Primal Leadership – Realizing the Power of

Emotional Intelligence
Aditi Singhal, Anshul Aggarwal, Chinmay Kshatriya, Gompa Lohitha, Mahima Rastogi, Mahima Devburman
Section A - Study Group 6

Abstract – This paper is based on the book “Primal specifies that those leaders who are more expressive tend to
Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional attract better talent in their team and also enhance
Intelligence “by Daniel Goleman whereby we have performance. Such leaders are also termed as emotional
analyzed the underlying concepts revolving around the talents.
main theme of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership. In addition to emotions which is a long lasting
The paper primarily has three major components: the feeling, a mood is more of a short term reaction. However, a
summary of the book, critical analysis of certain concepts positive mood itself triggers better performance and a
and learnings from the book. The summary of the book negative mood tends to linger on for a long period of time
gives a brief description of major concepts covered by the affecting productivity. There have been studies which have
book as interpreted by the author. The second part which suggested that for every 1 percent of improvement in service
is the critical analysis covers the positives and certain climate there is at least 2 percent increase in revenue of the
negatives or shortcomings of concepts covered by Daniel. firm. Thus organization climate becomes an important factor
The critical analysis is done using the research paper in determining the profitability of the firm. Thus emotional
published in the field or by concepts learned during the factor can actually be quantified whereby the positive climate
course “Games People Play: Psychology of HRM” at IIM is passed onto the consumers in form of better performance
Ahmedabad. Moreover, some real life examples are also and thus more revenue. Again, the author feels that the most
used to substantiate the points. Lastly, the paper covers important person in determining the organization climate is
the major learnings from the book. the Leader.
Moreover, the dissonant leaders can have a negative
Index Terms: Primal leadership, leadership styles, resonant impact on the motivation of the team and can lead to burnout.
leader, leadership development, emotional intelligence Also there are clueless leaders who are self-absorbed within
themselves and are not thinking about the team but
INTRODUCTION themselves leaving no positivity for the employees.
Author defines the meaning of Primal Leadership in An important concept emphasized in the novel is about how
the book whereby his interpretation is that the emotional role emotions hold more value than the intellect whereby the
of a leader is the most important and original part of emotional impulse can help brain function more effectively
leadership. The book emphasizes on the fact that the positive and react to emergency situation
emotions generated by the leader can further create a healthy The four key element of Emotional Intelligence are
environment in the organization boosting performance. self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and
Moreover, followers look towards the leader for empathy relationship management. The component of self-awareness
which is another part of primal leadership. is considered to be the most important component of all
The concept of resonance and dissonance further because it forms the basis of a dynamic relationship between
elaborates the impact of emotional intelligence of leader the self-management and relationship management. Empathy
whereby a resonance is about bringing best in employees is needed for social awareness as it helps you to understand
through positive emotions and in contrast dissonance is about the emotions of your followers.
how negative emotions curb the same. The author has also established that more than the
Brain system is an open loop whereby its efficiency cognitive skills, the emotional intelligence is seen as the most
is driven by the emotional actions in our environment and important factor in determining the success of the leader and
there is mirroring effect whereby a joyous person or smile can that companies need to use competency tests for recruitment
create a positive mood. Also, the author has stressed a lot on EI than IQ or technical skills.
leader being the most important element in defining your Concept of Smart Guess: Many leaders take
emotional state. The followers always look towards the leader decisions based on intuition which is improved by using the
for emotional cues and leader is the one who sets and emotions. Thus emotions help our brain work efficiently and
emotional standard. attain a better understanding of options available and how to
Silence of the leader or lack of emotional action can prioritize them. Thus for every organization a leader with
trigger followers to look for an alternative person who can act resonant behavior is necessary for success.
as an emotional leader for a person. Moreover, the book

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 LEADERSHIP STYLES delegating work. They help in boosting employee’s
confidence and increase their performance level.
Effective leaders not only exhibit good mood and To be a coach, a leader needs to be empathetic to
say right things they follow certain leadership styles. These develop a rapport with the employees and understand his/her
styles are often a combination of six different approaches to goals and dreams. A coach also needs to be highly self-aware
leadership – and self-confident to guide others. However, a coaching style
1. Visionary of leadership is successful only when an employee seeks
2. Coaching professional development and shows initiative. Also, if used
3. Affiliative incorrectly, this style of leadership seems like
4. Democratic micromanaging undermining the employee’s confidence.
5. Pacesetting
6. Commanding III. AFFILIATIVE STYLE
Each of these approaches have certain situations and
the extent in which they should be used for better results. If In this style, a leader values the feelings of
used appropriately, these leadership styles not only have a employees and their emotional needs instead of
positive impact on the emotions of employees but also accomplishing tasks. This style encourages open sharing of
contribute to the financial success of the company. Also, the feelings with the employees, making them more loyal and
approaches demand certain emotional intelligence committed towards the leader. This style is helpful to build
competencies from the leader which are described further. team harmony, effective communication and increasing the
trust in the organization.
