Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

In reviewing Table 2.1, several important comparisons and contrasts emerge. For
instance:
 Self-awareness is a consistently acknowledged EI attribute. Goleman
(1995) states that “self-awareness – recognizing a feeling as it happens – is
the keystone of emotional intelligence” (p. 43). In a similar manner,
Mayer & Salovey (1997) include self-awareness as integral to EI’s
foundation.
 Empathy, “the ability to comprehend another’s feelings and to re-
experience them oneself” (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p. 195) is another
common theme.
 There is general agreement that leadership and EI are related, although
only Nelson & Low (2011) promote leadership as a key composite scale
(i.e., with the subscale skills of Social Awareness, Empathy, Decision
Making, Personal Leadership and Positive Influence) within their EI
model.
 There are distinct differences in the scope of EI, as evidenced in the
definitional perspectives. There is a theoretical chasm within EI.
Specifically, EI either (a) focuses on specific abilities or (b) concentrates
on a universal integration of those capacities (Vigoda-Gadot & Meisler,
2010).
o In the former camp, Salovey and Mayer (1990) and Mayer and
Salovey (1997) defined EI purely within abilities related to
emotions.