13 Emotional Intelligence - The Heart Of Leadership.pdf

Paper presented at the Third Annual Conference: The Head & Heart of Leadership
The Leadership Trust Foundation
Ross-on-Wye, 6 – 7 September 2000
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: THE ‘HEART’ OF
LEADERSHIP
by
Roger Gill and John Frost
The Leadership Trust Foundation
Emotional Intelligence V10
Paper presented at the Third Annual Conference: The Head & Heart of Leadership
The Leadership Trust Foundation
Ross-on-Wye, 6 – 7 September 2000
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: THE ‘HEART’ OF LEADERSHIP
by
Roger Gill and John Frost
In the film, The Lion King, Simba the lion is challenged by the monkey, Rafiki. Rafiki
asks Simba, do you know who you are? How well have you changed with the times?
What is your vision for the future? How good are you at handling your emotions?
The ghost of his father, Mufasa, challenges Simba about developing his potential.
We learn that we are not only what we think – cogito, ergo sum –‘I think, therefore I
am’. We are also what we feel - I feel, therefore I am’.1
Self-awareness, change, vision, emotion, potential – these are the themes in a
business environment that has been changing increasingly rapidly in recent years.
David Vice, CEO of Northern , puts it graphically: there are two types of
company – the quick and the Some 80% of the Fortune panies in
1975 are now dead. And many of the panies in the world by market
capitalisation are less than 15 years’ old. The largest mobile pany in
the world, Vodaphone Airtouch, did not exist in 1985. What do all of these
companies have mon? The answer is: they are fleet of foot. Old-economy
companies are struggling pete with the new kids on the block.
Take banking, for instance. Who in Barclays and Natwest ten years ago would have
peting with Tesco for financial services? Who there predicted that, to
compete in the market, the barrier to entry would be simply first-rate information
technology and a world-class call centre? The reality is that your next major
competitor ma