I. VISIONARY STYLE To be able to use affiliative style, a leader needs to
be empathetic towards the employees’ feelings. Also, the
A visionary leader helps the employees align the leader needs to be good at conflict management to make the
goals of employees to the goals of the organization. They teams harmonious. However, focus on people’s emotions and
enable the employees see a bigger picture of their job, hence not goals creates an impression of high tolerance of bad
increase their commitment. They set clear goals for the performance. There is a high chance that this style might
employees but let them pave the path for achieving them. In reduce employee’s motivation to work hard by tolerating
this way, they promote creativity of the employees. Visionary mediocrity. Hence, it is often suggested that this style is used
leaders often succeed in retaining their valuable employees along with visionary style
by resonating them with company’s values, goals and
mission. Also, this method helps them develop a standard IV. DEMOCRATIC STYLE
performance measurement.
To become a visionary leader, a person needs to In a democratic style of leadership, a leader always
have certain emotional intelligence competencies. To inspire seeks the opinion of the employees before making a decision
an employee, a leader needs to understand his/her feelings; and hence they often obtain the consensus of most of the
hence they have to be empathetic towards people’s needs. To employees. This style of leadership is extremely useful when
make people believe in the goal of the leader, he/ she needs the leader is uncertain of which direction to take. Even with
to exhibit high levels of self-awareness and self-confidence. a clear vision or a goal, a leader can use this style to pave the
Visionary leaders need to develop a credibility for themselves path to achieve those goals. Such leaders often create an open
among the employees, for which they need to be transparent environment for employees to give both good and bad news,
and honest. eliminating the CEO disease in an organization.
Visionary style of leadership is extremely effective To become a democratic leader, a person needs to
when a company is looking for a turnaround. However, in a be a very good listener and orator so that he/she is able to
team of experts, a visionary leader is often seen as pompous convey their feelings and take others’ input. A democratic
and cause cynicism. leader also needs to be good at collaboration and conflict
management to create an open environment where everyone
II. COACHING STYLE feels safe to express both good and bad things.
Coaching style is of leadership is least often V. PACE-SETTING STYLE
exhibited. In coaching style, a leader tries to know an
employee beyond their work like their goals, dreams and Most of the leaders who use this approach are the
personal life, developing a good rapport with them. This ones who were performing exceptionally well at lower
rapport helps the employee become more open to the positions. So, in this style the leaders strive for excellence
feedback given by the boss. In this style, a coach helps an from their employees. They expect the work to be done ahead
employee set their long-term goals and helps them achieve it of deadlines and hold each employee with expectations like
by tying it to their strengths and weaknesses. Coaches often their own work. This type of approach is seen in technical and
try to give challenging roles to the employees giving them an R&D companies where the most successful engineer or
opportunity to develop and learn from them and are good at scientist is promoted as the head with no management

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background. Pace-setting style is very helpful in the right person, in the right way, at the right time, and for the
entrepreneurial phase of the company. right reason.”
In most of the cases pace-setting style leads to Even though commanding style appears to be
pushing the employees very hard and decreasing their morale. successful in, creating a turnaround in the company, one must
In this style the leader doesn’t delegate the power to see that this turnaround is short term because of cutbacks and
subordinates instead, keep themselves involved in every damages the long-term continuity of the organization. This is
decision. Since the leader micromanages in this style, called “the SOB paradox”. Also, the SOB drives away the
employees feel a lack of trust from the leader. The continuous most talented employees of the organization.
high targets and deadlines set by the leader instigate the fire-
fighting instincts among the employees who look for only HOW TO BE AN EFFECTIVE LEADER
survival instead of excellence. To use this style successfully, To be effective, a leader should have six or more EI
a leader needs to be empathetic towards the feelings of the leadership abilities. The leader needs to be flexible to use
subordinates. different styles of leadership according to the situation
VI. COMMANDING STYLE instead of sticking to one style. They should be willing to use
not only the resonant styles, but also the dissonant styles of
A commanding leader is very less open to the leadership, i.e. pace setting and commanding, whenever the
opinion of his/her subordinates and rule over the subordinates situation arises.
using their position. They give very less freedom to the A leader should also be open to the candid feedback
subordinates to set their goals or decide on the method to do that they receive and have high self-awareness on the areas
a job. In such organizations, a clear hierarchy is found, and of EI competencies that they can improve. But in most cases,
subordinates demeaned or criticized for even small mistakes. subordinates withhold most of the information, especially if
The performance feedback given by such leaders usually it is negative, from the leaders creating an information
contains what are the things that the employee did wrong vacuum around them. This phenomenon is called CEO
instead of what they did well. They rarely praise their disease. When it comes to the performance feedback of the
employees. CEO, this information becomes even less reliable as
employees are uncomfortable to give negative feedback to
their leaders. Hence the leaders should have high levels of
self-assessment. Also, the leaders should make changes to
themselves according to the feedback received to encourage
more and more employees to participate in this process.
