The emotional impact the leader has on his or her people is primary, yet often overlooked. Builds on the ideas of emotional intelligence, layering on the concepts of mirroring and open loop systems for emotions where an emotionally expressive person will influence the emotions of others. Use this as a tool for good leadership.

Emotionally intelligent leaders who gain resonance with their people, through:

Self awareness (and confidence)
Self management
Social Awareness
Relationship management

The book describes some types of resonant leaders: visionary, coaching, affiliative, and democratic and some that are typically off-putting: pacesetting and commanding

This book was helpful to me, it had good advice and helped me clarify some thoughts and feelings I've been having around leadership that I had not previously been able to articulate. Goleman argues that one of the most important jobs of a leader is to regulate the emotional atmosphere of the community. Emotions are contagious, and people look to their leaders to set the mood and emotional tone. He also shows that effective leadership is a skill set that can be chosen and learned -- that good leaders are made, not born. And he has practical advice about how to do that He talks about the four areas of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, emotional self-management, social awareness, relationship management) and how they relate to building leadership competency. He also reviews Boyatzi's theory of self directed learning, which was useful to me:
1. Develop a clear vision your ideal self, the person you want to become.

2. Reflect deeply on your real self - develop self knowledge about who you actually are right now. Identify strengths, which are where the ideal self and real self overlap, and identify weaknesses -- areas where the ideal and real self differ.

3. Develop a learning agenda which builds on strengths while reducing gaps.

4. Experiment with new behaviour, thoughts, and feelings and practicing new behaviors and skills.

5. Developing trusting relationships that help, support, and encourage each step of the process.

This is the approach to coaching and mentoring I've been intuitively taking so it was cool to see it laid out.

I've had a lot of reluctance and ambivalence about becoming a leader. I didn't want to be a leader, and haven't known how to be one, because I've never been a follower. I have slowly accepted that offering visionary leadership is part of my service, that it is something that people need and something that I have the capacity to do well, in part precisely because I hate control, authority, and manipulation. So if it is my fate to be put into positions of leadership, whether I want to be or not, I have a responsibility to do it as well as I am able, which means developing these skills with discipline and concentration and humility. This book relieved a lot of my anxiety around these issues, making this learning project seem more manageable.

I like management and leadership books that base recommendations on more than anecdotal evidence. These authors summarize other researchers' studies and base recommendations on their conclusions. It's a good resource for knowing what works; however, the book identifies successful leadership approaches without delving into how to initiate those changes.

Like most business books, this one probably has some utility in the business world, but it would be stupid, pointless, and dangerous to apply a lot of it to non-profits, education, or public service.

Anyone who reads it will likely find something they can take away from it, although for a lot of us, that takeaway will be that we should scorched earth our entire personalities and start over in order to be successful as leaders (in the business world), which is depressing and demeaning, but there it is.

The leadership styles described in the book are useful to know. Plus the wide variety of descriptions of toxic workplaces, scattered throughout, are also informative.

The basic concept of leading through manipulating one's own and others emotions is at the heart unsavory and dehumanizing, especially if you're a manager, but I imagine that despite the profound personal costs in terms of the validity of one's own thoughts/emotions and the authenticity of self, it probably is a useful tool to have in the toolkit.

That said, I hope never to use any of these methods. After all, I have a life to live outside of work and will still have to look at myself in the mirror years from now after retirement. I want to be sure it's still me looking back, you know?

Overall, I think people who are so desperate for leadership help that they'd give up or alter their essential self probably should read this. Everyone else, fuck no. There's a ton of books on this topic. Choose wisely!

Discover the importance of emotionally intelligent leadership.

What does it take to be a great leader? People might say it’s about having a clear goal, strong plans, and fresh ideas. But great leadership isn’t just about what a leader does – it’s also about how they do it.

In fact, Primal Leadership suggests that emotional intelligence is the most vital part of being an excellent leader. Leaders who are deeply attuned to emotions can inspire their teams by understanding – and speaking to – the things that make them tick.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to explore in this very short book.

-

Set the emotional standard

The reason that emotionally intelligent leadership is so crucial in the workplace has to do with the “open-loop” nature of the limbic system – the emotional center of our brains.

Many other systems in our bodies are closed-loop, meaning they aren’t impacted by external factors. For instance, the circulatory system of the person sitting next to you has no direct effect on your own bodily functions. In contrast, open-loop systems are highly dependent on external sources. That’s why our limbic system is able to receive signals from people around us that can alter our hormones, sleep rhythm, and even immune system functions. In other words: our peers have the power to physiologically influence our emotions.

