thousands of the world's best leaders—and their subordinates—reveals the keys to success: authenticity, coaching, insight, and innovation. By incorporating these methods into their everyday workflow, these leaders have propelled their teams to heights great enough to highlight the divide between successful and not-so-successful leadership. This book shows you how to put these key factors to work in your own practice, with clear examples and concrete steps for improving skills and competencies. New data from the author's own research into executive functioning describes the neurological aspects of leadership, and a deep look at the leaders of tomorrow delves into the fundamental differences that set them apart—and fuel their achievement.

Leadership is changing, both in look and practice; strictly authoritative approaches are quickly losing ground as today's workers discover the power of collaboration and the importance of interpersonal awareness. This book provides step-by-step guidance for leading from within this space, with evidence-based approaches for success.

• Lead authentically to inspire and motivate others
• Support employee's needs and nurture development
• Communicate with purpose, meaning, and vision
• Foster ingenuity, imagination, and autonomous thinking

An organization's success rests on the backs of its leadership. At all levels, true leadership is about much more than management and task distribution—it's about commitment, collaboration, nurturing talent, developing skills, fostering relationships, and so much more. The EQ Leader integrates the essential factors of successful leadership into a concrete blueprint for the future's leaders.

Chapter 1 Leadership: What Do We Really Know about Leadership? 1

The Leadership Explosion 2

Leadership: What’s the Status? 4

Promoting Leaders from Within 5

Yesterday’s Leaders 6

Today’s Leaders 7

Tomorrow’s Leaders 9

Good Leader, Bad Leader 9

Chapter 2 What Have We Learned about Leadership? 13

Defining Leadership 14

Measuring Leadership 15

Political Leaders 16

Understanding the Ideal Political Candidate 16

How Researchers Have Looked at Leadership 20

Chapter 3 Leadership: Why Emotional Intelligence? 25

The Evolution of Intelligences 26

What Is IQ? 28

What Is Emotional Intelligence? 28

How Does the MSCEIT Relate to Leadership? 33

The Self-Report of Emotional Intelligence 35

Other Models 38

Can Self-Reporting Emotional Intelligence Be Valid? 38

Self-Report Emotional Intelligence, IQ, Personality, and Work Performance 39

Chapter 4 Emotional Contagion 43

Spreading Emotions @work 45

Emotional Temperature 46

A Tale of Two Leaders 47

What Does the Research Say about Emotional Contagion? 51

How Does a Leader’s Emotional Intelligence Affect Others? 53

Part I The Building Blocks of Emotional Intelligence 55

Chapter 5 Self-Perception: Know Thyself 57

Emotional Self-Awareness: Know Your Feelings 59

Changing Your Perception of Stress 61

Looking at Self-Awareness and Self-Regard 62

How Does Self-Regard Relate to Leadership? 63

Self-Regard and Toxic Leadership 66

Does Leader Self-Perception Relate to Subordinates’ Performance? 67

Discovering Your Self-Regard 68

Emotional Self-Regard: What to Do about It 69

Know Thyself—Self-Actualization 70

Gauging Self-Actualization 72

Part II Self-expression and Leadership 75

Chapter 6 Self-Expression: Communication through Words and Action 77

Your Emotional Expression 79

What Emotions Motivate Your Staff? 83

How Can You Better Express Yourself? 85

Asserting Yourself 85

How Assertiveness Impacts Leaders across Cultures 87

Becoming More Independent 90

Part III Interpersonal Abilities and Leadership 95

Chapter 7 Interpersonal: Creating the Bonds of Trust 97

Developing Your Interpersonal Skills 99

The Importance of Influence 100

What Leaders Need to Know about Empathy 104

How Important Is Empathy in a Leader? 107

Empathy and Emerging Leaders 107

Empathy and Gender 109

Empathy around the World 110

Empathy: What Can We Do about It? 111

Social Responsibility and Work 115

What about the Bottom Line? 117

Social Responsibility Internationally 118

Increasing Your Social Responsibility 119

Part IV Decision Making and Leadership 123

Chapter 8 Making Better Decisions: Emotionally 125

Trusting Your Instincts 125

Problem Solving 126

The Mood You’re In 128

The Mood You Create 129

How Those “Incidental” Emotions Can Affect You 130

The Influence of Positive Emotions 132

The Direct Effects of Emotion 136

What about the Object of the Decision? 137

Making Decisions: Feelings versus Calculations 140

How Subjective Are Our Feelings? 141

Deciding with Feelings or Logic 142

Emotional Decision Making and the Brain 143

Making Strategic Business Decisions 144

Decision Making and Reality Testing: Which Emotions When? 145

Impulse Control and Decision Making 147

Part V Stress Management and Leadership 151

Chapter 9 Stress Management and Leadership 153

Stress Tolerance and Leadership 157

How Can You Better Manage Your Time? 159

The Half-Full Glass 160

Part VI

Chapter 10 THE Four PILLARS OF SUCCESSFUL

Leadership:development of the Model 165

The Four Pillars of Successful Leadership: Developing the Model 167

Developing the Four-Pillar Model: Theories of Leadership 168

Developing the Four-Pillar Model: Collecting and Analyzing the Data 170

The Four Pillars 174

Emotional Intelligence and Derailers 177

Chapter 11 Pillar I: Developing Authenticity 181

Authenticity 181

Becoming a More Authentic Leader 182

Becoming More Authentic 184

Summary 193

Example of Authentic Leadership 194

Being Real and the Culture of Reality TV 195

Why Is This Relevant to Leadership? 196

Chapter 12 Pillar II: Developing Leader Coaches 199

Coaching 199

What Is a Coaching Leader? 201

Better Conversations 202

Develop Strengths 203

Emotional Skills 204

Example of Coaching Leadership 209

Chapter 13 Pillar III: Developing Insight 213

Insight 213

Discovering Your Purpose 215

Communicating the Purpose 216

What Is an Insightful Leader? 217

Self-Actualization 217

Chapter 14 Pillar IV: Developing Innovation 227