A leader can also adopt to various styles of
leadership, that they inherently don’t possess, by consultation
and practice. However, most of them often drift back to their
original style within a few months after the consultation ends.
One of the reasons for this drift can be the highly demanding
responsibilities of the leader giving them no time to practice
a new style. This phenomenon is called “Honeymoon Effect”.
One of the reasons for this is that the training programs target
the neo cortex of brain, which is used to gather technical
skills, rather than the limbic brain, which governs the
feelings, impulses and drives.
The development of leadership skill is affected by
the limbic brain which is a slow learner, especially if it must
relearn habits. So, most of the leadership skills that people
Figure 1: Six styles of Effective Leadership
possess are their childhood habits. Hence, the right time to
learn leadership qualities is from adolescence to the early
twenties for a person. If these lessons are to be taken at later
Such leadership is necessary in necessary in a crisis stages of life, they require high amounts of self-motivation.
situation and emergencies such as military, operating theatre
and firefighting because in these situations need quick SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING
decisions to be made and followed without contention. To
Self-directed learning is extremely important for
effective in commanding style a leader need to be a good
leadership development. It firstly requires to build a strong
influencer, have significant achievements for the employees
image of your ideal self and a correct picture of your real self.
to look upon them and should take initiative. Also, the leader
It involves five discoveries. There are 5 broad steps of
needs to have control on their emotions to reduce their
impatience or anger, and channel their outbursts effectively. becoming a resonant leader –
In Aristotle’s words, “the leader needs to be angry on the I. CONNECTING WITH DREAMS

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 When you suddenly feel passionate about positive and negative to perform better. For a leader, It is
something, then you truly connect with your dream and this important to understand what he/she needs to improve and
connection leads to passion, energy, excitement and where to focus his/her attention. Thus, first and second
enthusiasm. This discovery is capable of making a lasting discovery together contrasts your ideal and real self. This
change. However, sometimes this connection has a negative realization helps you to understand what qualities you want
impact when the person is frustrated because he/she is not to keep and what are the areas of improvement. However,
living that dream today. But it is not easy to connect with your one needs to be extremely cautious while hearing the negative
dreams because of multiple reasons mentioned below – feedback because people low in self-confidence exaggerate
1. We usually try to be someone else rather than the person the gaps and ignore the strengths and are demotivated
we can become because of the ideal image that our thereby, interrupting or stopping the self-directed learning or
parents, friends, teachers have portrayed and gradually the likelihood of change.
lose the sight of our dreams. We become numb to our
passion and settle for what is there in our way. Thus, III. LEARNING AGENDA
discovering the ideal self is of paramount importance for It is important that learning goals resonate with the
the leadership development process. person’s dreams and hence, the improvement plans should be
2. We mix leadership development with career planning focused on learning rather than performance outcomes
rather than the holistic vision of one’s life. It is important because learning agenda helps you to become own ideal
to address multiple of our lives rather than just work, rather than someone else’s idea of what you should be. It is
thereby having a balanced view of work and life. It is not only important to set goals but it is equally important to
important that the person is aware of his/her values and develop a proper plan to achieve and implement them
the actions are aligned with the values. There are 3 broad because there is a usual complain that too much time was
philosophies of this – spent on planning and very few time to do the actual work.
3. Pragmatic philosophy – Consider themselves largely Following steps should be followed to set the desired goals –
responsible for their life and measure things to assess 1. Goals should be built on strengths – One should be self-
their value aware of his/her strengths and then the goals should be
a. Intellectual philosophy – Have a visionary set by leveraging those strengths thereby, building an
leadership style and rely on intellect and logic effective visionary, leadership style.
to make decisions 2. Goals should be your own – The goals should resonate
b. Humanistic philosophy – Believes that personal with your own vision and dreams. People usually agree
relationships give meaning to life and have to developmental goals because a boss/mentor
relationship management competencies encourages that.
4. Dreams and aspirations keep changing and when people 3. Feasible plans – One should commit to activities that are
feel that they have reached a point in life where they have difficult to do in current lives and work style because
lost all enthusiasm then there comes a point where they practical steps yield the most powerful improvement.
find renewed energy in a new ideal, thereby changing the Any change to achieve the developmental goal should be
ideal self. incorporated in the daily routine so that they become
5. It is important to focus on the realities and compare with integral to what you do.
the ideal situation to understand what needs to be 4. Learning Style – Desired learning style that is suitable to
changed. It then requires thing on the ideal vision and you should be adopted so that the efforts are not wasted.
self-awareness to develop a shared vision. Learning can happen through concrete experience,
II. REALIZING THE REAL SELF reflection, model building or trial and error method.

People usually get accustomed to the disappointment,

frustration and boredom like a boiling frog which is the real
self. But it is important to understand your real self to
evaluate your talents and passions. But it is difficult to realize
the habits that have accumulated inevitably. Routine creates
a gradual change that takes hold over time, and realities are
hard to absorb then and becomes difficult to see our true self.
