Leadership is a process that involves not only the ability to make decisions, but the ability to develop a certain emotional stability.
This is the result of managing emotional intelligence competencies. “Successful business leadership is not based solely on the ability to make the right decisions at the right time. It involves many other things from an emotional point of view. Pretending to ignore them for the sake of objective business reasons leads to disaster, since as the philosopher Blas Pascal said well more than 300 years ago, the heart has its reasons, which reason cannot understand. It is generally accepted that the management of emotions is the result of individual experiences, which involves trial and error that sometimes leads to enormous personal wear and tear.That is why it is important for the individual to develop skills that allow them to understand and identify their emotions and those of others in order to achieve greater emotional stability.
This leads us to consider the concept of emotional intelligence, useful to explain and face the demands of everyday life. Previously, explanations of success were based on the concept of intelligence, understanding this as that set of intellectual abilities that allow the individual to know reality and solve problems. Later, given the fact that the IQ is not necessarily an indicator of professional success, one begins to look for answers in the world of emotions.
Studies carried out by Peter Alovey and John Mayer in 1990 allow us to identify the components of the emotional coefficient: self-confidence, self-control, persistence, empathy and mastery of relationships. The first three indicators refer to self-management and are related to motivation to achieve; the last two are competencies related to affiliation and social power, being the most difficult to develop. Self-awareness consists of knowing your own emotions. Self-control is the ability to change or slow down emotions. Persistence is the ability to stimulate yourself in adverse situations. Empathy is the ability to meet other people, intuit the emotional condition of others. Finally, domain of relationships is the ability to be timely in various situations.
Leadership is a skill that develops as the individual cultivates self-confidence, self-control, and perseverance. Leading implies empathy and the ability to excite others. In other words, it is nothing more than a management of both own talent and that of others, resulting from emotional management.
Emotional intelligence can be cultivated and contribute to the development of the individual's leadership capacity. In this process, you have to learn to do things differently until you find satisfaction in those activities you were not in before. This leads to cultivating two basic aspects of leadership: positive vision and a work team committed to achievement. To the extent that the individual knows her own emotional dimension better, she has a better control of her life. In the same way, she understands others better and finally manages to optimize her rational intelligence.
Within the business world, the development of skills related to emotional intelligence gives the individual tools to improve their performance. It is the intelligent management of emotions that will eventually guarantee success within the organization, since it is what will facilitate creativity, motivation and security.