Innovation 227

Examples of Innovative Leaders 229

What Is an Innovative Leader? 231

Self-Actualization 231

Case Example: The MHS Hackathon 238

What Do Participants Produce? 240

Developing the Ideas 242

Chapter 15 What 360s Can Tell Us about Leaders and Potential Leaders 243

How Can We Better Assess High Potentials or Emerging Leaders? 243

How Do Self versus Others Leadership EQ 360

Ratings Compare? Or Do Leaders Overrate Themselves? 248

International Trends in Leadership 254

How the Countries Ranked 257

Emotional Intelligence and the GLOBE Theory 258

Leadership Orientations and Emotional Intelligence 261

Chapter 16 Entrepreneurial Leadership and EQ 265

The EQ Leader: Entrepreneurial CEOs 265

Succeeding in a Small Enterprise: Success Running a Dentist Office 270

What Does It Take to Be an Entrepreneur? 272

Musician Entrepreneurs 274

Chapter 17 Some New Things We’re Learning about Leadership 283

This Chapter 283

Neuroscience and Leadership 284

How Do We Manage Change? 287

How Gen Zers Will Impact the Workplace 290

How Does the Servant Leader Model Relate to Emotional Intelligence? 293

Leading from the Top: Effective Boards of Directors 297

What Can We Learn from Unusual Leaders? 302

Using the Four Pillars 306

Investing in Improving Leaders’ Emotional Intelligence 306

A Study Increasing Leaders’ Emotional Intelligence 308

Emotional Intelligence Training in Organizations 310

Notes 311

Acknowledgments 333

About the Author 335

Index 337

STEVEN J. STEIN, PHD, is a clinical psychologist and the founder and CEO of Multi-Health Systems (MHS), Inc., a leading publisher of scientifically validated assessments. He is a former chair of the Psychology Foundation of Canada, former president of the Ontario Psychological Association, and former assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He teaches at the Directors College of Canada, a university-accredited corporate director education program.

Leadership, whether supervisory or upper management, requires a special skill set. What are these skills?

The EQ Leader offers an evidence-based model for acquiring the skills needed to become an exceptional leader. Based on Dr. Steven Stein's international research from thousands of leaders and aspiring leaders, this vital resource details a four-pillar approach to stellar leadership. Stein's research demonstrates that outstanding leaders incorporate this approach into their everyday work life and are able to propel their teams to greater heights that differentiate successful from not so successful leadership.

The author's extensive research uncovered the four characteristics that define successful leaders: Authenticity (the ability to be a role model, inspiring, fair, and display moral behavior); Coaching (operating as a mentor, supporting employee's needs); Insight (communicating with a purpose, meaning, and vision); and Innovation (spurring ingenuity, imagination, and autonomous thinking). The EQ Leader offers anyone in a leadership position, as well as consultants and trainers, a road map for putting these four key factors into place.

Filled with illustrative examples and concrete steps for improving skills and competencies, this important resource also draws on new data from the author's own research into executive functioning. In addition, Stein describes the neurological aspects of leadership and includes an examination of effective leaders, delving into the fundamental differences that set them apart from ineffective leaders and shows what fuels their achievement.

The typical leader of the past was ego-driven. The decisions this person made were often more about self than about what was best for their company and changing your mind was perceived as unbearable weakness. This type of leader feared looking bad as much as he or she feared doing bad.

Forward-thinking leaders are more concerned with success than with other people's opinion about them. They are driven by the future and opportunities, not by the past or ego. Worrying about looking good, being consistent, or keeping the status quo were yesterday's virtues, but today's kiss of death. Successful leaders put their egos behind their missions, move forward with the times, and aren't afraid to alter their positions as necessary. The EQ Leader provides step-by-step guidance for leading from within this space, with evidence-based approaches for success.

THE KEY FACTORS THAT PROPEL LEADERS TO SUCCESS

An organization's success rests on the ability of its leaders. True leaders, no matter at what level—supervisors, managers, or CEOs—see their role as far more than mere managers and task distributors. A successful leader is dedicated to being committed, collaborative, nurturing talent, developing skills, fostering relationships, and much more. The EQ Leader integrates these essential factors of successful leadership into a concrete blueprint for both today's leaders and the leaders of tomorrow.

Steven J. Stein, PHD, is an Emotional Intelligence expert and the founder and CEO of Multi-Health Systems Inc., a leading publisher of scientifically validated assessments. He offers an evidence-based examination of what it takes to be an outstanding leader and presents a working model for achieving stellar leadership results. The author's four-tiered approach to developing effective leaders explores the qualities found present in the most successful leaders: Authenticity, Coaching, Insight, and Innovation. By developing EQ basic skills and these competencies, leaders and aspiring leaders can learn how to better motivate and inspire others, support the needs of employees, communicate with purpose, meaning, and vision, and foster ingenuity, imagination, and autonomous thinking.

As the old authoritative way of managing gives way to a new collaborative and imaginative vision of leadership, The EQ Leader offers a research-based process for understanding the characteristics and acquiring the essential skills for becoming a successful leader. Discover the power and effectiveness of emotionally intelligent leadership with The EQ Leader as your guide.