This self-delusion is a powerful trap because then we give
more weightage to our distorted self. The most appropriate
way to correct this is by obtaining corrective feedback from
the people around us. But, this in turn has a problem as people
around us are silent or afraid to give the honest feedback
because they want to remain in good books and hence, leaders
remain deprived of the true feedback. However, it is really
important to actively seek the full range of information – Figure 2: Discovering of Resonant Leadership

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 IV. RECONFIGURING THE BRAIN norm of taking consensus from everyone. The leader who
entered took too much time in taking consensus but
It is difficult to modify the long adopted habits to ultimately failed the team because of time-consuming
perform basic tasks and hence improving an emotional decision making. He also mentions another example of a
intelligence takes a long time. One needs to perform the leader who entered a team and broke it because she did not
changed task repeatedly so that brain establishes new know the underlying norms of loyalty that were prevalent in
connections and slowly becomes the brain’s default option. the team. A leader can make mistakes as the following –
The key to learning new habits for leaders is that one should 1. Ignoring the realities of team ground rules
practice till he/she masters that skill and this requires self- 2. Collective emotions in the tribe
control. Learning should become a habit stealthily and 3. Assuming that the force of leadership is alone
sometimes mental rehearsal (repeating the sequence in mind) enough to change behavior.
is an effective tool for this.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF TEAMS AND LEADERS
V. POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS
Group emotional intelligence determines a team’s ability
While undergoing the leadership development to manage its emotions in a way that cultivates trust, group
program, it is important to develop social relationships. It is identity and group efficacy. Group’s EI requires –
important to have coaches, mentors and friends to explore the 1. Self-awareness
realities and who can encourage you throughout the way. 2. Self-management
They can customize the leadership development program and 3. Social awareness
revamp the outline of the entire program in a one-on-one 4. Relationship management
relationship As leaders feel that they are under continuous
scrutiny they do not feel safe and feel stressed while
practicing new ways of acting, thereby, hampering their
learning. He/She should also communicate his/her learning
agenda or the new vision to the people in the organization so
that there is a parallel transformation in the organization and
everyone starts thinking in the same manner, thereby
increasing the overall level of emotional intelligence and
leadership talent.
EMOTIONAL REALITY OF TEAMS
The author introduces the idea of emotional reality
for both individuals and teams and stresses on the importance
of managing emotional reality while working in groups. An
example about a top management team of a manufacturing
firm not able to take decisions because of low conflict
management EI competence showed how they avoided
disputes. This was an emotional reality that had paralyzed
them.
When teams face their collective emotional reality,
they begin a healthy re-examination of their shared habits. It
is also a matter of motivation. Individuals are more motivated
Figure 3: Components of Emotional Intelligence
to achieve their goals and thus will change their behavior
accordingly. But the ideal vision for a group seems far more When teams practice self-awareness, they build on
distant. For example, the use of Lofty words used in mission empathy for each other. Social awareness is the foundation
statements in companies alienates the employees from the top that enables a team to build and maintain effective
management of the company. relationships with the rest of the organization. Members of a
self-aware team are attuned to the moods and emotional
NORMS IN A TEAM undercurrents of all individuals as well as the group.
Goleman then talks about long established and deeply Emotionally intelligent members of a team also recognize
embedded ground rules which are called norms in teams and hidden norms of the team that are detrimental to the team.
Setting up of vague goals and public bravado are certain
culture in organization. He also argues how groups are
examples when these instruments prove dysfunctional to the
smarter than individuals only when they exhibit the qualities
of emotional intelligence. And it is the leader who sets the working of a team.
Emotionally intelligent leader also calls attention to
tone and helps to create the group’s emotional reality. Norms,
the collaborative norms of the team and reminds them of it so
though represent implicit learning at the group level, can also
be destructive. For e.g., there was a team who had an unsaid that they function better. For example, giving responsibility

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of staying on track for everybody is shared around on a piece learning makes it a herculean task which cannot be achieved
of paper before every meeting. Positive norms will stick only by most executive education and leadership development
if the team practices it. Members take initiative and instill and programs. Even when these leadership processes help in
reinforce the resonant norms among one another. exploring five discoveries will fail to change the organization
Emotionally intelligent teams also have empathy and build because the emphasis is only on the person and do not
resonance between groups and support them. consider the power of the emotional reality and the culture.
Emotionally intelligent leader uncovers the less
productive norms prevalent in the team and makes them FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP BUILDING
change it collectively. They also look at the situation from Leadership development programs even though well-
their members’ perspective and he makes the members talk designed by top management will not yield results if the
routinely about their strengths and how they can contribute to program just doesn’t feel relevant to the people in the
the team success – inclusion dynamics and people’s roles. organization. Culturally, training is not considered as priority
They also observe important signals, and not ignore by employees. So, in order to ensure that learning does feel
problems, talk about it, have ‘team close-downs’. crucial to employees is when it is seen as the strategic priority
BUILDING EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT ORGANIZATION of the organization driven by the top management personally.