Good leaders can make use of this fact. Throughout history, groups of humans have looked to them for emotional assurance and certainty when facing threats or accomplishing tasks. It’s likely that ancient leaders were placed in their roles because their leadership style was emotionally compelling.

In modern organizations, this primal aspect of leadership is often overlooked – but the concept remains just as important. Especially in the workplace, people often take their cues from the top. The way that a leader approaches and executes their work carries special weight. Leaders “manage meaning” for the group as a whole, setting the emotional standard for how to interpret and react to any situation.

Leaders who learn to maximize the benefits of primal leadership can drive the emotions of their employees in a positive direction. And the better they are at transmitting positive emotions, the more powerfully the good feelings are spread.

Of course, this isn’t to say that leaders have to be overly nice or fake positivity when things go wrong. Instead, what matters is communicating the realities of worklife without causing undue stress. The more demanding the work, the greater the need for a supportive, empathetic leader.

Not only does an emotionally intelligent leadership style benefit the well-being of employees – and the organization as a whole – but it has also been shown to improve efficiency. After all, we’re not robots … yet! The way we feel at work directly impacts the effort we’re willing to put in.

-

Lead with resonance

In some ways, leading people is like making music. When a leader positively affects a group’s emotions, they’re leading with resonance; if a leader uses negativity to undermine the group’s emotional foundations, they’re creating dissonance.

So, how do you become a resonant leader? There are four domains of emotional intelligence you need to master.

The first domain is self-awareness. While the ability to be self-aware is often neglected in business settings, it’s arguably the most important factor of good leadership. If a leader can’t understand and manage their own emotions, how can they expect to understand the emotions of others? Also, a leader who’s attuned to their inner signals can recognize a feeling like anger or resentment, and work through it constructively before it crescendos into an outburst.

Flowing directly from self-awareness comes the domain of self-management, which encompasses the focus and drive that all great leaders need to achieve their goals. This domain acts as a constant inner dialogue that keeps leaders moving in the right direction.

The key to the third domain – social awareness – is practicing empathy. By paying close attention to how others are feeling, a leader can say exactly what’s needed in the moment and act appropriately for each situation. Resonant leaders are able to convey their feelings honestly, in a way that propels their reports toward positive action.

The first three domains come together to support the fourth – relationship management. This domain comprises some of the skills most commonly associated with leadership, including collaboration, conflict management, and persuasion.

Your ability to effectively manage relationships boils down to how well you can embrace other people’s feelings, act with empathy, and become aware of your own emotions. This is where you, as a leader, truly get to put your primal leadership skills to the test.

-

Throughout history, groups have turned to their leaders for emotional guidance. Though often overlooked in today’s modern workplace, this primal leadership ability is more important than ever.

Together, the four domains of emotional intelligence – self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management – form the skillset needed to become an emotionally intelligent and resonant leader. These domains aren’t inherent skills that all great leaders are born with, but they can be learned and perfected with patience and lots of practice.

I really enjoyed the first half - 2/3rds of this book but the last bit was a bit of a drag. Highly repetitive stories and real life examples that all sounded the same. Still worth reading for sure.

This was recommended as a business book. I picked it up as an audio book. I gave up early on, unfinished. Terms were left undefined early on, and then these same terms used to refer to everything, everywhere.
Not rigorous enough for me, in other words.

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Honest performance feedback can be uncomfortable. Improves self-awareness. Opportunity for a leader to grow and be effective. The higher up the ladder a leader climbs, the less accurate his self-assessment is likely to be.
- Most leaders are deprived of important feedback. It makes people uncomfortable to give candid feedback on someone else’s behavior. When people can’t see being nice with providing others accurate observations about their behavior or style, their feedback is rendered useless.
- People to deprive their coworkers— bosses or subordinates — of honest performance feedback for several reasons, chief of which is that it can be uncomfortable to get such feedback.
- Seeking honest information on leadership capabilities can be vital to a leader's self-awareness and his growth and effectiveness.

2. Emotions:
- If peoples’ emotions are pushed towards the range of enthusiasm, performance can soar.
- Leaders cannot effectively manage emotions and anyone else without first handling their own.
- Managing relationships skillfully boils down to handling other peoples’ emotions.

3. Empathy:
- Empathy means taking a plea’s feelings into thoughtful consideration and then making intelligent decisions that work those feelings into the response.
- Empathy is the ability to sense the feelings, needs, and perspectives of others. Another fundamental competence. Empathy allows a leader to keep people happy by caring for the whole person.

