Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

In our presentations we discuss the over and under-use of the EIL capacities. After all, a strength in one setting is a blind-spot in a another. We see this in our work with students. At times the student who is hyper-achievement-orietned can alienate him or herself from their peers and render themselves ineffective. This quote exemplifies the point in a beautiful way:

?In the practice of leadership, you must continually adjust the setting of any attribute to the level that fits the circumstances immediately at hand. You must continually navigate the straits of leadership, steering clear of the shoals of deficiency on one side and the rocks of excess on the other? (Kaplan & Kaiser, 2006, p. 10)

So the plot thickens. We move even farther away from the comforts of black and white and into a deeper shade of gray. How do we best prepare students to ?steer clear? of each extreme? I think we over-simplify the complexities of leadership when we simply paint a broad brush of ?effective leader behaviors, traits or competences.? It seems we would better serve our students by training them to not only know the effective behaviors, traits and competences but also have an eye for the appropriate use which is in and of itself a new world of challenge. What does a ?medium level? of optimism or inspiration look like? I guess it depends on the context.

Although there is no easy answer, we know it when we feel it. ?We know when we are in the presence of a leader using the appropriate levels of inspiration or optimism. Similar to a cook, we first to need identify the need for an ingredient, then choose an appropriate amount. Either extreme just may ruin the dish. ? SJA

?

Source: http://www.eileadership.net/the-shoals-of-deficiency-and-the-rocks-of-excess

bcs championship bcs national championship 2012 university of alabama national championship game bcs game lsu vs alabama college football