However, in most organizations, leadership development
Leaders can start a shift towards emotional becomes a typical mandate of the HR department and that’s
intelligence only when they start to understand their why they fail. Another reason that the commitment of the
company’s emotional realities. The complex nature of organization’s top leaders is required: Resonance requires
organisation makes it imperative for leaders to foster wide resources, efforts and support not just money. And since new
emotionally intelligent leadership. The transformation can leadership means a new mindset and new behavior, and in
only start if the leaders are open to truth, who can uncover the order to sustain it, the organization’s systems, culture and
emotional realities of their firm and those who can engage processes all need to change as well. Thus, the level of change
their employees to follow them towards this change. that involves changing the emotional reality of the
To understand the realities of the organisation, a organization and the deep-seated behavior would require
leader should be benign. They should create a culture where courageous leadership and unswerving commitment.
people can tell them the truth about the organisation. This Leadership programs fail if the big picture i.e. the
would enable the leaders to understand the realities organizational culture is ignored. The pockets of resistance
better. The leaders should adopt the method of dynamic are widespread and the inertia in the culture is powerful.
enquiry – where they ask the employees what is working and Thus, Individual leaders cannot change the culture alone. For
what is not. Dynamic Inquiry is more effective to understand new vision of sustainable change to stay, it must spread
than the surveys because the former just measures the known through every organizational level.
parameters, whereas in case of dynamic enquiry new These programs might not work if they attempt to
parameters will arise. change only one person and ignore the norms of the groups
“Don’t align, attune” - Attunement is very important they work in every day. Also, we are not able take in account
when a company is going through a change. It starts with the power of the culture when we ignore the real state of the
involving employees deeply in identifying gaps the current organization believing that if people learn what they should
reality and people’s ideal vision. A leader should make the do and be; groups, systems and culture will automatically
move from talks to action and must motivate their employees support them in this change process.
through their actions. The process does not stop when a
change is made, but the leader must also create systems that
sustain practices that are emotionally intelligent.
SUSTAINABLE CHANGE BY LEADERS
Creating resonance in the organization that is
sustained over time is a challenge for a leader that can only
be accomplished if the entire fabric of the organization is
interwoven with emotionally intelligent leadership. In first
place itself, resonance is created by emotionally intelligent
leaders, therefore more such leaders would result in more
powerful transformation of an enterprise. Figure 4: Processes of Excellent and Successful Leadership
The foremost obstacle in the way of creating Leadership building also fails when organizations are
sustainable resonance is that organizations thrive on routine not able to develop a ‘language’ of leadership i.e. meaningful
i.e. do not encourage new learning. And bringing sustainable words that envisages the spirit of leadership by emphasizing
change necessitates the development of new leadership style ideals, ideas and emotionally intelligent leadership practices.
which implies fundamentally changing how one operates
with other people. But the paradox of encouraging new

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 Leadership building will succeed with a process not a need to be over expressive or laugh every day to show a
program. Designing a process that will continually build positive emotion or to motivate employees. Leaders who are
leadership will require helping enterprise leaders to explore introvert and are not over expressive are also emotionally
their own dreams and ideals, examine their gaps and intelligent leaders who can understand the emotional state of
strengths, and utilize their work routine as a ‘laboratory for their followers and motivate them through empathy which is
learning’. Moreover, to promote new learning for leaders, the also mentioned in the book. Thus, positive emotions don’t
process needs experiences that are frame breaking and always have to be shown in over expressive way to the
relevant. employees.
