04-801 HOMEWORK 6 Name: NIZEYIMANA Jean Paul Andrew ID: jnizeyim Course: Business Economics WHAT MAKES A LEADER
According to Chemers M. [1] leadership has been described as a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task" In his research at nearly 200 large, global companies, Goleman found that while the qualities traditionally associated with leadership, such as intelligence, toughness, determination and vision are required success, they are insufficient. Effective leaders are also distinguished by a high degree of emotional intelligence, which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill. In this paper I am going to assess myself against the five qualities of the high degree of emotional intelligence, in-depth focus on my worst area and finally I will indicate what actions I can take to improve myself in that area. In his work, Goleman highlighted the importance of self-awareness in leadership. On my behalf, I can say that I have a high degree of self-awareness because I can understand my strengths and weaknesses, preferences, personality, etc. As a software engineer, I worked with many people in groups, I came to manage my relations with them and understand their expectations and feedbacks. Self-regulation is also important for a leader. On my behalf, I have got a full control over my emotions and feelings; I know how they affect me and other people around me. It does not mean that I am emotionless; I mean that I can choose how I react to different situations. I have all the five qualities of self-regulation defined by Goleman which are; self-control, trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability and innovation. I believe that all of these qualities depend on the choices I make and the way I think before acting. According to Goleman, motivation is a trait that virtually all leaders have. Some people are motivated by external factors, such as money, promotion and others are motivated by a deeply embedded desire to achieve for the sake of achievement. The latter are people with leadership potential. I classify myself in
people with leadership potential because Im not motivated by external factors but by the achievement. An example I can give here is in my studies, Im not motivated by the grades I get but by the work accomplished and the knowledge gained. Regarding empathy, I am not good in considering and analyzing other peoples feelings or emotions when I want to make decisions. Although, I believe that empathy is an important component of leadership in todays business especially in businesses where there are teams. Leaders need to know the feelings of their people. The last one is social skill; Goleman said that this is the culmination of the other traits of emotional intelligence. On my behalf, I can say that I manage my relationships effectively. It is easily to me to make friendship and to keep friends. I am clever at managing teams; I realized this in class when we had assignment in groups. Because of the lack of empathy, it takes me energy to understand peoples feelings about things. A successful leader is one who has highly developed emotional intelligence. He has got self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill. The first three components are self-management skills and I have highly developed these ones. Regarding the last two, I still need to improve my ability to manage relationship with others. To improve my empathy, there are many things I can do, such as learn on other people with highly developed empathy, putting myself in others shoes, considering others reactions to the decisions I make, listen attentively to people around me and paying attention to what they are saying.
References [1] Chemers M. (1997) An integrative theory of leadership. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8058-2679-1
