EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I. Self-Awareness
Daniel
Goleman, author of the bestselling book: Emotional
Intelligence, believes a person could have a high IQ and
great technical skills but Emotional Intelligence is
“sine qua non” (an essential condition, or
prerequisite) of leadership. The quotation below is from
his article What
makes a leader?, published
in the Harvard Business Review.
“Self Awareness” is one of the components of
Emotional Intelligence. What is self-awareness and why is
it critical characteristic for a leader to possess?
Self-awareness is the first component of emotional
intelligence… Self-awareness means having a deep
understanding of one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses,
needs, and drives. People with strong self-awareness are
neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful.
Rather, they are honest - with themselves and with others.
People who have a high degree of self-awareness recognize
how their feelings affect them, other people, and their job
performance.
Self-awareness extends to a person's understanding of his
or her values and goals. Someone who is highly self-aware
knows where he is headed and why…
How can one recognize self-awareness? First and foremost,
it shows itself as candor and an ability to assess oneself
realistically. People with high self-awareness are able to
speak accurately and openly - although not necessarily
effusively or confessionally - about their emotions and the
impact they have on their work.
Such self-knowledge often shows itself in the hiring
process. Ask a candidate to describe a time he got carried
away by his feelings and did something he later regretted.
Self-aware candidates will be frank in admiring to failure
- and will often tell their tales with a smile. One of the
hallmarks of self-awareness is a self-deprecating sense of
humor."
Click here to learn more about self-awareness
in the work place.