Therefore, the best leadership building initiatives
focuses on the true change that occurs through a multifaceted III. COMPETENCY MODEL
process penetrating the three important levels of the Daniel talked about the importance of testing the
enterprise: The individuals in the enterprise, the teams in candidates on not technical skills or IQ but their Emotional
which they work and the enterprise’s culture. Strong intelligence as most of the leaders who are on senior level
leadership building processes will succeed if they emphasize positions exhibited some sense of Emotional intelligence
on emotional and intellectual learning and involve active and trait. However, it fails to establish if their IQ or technical
participatory work where the employees deploy what they are skills also had some correlation with their Emotional
learning to identify and solve real problems in the enterprise. Intelligence which helped in their promotion. Thus, focusing
CRITICAL ANALYSIS on just emotional intelligence may not be correct as the
combination of technical and emotional intelligence skills
I. BASIS OF EMOTIONS IS THE LEADER might have led to their success. There are different types of
leader who themselves have to take control of emergency
Author on several occasions mentioned that the situations and exhibit certain amount technical skills. Their
employees or followers are always looking towards leaders competency in terms of knowledge can help exert power or
for emotional cues and the emotional state of leader or their trust with their employees. Moreover, as per journal
behavior impacts their performance. However, in my opinion emotional intelligence vs Emotional competence (Vaida &
the emotional state of the colleagues also impacts your Opre,2014) emotional intelligence is just a part of emotional
emotional state or mood which is based on the concept of competence that needs to developed for creating better
mirror neutrons and not just the leaders. For instance, if you performance, thus alone EI doesn’t influence that. The author
join an organization where the leader is consistently happy fails to recognize the difference between the Emotional
with you work and show appreciation for your work but if intelligence and emotional competence
your colleagues are jealous you and are unwilling to
cooperate with you or make comments which can be IV. TRAINING OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
derogatory and then also your emotional state can also be
affected whereby your motivation can be impacted. The book focuses on 4 components of EI that are Self-
Moreover, if the organization is indulging in unethical awareness, self-management, relationship management and
practices then you may feel sense of anxiety or fear even Social awareness. The author does claim that EI can be
though the leader tries to be optimistic and that there is no trained to individuals. However, there can be conflicting
danger involved. So the end conclusion of this argument is views where the EQ also overlaps with your personality traits
that it’s not just the leader but your colleagues, workplace which can be genetic and affect your ability to learn EQ
culture can create a sum total of your emotional system. (Tomas, 2013). However, it is something which can be
However, it can’t be denied that leader is a vital clog in the improved with time through coaching even though it may not
emotional system. completely distress you. Research paper “Can Emotional
This can be related to concept of cognitive conflict and Intelligence be trained? A meta analytical investigation”
affective conflict taught in the course whereby if the conflict concludes that training does provide a positive impact on
is not resolved properly then it can actually impact the your EI (Mattingly & kraiger). Thus we can conclude that
implementation and performance of the team. It is true that training does help your EI so EI is firm to change but it is not
leader can manage the team and try to coordinate a completely rigid.
conclusion. However, the team members need to be on the V. INTUITION AND EMOTION
same page and ensure that there is no sense of jealousy or
negative emotions which can affect the conflict resolution. As a leader you need to take several decisions throughout
Thus, leader along with your colleagues are important to your life. Data might not be available every time you are
change the emotional state of the environment looking to make a decision and thus intuition becomes
necessary to make rational decision whereby your gut helps
II. CONCEPT OF EMOTIONAL TALENT you to prioritize the options. The intuition can be filled with
The book highlights that the enthusiastic leader who are biases and thus EI can be an important factor in being aware
expressive through various signs such as laughter, smile, of your emotions which helps to reduce emotional biases that
humor tend to retain more employees. But the leader doesn’t exist. Moreover, in addition to just your emotions other

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factors such as Pattern recognition also helps to improve your quirks. Sometimes, two completely opposite types of
intuition based decisions. Thus Emotion is definitely personalities clash with each other and thus cause conflicts
important for improving your decision making but there are which need to be resolved using awareness of the situation,
other factors as well that can contribute. understanding, and management using communication.
These kinds of underlying truths about a team’s dynamics is
VI. RESONANT LEADERS called emotional reality which is discussed in the chapter in
The author has concretely mentioned the 5 steps of being detail.
a resonant leadership, the main criteria being identifying self The first thing to notice about teams is that there is an
and purpose whereby we clearly define the goals that are underlying understanding or a common way of working
achievable and learn in the process. The process involves which is called norms. Any external person who enters the
changing your habits which will evolve over time and make group should, as a prerequisite, understand the norms
you more suitable to the goal as a leader and a colleague. prevalent in that group. Most of the times, important norms
Relationship management is another key element whereby to of a group are just unsaid customs that are practiced by a
improve your EI you might need coaching. Being a resonant group, and not explicitly communicated. These practices
leader gives you an edge over others as you create positive would need to be understood only by close and continuous
environment for your employees through clarity of roles and observation and can’t be fathomed by just one interaction.
self-awareness. However, in addition to the emotional Thus, it is imperative for any new person to a group to have
intelligence, other factors such as your cognitive and knowledge about the norms in the group before entering the
technical skills and your past experience also play a key role group. An example of this mentioned in the chapter was about
in shaping you as a leader. In such scenarios it helps you a dynamic leader who entered a team, introduced some
relate better to the situation of your employee and how you changes and ultimately broke the team in some months
should react in a situation to ensure that the motivation of because of the lack of understanding about the underlying
employee is not compromised. At the same time if some emotional reality of loyalty in the team.
sense of fear and anxiety that needs to developed must be Teams also need to be aware about their collective
done to ensure that the employees don’t see the empathy as a emotional reality, so that they can critique it and make
weakness and become complacent. However, overdoing it changes to their external behavior on the basis of it, to ensure
can lead to burnout and thus must be exercised with caution. that they are making the best of their collective abilities.
