can’t remember how old your kids are now’ but he was genuinely
interested in what they were doing those kinds of connections at the same time he was a hell of ahere and at and home – and he had n engineer
... he was really good at enrolling people ... he called folks together and
said ‘this is why we’re doing it; this is why it’s important; we’re not going
to make stupid decisions; if we get downstream and we find out that we
pushed too hard on this,he felt it was important to do that, but how he was willing to listen when we’ll back off.’ Not only was it explaining why
people brought real data and said how things needed to change because
things didn’t turn out the way we thought.
Participant A9. Participant A9 is a male working in the scientific community.
His proclivity in working for the Federal government was based on parental influence
and his appreciation for the span of control in working on matters of national importance.
A9 believes that having a healthy EI is important for surviving crises of a personal and
professional nature. A9 learned a tremendous amount about EI from his family environs
which, in turn, promoted work: life balance.
Everything I’ve learned about leadership I’ve learned from raising a
family and being a parent ... And really managing a Federal workforce is
not much different than managing a family (chuckle).
(^) I think also the intersection between personal and professional life was
something that I really came to understand ... I coached one of my
daughters – and I needed every Wednesday, I needed to be at her practice
at 5 o’clock and so I had to have flexibility in my schedule. Those kinds
of things you learn and it makes for a happier office, right?^
Gender differences were raised by A9, and that being able to identify with and
relate to the other gender is important but potentially challenging.
I’m a guy, a typical guy (laugh). I raise 3 daughters (laugh) and married a
woman, you know, so ... you have to learn if you’re going to survive in
that kind of environment. Most guys just really aren’t terribly emotionally
intelligent or they don’t perceive themselves to be. “You must be a wimp” or “there’s something wrong with you”.