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Sandip Timsina (09525)

Synopsis
The article ‘What makes a leader?” written by Daniel Goleman advocates emotional
intelligence which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy,
and social skill distinguishes leaders from others. He argues that the qualities
traditionally associated with leadership such as intelligence, toughness, technical
skills are relevant only in the capacity of entry-level requirements. His suggestions
are backed by his extensive research and other studies and empirical evidences.
His research focused on which personal capabilities drop outstanding performance
in organization. He says when he calculated the ratio of technical skills, IQ and
emotional intelligence as ingredients of excellent performance; emotional
intelligence proved to be twice as important as the others for jobs at all levels. In
the article he discusses how the individual determinants of the emotional
intelligence play a crucial role on leadership and strong performance.

Issues
The main issue of the article is the role of emotional intelligence in distinguishing a
leader from ordinary people. The article proposes how emotional intelligence is the
most important determinant of leadership Daniel Goleman meticulously dissects
individual elements of emotional intelligence giving examples of situations where
anyone ordinary and a leader works.

Analysis
The determinants of leadership have been a highly debated subject. Majority of
researchers, experts believe that the qualities of leader include intelligence, visions,
technical know how. There was a kind of consensus on these qualities until Daniel
Goleman determined to challenge it with the evidences of his research findings.
The pre-requisites such as intelligence, vision cannot be ruled out but real-life
examples of a executive with mediocre IQ and technical skills have become
successful leaders are abundant. At the same time people with high IQ and
technical skills have failed miserably in leadership position. This leads us to doubt
the consideration of IQ, technical skills as the major pre-requisite of the leadership.
An individual with the caliber of a leader has a clear understanding of his/her
strengths, weakness, needs and drives. They know their potential and are pretty
clear on how to do things and what they can and to what extent. Thus they are self-
aware and hence are hones \t with themselves and with others. Goleman points that
these people are neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful. It gives them the
understanding of their potential performance in a given job. Those with little no self-
awareness usually take decisions hastily. Self-aware candidates are also frank even
when they are to disclose their weaknesses and accept their failure. In
organizations the people who accept and confess their failures, weaknesses are
often tagged as being weak and “not tough enough”.
On the other hand, there is a discipline self-exercised by all individuals and these
self-regulatory disciplines guide their reaction. They strictly adhere to their self-
discipline, some are lenient while others are self-regulatory framework itself is weak
to make their behavior and reactions conscientious. In a given situation which is
adverse, some people will panic, involve in blame-game and backlash their sub-
ordinate while others are careful, controlled picking right words and body language
that is not intimidating yet highly expressive. A self-regulated boss commands self-
regulated sub-ordinates making the work environment highly productive and also
diluting rivalry, commands commitment and responsible behavior. These qualities

1 | Article Critiquing: What Makes a leader?


Sandip Timsina (09525)

and influence may not be expected of all individuals with high IQ, technical skills
and vision. A person with the qualities of leadership understands that his goals
cannot be achieved alone by himself, he knows the importance of his team and
would rather inspire than indulge in blame-games. Goleman argues that self-
regulation enhances integrity giving no room for unethical conducts.
The other difference maker between a leader and an ordinary individual is the
motivation. Individuals have different drives for working; some associate their
achievement to money, some with power and some for recognition. Goleman
suggests that people with leadership potential are motivated by a deeply embedded
desire to achieve for the sake of achievement. These people have little value for
external rewards and they strive for excellence, they have a passion for their work
and they do not associate it with external outcomes but to a deep rooted personal
need and take satisfaction in that. They take work as a passion and their
performance bar is always rising. These people are optimistic, learn from their
mistakes rather than getting discouraged and are always improvising. They have
internal locus of control and failure polishes them further and they are always ready
to put in more efforts to succeed.
Leaders are always aware of the impact of their decisions, statements upon other
and they plan accordingly. Whether its their choice of words, body language and
structure of statements they are considerate and selfless. They are more aware of
others feeling, they believe in being just and in balance. They do not make
decisions on a whim but thoughtfully consider others feelings and they make
intelligent decisions. Their statements are not harsh, cold and piercing but rather
emotional, convincing and considerate. They thus boost the morale of their team
due to which their sub-ordinates are highly committed. They listen to all competing
view points so that none of the others feel ignored or marginalized and are always
trying to reach consensus. They encourage people to bring what they feel. Hence
they retain people and win their confidence.
People with leadership potential are adept at managing relationship with others.
They are liked by their peers, their seniors appreciate them while their sub-
ordinates look up to them. They are helpful and inspire and energize others.
However their nature of being friendly is not for no reason, they befriend people,
take others into confidence so that they can motivate these people to move in the
direction they want. This want however is not selfish; it is not for their personal
achievement but for what they think is right and what they think is best. The people
of all age group, backgrounds, and culture find them jolly and enjoy their company.
They always have something common with all people. This capacity lies in their
ability to manage their own emotions backed by their confidence in what they
believe. They are viewed as great team player, highly supportive executive and
innovative subordinates. They are people with great capacity to persuade others.
They literally are like magnets to which other people come pulled but they come by
choice not by coercion.
Emotional intelligence can be learned, it can be learned/developed by trainings,
mentoring, feedback mechanisms, peers evaluation and by fostering competitive
environment.

Conclusion
Goleman’s emphasis on emotional intelligence as the major determinant of
leadership ability in an individual certainly has valid reasons. He however misses in
his article if emotional intelligence is sufficient enough as a leadership potential.

2 | Article Critiquing: What Makes a leader?


Sandip Timsina (09525)

The article does not say anything on whether people with high emotional
intelligence but with less than mediocre visionary skills, intelligence and knowledge
can be effective leaders or not. No doubt that people who have high score in
emotional intelligence backed by knowledge, visionary skills can be good leaders
but emotional intelligence still is something that is scrutinized in organizations. For
example people are criticized for accepting their failures and weakness for being
rather shameless and irresponsible while when they speak of their strengths they
might be called arrogant and over confident. Self regulated people are tagged to be
stone hearted, cold and unappreciative. When an individual fails to acknowledge
others achievement or fails to acknowledge as expected he is called cold and
thankless. As for empathy people argue that when managers, decision makers,
policy makers think too much about others they fail to make strong decisions,
effective strategies. We have ourselves seen people who despite being helpful, jolly
and friendly are tagged as gossip mongers and cheaters. Unless organizations have
culture that makes it easy to distinguish between emotional intelligence and real
nuisance, it has very grim chance to find a leader.
Goleman suggests that emotional intelligence is by far major determinant of
leadership and it can be developed. However Goleman remains mum on how
emotional intelligence can be developed.

3 | Article Critiquing: What Makes a leader?

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