Generally, the motivation and goals of a team are more
intangible that those of an individual simply because they put
together by an external entity and placed on the group. These
goals are not coherent nor cohesive to the group and therefore
wordy mission statements of a company do not make sense
to the employees. Thus, motivation needs to be built among
group members towards the end goal to ensure contribution
towards the same. The manner of invoking motivation among
the group can also be comprehended by facing the emotional
realities of the team, because not every team can be motivated
in the same way. Different kinds of realities need to be
managed in different ways, because not all problems can be
Figure 5: Reasons to become a Resonant Leader painted in the same colours.
A key element in any group is the leader who can make
VII. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE or break the team’s confidence, dynamics, abilities and drive.
A leader needs to be particularly emotionally intelligent to be
It is generally argued that teams and groups function able to capture the finer details and signals amongst the
better than individuals as they pool in their mental and workings of the group. An emotionally intelligent leader
physical resources and abilities towards performing the task would take great care to not undermine the existing emotional
in a better manner. But, as the chapter “Emotional Reality of realities of the group and the collective sentiments upheld by
Teams” argues, it is true that not all groups operate better than the unit as a whole. A great leader would in fact induce the
individuals. A group brings with it multiple complexities that team to acknowledge their tacit ground norms and face their
need to be taken care of, in order to produce the best output. emotional realities together. Some leaders pay great
For example, the case of the team that did not talk about their importance to their teams and people dynamics. For example,
disagreements in order to avoid disputes clearly shows that a Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin group, stresses on the
simple lack of clear communication between the members of significance of employees in his companies. In fact, he has
a team led to functional disability for the group, whereas this clearly stated many times that employees come first and
would not have been a problem if it was an individual customers come second. Only if the employees are taken care
working on his or her own. Every person in a team is a of properly, will they take care of their duties and ultimately
separate entity with his or her own personality types and the customers. Initiatives such as these when taken up by the

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leadership promote a sense of belongingness among the leadership initiatives to be thoughtfully designed and
employees and thus personalize the company’s goals at an communicated like Unilever did.
individual level. Teams are able to relate to the goal more and Unilever leadership Development was a success because
contribute with the best of their best abilities to the end of the following:
achievement. While the importance of an emotionally 1. Unilever designed leadership building initiatives to
intelligent leader can’t be stressed more, it also needs to be fundamentally change leadership behaviors, and
taken into consideration that the team also must be accepting establish a new, competitive and enterprising company
of any new entrants or leaders in its midst. An EI leader culture. Being a global company, the process would span
would try to uncover hidden and uncreative norms, but it years, geographies, levels and businesses. Unilever
would be of no help if none of the team members accept and required leaders to rethink everything from their vision
appreciate the efforts made by the leader to make the exercise
for the company to personal dreams and how to execute
fruitful.
Emotionally intelligent groups are self-aware, capable of leadership and be emotionally engaged.
managing their own selves, socially aware and self-reliable 2. At seminars and retreats, the management used the
to manage relationships. This quality builds on their empathy language of leadership by involving words like ‘passion,
for each other as well as healthy and efficient relationships emotionally charged, vulnerability, risk and personal
with the rest of the organization. Initiatives like the “Angel’s vision.
advocate” helped in improving associations with other people 3. The leadership process was conveyed by the top
in a firm without hampering people’s feelings. This also helps management themselves. The first kick-off retreat in
in developing perspective among the people so that they are which 100 top leaders in the company participated was
able to think and approach a problem or a situation from all led by chairman Niall FitzGerald and Antony Burgmans.
sides, leading to effective solutions and suggestions. Many 4. The strategy of creating buzz i.e. communicating this
research studies, for example, one conducted by Brigette Ann process as a mark of prestige and honor was an
Rapisarda, have corroborated how the level of emotional intelligent way of people’s continued involvement.
competence and intelligence in a group of people can
5. The process was to offer an experience that touch
determine their performance. Apart from this, high levels of
people’s hearts and seem relevant to them so that the
emotional intelligence also affected the team cohesiveness. A
ultimate goal of following new behaviors, new mindset
more cohesive team is more inclined to communicate better
and new ways of working together are embraced. One
and understand each other on a deeper level, leading to
executive mentioned that being intellectually engaged
smooth functioning of the team. They also learn to resolve
would gradually drain energy and commitment, and
conflicts better than any other team. Such a team has high
learning will suffer. Hence, you need to be emotionally
levels of resonance and creativity, as they bounce new ideas
engaged with your own passion and company’s strategy.
off of each other and bring in innovation. This leads to a
This process built cultural change into leadership
healthy emotional climate within the group, as the book
building.
states.
