Common Sense
-Emotional Intelligence-Effective Leadership
The more experiences I have, the more people I meet, and the more
places I travel, I'm always reminded that common sense in life is probably the
number one attribute to success. People that demonstrate it, are successful!
I grew up with simple values of integrity, character, kindness, hard
work and when in doubt use, The Golden Rule.
Over the years there's been much written about Emotional Intelligence.
Daniel Goleman is probably the foremost expert on the subject. While traveling
recently, I was reading his excerpt from the Harvard Business Review.
EI is more important to
success than just mastering the technical know how! EI is nothing more than
common sense used in a focused direction. I have always lived my life with
common sense as the driver.
The boiled down highlights or five basic principles of Emotionally Leadership
are as follows:
1. Self awareness -Knowing one’s strengths,
weaknesses, drives, values, and impact on others. (Common sense - Do what your
good at- delegate what you are not).
2.
Self regulation- Controlling or
redirecting disruptive impulses and moods. (Common sense-No negative self talk-
you are what you think! Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to action and action
leads to results). TFAR.
3.
Motivation-Relishing
achievement for it’s own sake. (Common sense- If you know your why, the how is
easy).
4.
Empathy -Understanding
other peoples emotional make up. (Common sense- what motivates them?).
5.
Social Skill- Building rapport
with others to get them to move in the desired directions. (Common sense- Knowing
their why and know it before you need them).
We are each born with certain levels of Emotional Intelligence. We
can strengthen these abilities through persistence, practice, and feedback from
colleagues and coaches.
If you find yourself not getting the results in life you want-
review one or all of these principles to find your gap. Oh That’s #1.
In the end, it's
basically common sense boiled down to do the right thing at the right time for
the right reason.