The fifth skill/behavior of executive presence is Emotional Intelligence. Emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions and intuit the emotions of others, is a crucial component of executive presence. Like Goldilocks testing the temperature of porridge, a “just right” level of emotional intelligence contributes to strong leadership. I have written about emotional intelligence at length in other posts and podcast episodes and recommend going back to review some of that information. Essentially, it means to be self-aware, able to self-manage one’s emotions, socially aware of the emotions of others, and able to manage relationships effectively. These are all learnable skills. I recommend taking the online course “Emotional Intelligence for Leaders.”
Emotional intelligence is crucial for leaders who want to display executive presence. Leaders with emotional intelligence manage their emotions more effectively and empathize better with their team members. This helps them establish strong connections with their team and build trust.
Additionally, emotionally intelligent leaders communicate more effectively with their team members, which is vital for creating a positive work environment. Leaders with EQ also inspire their team members to be more productive and engaged in their work by displaying empathy. In short, emotional intelligence is a key factor in developing executive presence, and leaders who possess it are more likely to succeed.
The ideal is to strike a balance and have just the right amount of emotional intelligence. That balance allows leaders to be aware of emotions without being overwhelmed by them. They can regulate their own feelings yet make tough calls when needed. They pick up on emotional cues to intuitively understand what motivates others without letting excessive empathy cloud their judgment. This “just right” application of emotional intelligence, neither too much nor too little, enables leaders to exude executive presence. They build trust, unite teams, and lead with confidence, poise, and compassion. Like the porridge that was just right for Goldilocks, the appropriate degree of emotional intelligence is a big part what makes someone an outstanding leader.
Too little: What happens when there is too little emotional intelligence
· Poor self-awareness: Leaders with limited self-awareness often lack insight into how their behaviors and emotional patterns affect their leadership style, decision-making, and relationships. Their poor self-awareness is obvious to those around them but not to themselves. This reminds me of the box in the Johari window that describes attributes that others know about us that we don’t know about ourselves. Not the place you want to be.
· Poor ability to regulate emotions: An inability to manage one’s emotional reactions results in moodiness, outbursts, and an over-reliance on impulse rather than reason in high-pressure situations. Leaders who cannot regulate their emotions often have angry or frustrated outbursts. They struggle to stay poised under pressure.
· Negative impact on team: Low emotional intelligence diminishes a leader’s ability to motivate, connect with, and gain the trust of team members, stifling morale, collaboration, and performance.
· Lack of empathy: When leaders cannot intuit how others feel, they often fail to address team members’ concerns, needs, and challenges. This undermines their ability to support and develop their people. With little insight into how their moods affect others, they may actually demotivate their teams.
· Unhealthy relationships: Struggling to grasp others’ emotional landscapes prevents leaders from forming authentic bonds, building trust, and earning respect from colleagues, subordinates, and stakeholders.
· Undermines other skills/behaviors of executive presence. Having too little emotional intelligence undermines confidence, authenticity, and gravitas, all necessary skills/behaviors of executive presence.
Too Much: When someone seems to have too much emotional intelligence.
· Obsessive self-awareness: Excessive rumination about one’s own emotional state can become self-indulgent navel-gazing that prevents decisive action. Leaders who are hyper-focused on the emotional states of themselves and others may come across as oversensitive or melodramatic.
· Tight check on emotions: An overly rigid suppression of natural emotional reactions can come across as robotic, fake, or aloof to others. Think Spook on Star Trek and you can understand.
· Negative impact on team: Teams may feel micromanaged and lacking autonomy if a leader tries to be overly attentive to individual emotions versus focusing on team goals and priorities. They may be so intent on feelings that they lose sight of necessary tasks and decisions.
· Extreme empathy: Excessive empathy can prevent a leader from being able to make tough calls, deliver constructive feedback, and address underperformance. Their extreme empathy may prevent them from giving honest feedback or addressing poor performance.
· Impact on relationships: High emotional intelligence without boundaries can lead to inappropriate enmeshment, loss of objectivity, and emotional exhaustion in a leader’s relationships.
· Undermines other skills/behaviors of executive presence. While emotional intelligence is crucial, leaders with too much of it can appear to lack gravitas and authority.
In the right measure, emotional intelligence contributes significantly to a leader’s executive presence. Too much or too little negatively impacts the ability to lead effectively. The Goldilocks model shows that the just right level of emotional intelligence allows one to leverage emotions for strong, authentic, and inspirational leadership.
CHATGPT was used in writing this article.