The book is a must-read as it will find relevance in the
However, there are certain circumstances when the
future as well. Social, political, economic, and technological
teams are somehow inhibited to talk to each other about
changes are driving changing realities in our society. These
certain topics that they feel are taboo. This can be repaired by
business realities results in a renewed emphasis on the
an EI leader who takes up the initiative to spark up the
application of primal leadership in enterprises. As businesses
eagerness to be involved in the truth and reality of situations.
are more dynamic than ever, the strategies that are viable
They should not be held captive by the group’s norms and
today might not be tomorrow. And for companies to survive
thus when the quest for the truth initiated by someone at the
these future surprises, the leaders who have the ability to
top, it is bound to get legitimized by the rest of the team, with
manage their emotions during drastic change are crucial.
increased fervor. Teams need to be in constant touch with the
Primal leaders know the ability of managing disruptive
emotional reality of the group to ensure that they accomplish
emotions so that they can focus and think clearly under
the goals which brought them together, in the most optimized
pressure. Emotionally intelligent leaders adapt to new
manner of functioning.
realities of business ahead of the future. They are proactive
VIII. SUSTAINABILITY OF E MOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE rather being reactive to the crisis. And even in the midst of
transformational changes, they can see way to the brighter
The book offers the real-life applicability of the concepts future, communicate their vision with resonance and lead the
it mentions about building a successful leadership organization.
development process. Daniel Goleman (2002) helped us As in the old model of leadership, the people can no
understand the importance of emotional and relational longer be seen as interchangeable parts within our
resonance as the building blocks of leadership development organizations. The functional focus of leadership that
processes. Another crucial aspect he focused on was how to symbolized the industrial period must now emphasize on the
sustain the change in the organization which requires emotional and interpersonal dimensions of the people in the
organization. “Leadership excellence is being redefined in

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interpersonal terms implying that leaders cannot succeed by Leaders need to be developed in terms of maximizing the
the virtue of power alone but by excelling the art of half-life of learning i.e. developing ‘stickiness’ so that there’s
relationship.” Primal leaders know the right time and right continued learning. People can and will change if they find a
way of being collaborative and expressing vision, when to convincing reason to do so and leadership process that makes
lead and when to listen. Such leaders nurture relationships people understand what they want to change and how is
and create human synergies, thus, fostering an environment deemed as success.
of flexibility and enthusiasm. They exude resonance that can Primal leadership is an important dimension as it
be sustained. largely determines whether a leader’s efforts will pay off or
not. We now know the underlying neurology – specifically
LEARNINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS the open loop for emotions that makes creating resonance ‘the
The author has rightly specified the importance of primal task’ for a leader.
positive emotions in an organization as it can help to boost Emotional intelligence entails the essential
the performance of the team. So as a leader it does become competencies for ‘resonant leadership’, and these
important that you show high emotional intelligence and competencies can be cultivated and strengthened both for an
create a positive environment in the organization. This also individual and the team. Resonant leadership also yields
relates to concept of mirror neutrons. Using humor, smile and results in terms of organizational effectiveness and business
giving feedback in a positive manner helps to boost the performance. Creating resonance and raising the collective
morale of the employee and increase their productivity in the emotional intelligence of a group, team or entire organization
organization. will result in bigger impact than cultivating it for an
The most important component of Emotional individual.
Intelligence is understanding your own emotions that is self- REFERENCES
awareness. It is a prerequisite to self-management and
relationship management whereby as a leader you need to [1] Sammi Caramela, What is Emotional Intelligence and Why Does
It matter? (September 2018).
first understand your own emotions before you can manage
them and also it helps to evaluate yourself while managing a [2] Hindustan Unilever, Sustainability Reports 2018,
relationship. If we are oblivious to your own emotions, then https://www.unilever.com/careers/students-and-
graduates/unilever-future-leaders-programme.html
you can’t be socially aware as followers expect you to show
some sense of Empathy. [3] Vaida, Sebastian; Opre, Adrian; Emotional Intelligence versus
Although all these interpretations are modern but it emotional competence, May 2014, University of Oradea
can traced back to Hindu mythology where we can see that [4] Victoria Mattingly, Kurt Kraiger; Can emotional intelligence be
during Mahabharata, Arjun was unaware about his karma of trained? A meta-analytical investigation, June 2019
fighting the war against his Grandfather and teacher and then
Krishna explained him his dharma. Thus self-awareness
helped him realize his duties and allowed him to manage his
emotions as a leader and focus on goals for the organization.
Thus we can say that self-awareness is the most important
trait of Emotional intelligence
Daniel clearly emphasizes on the importance of
purpose and goal in your life as a leader and then identifying
yourself and see if you have the right habits, skills to achieve
the same.
Great Leaders such as Gandhi had clear idea of their
goals and values which was based on principle of Non-
violence and using the same theme he carried out his journey
to mobilize a large group of people to fight for independence.
Feedback is necessary self-identification where you
get a chance to reflect upon yourself and if needed make
changes through coaching or brain reinforcement. In
addition, acquiring new skills in cognition with your
emotional intelligence skills doesn’t do any harm whereby
the sense of creativity, technical skills, experiences and
pattern recognition abilities will improve your cognitive
fitness and make you show your emotions effectively in
different situations. All in all Goleman’s theory of resonant
leadership can be an asset to the firm and will be truly useful
in differentiating between a successful leader and a leader.

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