4. Leadership:
- Inspirational leaders offer a sense of purpose behind the day-to-day tasks or quarterly goals that so often take the place of meaningful vision.
- A democratic style of getting buy-in from the constituents can build feel the feelings of trust and respect, in a word commitment. This style works best when the leader is uncertain about what direction to take and needs ideas from able employees.
- The best communicators are superb listeners, and listening is the key strength of the democratic leader. They create a sense that they truly want to hear employees' thoughts and concerns and that they’re able to listen. They’re also true collaborators, working as a team member rather than top-down leaders.
- Leaders can be made more effective if they offer the right tools for learning.

5. Connection:
- People feel pride in belonging to their organization. The sense that everyone is working towards your goals builds team commitment.
- By linking people's daily work to these long-term goals, coaches keep people motivated. Only by getting to know employees on a deeper personal level can leaders begin to think to make that link a reality.

6. Training:
- Honeymoon effect of training: enthusiasm when leaving, improvement fades in 3-6 months.
- Building leadership that lasts: motivation and how a person feels about learning. People learn what they want to learn.
- Re-educating the emotional brain for leadership learning requires lots of practice and repetition.
- Self-Directed learning: requires getting a strong image of your “ideal self”, as well as an accurate picture of your “real self”, who you are now.
- A plan of action needs to be constructed that provides detailed guidance on what new things to try each day, building on strengths and moving you closer to your ideal.
- Progression of the 5 discoveries occurs through discontinuity — a moment of discovery—that provokes awareness and a sense of urgency.

7. Relationships:
- Leadership development can only occur in the tumult and possibilities of our relationships. Others help us see things we are missing, affirm progress made, test our perceptions, and let us know how we are doing.
- Receive corrective feedback from the people around us.

8. Learning Growth
- Understanding you’re operating philosophy can help you see how your ideal self reflects your values.
- Your leadership strengths, what you want to preserve, lie at the intersection of where your real self matches your ideal. Where reality fails to meet your ideal for yourself as a leader, represents your gaps.
- Improvement plans crafted around learning, rather than performance outcomes, have been found most effective.
- The best kind of learning agenda helps you focus on what you want to be calm, your own ideal, rather than someone else’s idea of what you should be. It should lead to setting meaningful standards of performance, rather than taking on an arbitrary normative standard for success that may or may not fit with personal goals.
- Our learning goals are a mental rehearsal that paves the way for a change and how we act. The more personal the commitment to learning goals, the more likely you are to achieve them.
-*When people feel stressed, they no longer feel safe. They become inhibited in practicing new ways of acting.
- Based on the principles of adult learning an individual changes, processes that take people on intellectual and emotional journeys— from facing the reality to implementing the ideal.
- Paradox of Involvement: attending to the entry process can determine the success of the entire initiative.

9. Team:
- One of the biggest mistakes leaders can make: Ignoring the realities of team ground rules and the collective emotions in the tribe and assuming that the force of their leadership alone is enough to drive people‘s behavior.
- Self-aware teams - they have empathy for each other, and there are norms to support vigilance and mutual understanding.
- Attunement starts with involving people deeply in the process of looking at gaps between the organization’s emotional reality and people's ideal vision of the organization, including visions of their own interactions within it.
- The leader must go one step further and put the people in the organization in charge of the change process itself.

10. Resonant Leaders:
- build a fierce loyalty by caring about the careers of those who work for them, and inspire people to give their best for a mission that speaks to shared values.
- *When a leader focuses on people, emotional bonds are created that is the ground in which resonance is sown – and people follow that leader in good times and bad. People need to connect in real-time. They need to talk, laugh, share stories, and build a dream together.
- *Sustaining emotional intelligence: turn vision into action. Leaders use themselves as instruments of discovery and change, get close to the process, and don’t let go until they reach the goal.

As an 8 on the Enneagram with a history of being a task-oriented driven leader who can run people over, this book helped immensely with forming my emotional intelligence, helping shape me into a more well-rounded leader. It has helped me create new habits and brain patterns in how I care for those I'm leading and working alongside of.

Primal Leadership gets you thinking critically about your own tendencies. I found this book particularly useful as I fall within the "pacesetter" leadership style, for the most part, and I have to make it a conscious effort to bring out social tendencies; this book provides good ideas for habit-forming in that direction. There is no "best" leadership style, but a truly effective leader does need to be able to adapt his style to fit any situation at any moment.

Não terminado (aprox 50%). Tema relevante mas o autor repete-se demasiado e apesar de abordar diferentes subtemas volta sempre as mesmas conclusões e parece que andamos sempre a ler o mesmo, daí não ter terminado o livro. De qualquer das formas do que li, achei bastante interessante.

It's good to see that business and leadership is finally encouraging emotional competence. Looking forward to further training.