Daniel Goleman is co-chairman of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, based at Rutgers University; Richard Boyatzis is Chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University; and Annie McKee is on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education. This Harvard Business Review article, published in the December 2001 issue, builds on Goleman's research into emotional intelligence ('Emotional Intelligence', 1995 and 'Working with Emotional Intelligence', 1998).

The authors research how emotional intelligence drives performance - "in particular, as how it travels from the leader through the organization to bottom-line results." Their research showed that emotional intelligence is carried through an organization like electricity through wires. The leader's mood spreads quickly and inexorably throughout the business. And if a leader's mood and behavior is "such a potent driver of business success, then a leader's premier task - primal task - is emotional leadership." So the leader's mood had better be a good one, right? Yes, but the mood has to be in tune with those around him. The authors refer to this as dynamic resonance. And that's why emotional intelligence matters so much for a leader. "An emotionally intelligent leader can monitor his or her moods through self-awareness, change them for the better through self-management, understand their impact through empathy, and act in ways that boost others' moods through relationship management." The authors recommend a five-step process, for self-discovery and personal reinvention, "... designed to rewire the brain toward more emotionally intelligent behaviors." The authors conclude that emotional leadership is the spark that ignites a company's performance, creating a bonfire of success or a landscape of ashes.

Daniel Goleman produces another great article on leadership. This article builds on the HBR-articles 'What Makes a Leader?' (1998) and 'Leadership that Gets Results' (2000). In those articles he discusses respectively the impact of emotional intelligence on leadership, and the impact of six different leadership styles on organizational climate. In this article he shows the impact of emotional leadership on business performance. Leaders, managers and MBA-students better get his new book 'Primal Leadership' (2002) into their shopping cart! Highly recommended. The author uses simple US-English.

Daniel Goleman has written two previous books on Emotional Intelligence and why it is more important than IQ over a person's lifetime. This book takes those concepts of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and applies them to successful leadership roles. In doing so it moves leadership from an art form to science.

While it is not difficult to follow this book even if you are not familiar with his prior works, familiarity with the concepts would make the reading flow much smoother. For this text he is joined by EI experts and co-authors Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee as they unravel the use of EI in the workplace.

The bottom line of Primal Leadership is that one of the most important tasks of a leader is to create good feelings in the people they lead. They do this by maintaining those same positive feelings in themselves. In addition they have to create change, sustain change, and build an EI competent organization.

The book introduces the concept of "resonant leadership". This is the tendency of employees to perceive the business environment in the same manner that their leaders do. The moods, opinions, and actions of the leaders resonate to their employees and create the same feelings in them.

The top leaders develop four leadership styles and have the ability to easily change between them as needed. The book not only defines primal leadership but details how to develop and use these leadership qualities to make your business excel when others flounder. A great read with a thought-provoking analysis, this book is required reading for those seeking to excel as leaders in their organization.

Perhaps you have already read one or both of Daniel Goleman's previous books, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ for Character, Health, and Lifelong Achievement (1995) and Working with Emotional Intelligence (1998). If not, I presume to suggest that you do so before reading this volume in which Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee develop in much greater depth and with much wider application many of the same core concepts introduced in those earlier works. In fact, as the authors explain in the Preface, this book goes far beyond two articles which appeared even earlier in the Harvard Business Review ("What Makes a Leader" and "Leadership That Gets Results") "to advance a new concept: primal leadership. The fundamental task, we argue, is to prime good feelings in those they lead. That occurs when a leader creates [italics] resonance -- a reservoir of positivity that frees the best in people. At its root, then, the primal job of leadership is emotional."

Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee carefully organize their material within Three Parts: The Power of Emotional Intelligence, Making Leaders, and Building Emotional Intelligent Organizations. The insights, strategies, and tactics provided are all based on the authors' several decades of real-world experience with all manner of organizations as well as on insights gained through direct and extensive contact with various leaders. In the final chapter, the authors observe: "In sum, the best leadership programs [ones which focus on the process of talent development] are designed for culture, competencies, and even spirit. They adhere to the principles of self-directed change and use a multifaceted approach to the learning and development process itself that focuses on the individual, team, and organization." I am reminded of what the Mahatma Gandhi once asserted: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." What should be the defining values throughout the inevitably difficult change process?

Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee are absolutely certain that the most effective leaders "are more values-driven, more flexible and informal, and more open and frank than leaders of old. They are more connected to people and to networks. More especially, they exude resonance: They have genuine passion for their mission, and that passion is contagious. Their enthusiasm and excitement spread spontaneously, invigorating those they lead. And resonance is the key to primal leadership." Does all this describe the kind of person you wish to follow? If so, then become the same kind of leader for others to follow.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out James O'Toole's The Executive Compass, David Maister's Practice What You Preach, David Whyte's The Heart Aroused, and Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan's Execution: The Discipline of Getting Results.

First off, I really hate the title "Primal Leadership." I picture a gorilla beating the ground with a branch to show he's dominant, which isn't quite what this book is about. The authors use 'primal' to mean primary, as in first and most basic. The basic underpinning of great leadership is emotional intelligence.

"Primal Leadership" is written to help leaders become better leaders by improving their emotional intelligence. The book gives insight into the collective feeling of an organization, or its emotional climate, and how this is influenced by the people at the top of the organization and the leadership methods adopted by the organization.

The authors identify four key aspects of personal competency in emotional intelligence:

* Self-Awareness
* Self-Management
* Social Awareness
* Relationship Management

The stronger a person is in these, the better leader he or she will become. Unless we are aware of our own emotions, we won't know how to control them. For example, if you make a unintentional, snide remark to an employee, because you're frustrated with the employee, the employee will probably not benefit, nor will the work environment. But, to prevent such a remark means you first must accept that you're feeling frustrated and, secondly, control that emotion.

Being socially aware means that you understand the power structure of the organization and it means you have empathy. As an extreme case of lack of empathy, suppose an employee's wife just dumped him and you enter his office and say, "Hey, Jack. Won't ask about the wife. Ha, ha. Just kidding. But, I need that report today, so focus. Don't worry about your personal, little life."

Obviously, that wouldn't go over too well! A great film of unmotivating leadership is "Office Space." The CEO is too funny. He walks around talking in monotone and he doesn't hear what the employees are saying. Again, an extreme case.

A leader must understand the emotional state of his/her employees and take it into consideration. That doesn't, of course, mean you must agree or tolerate unacceptable behavior.

After discussing these core competencies, the authors discuss different leadership styles, including:

* Visionary
* Coaching
* Pacesetting
* Democratic
* Commanding

The authors argue that visionary, coaching, and democratic leadership styles are beneficial to an organization. But, many leaders rely upon the more tenuous pacesetting and commanding methods of leadership, which can backfire or be overdone. For example, a pacesetting, commanding leader often makes people feel irrelevant and stressed out. That makes them less effective and motivated.

And, stress isn't good personally. Quoting the authors: "When stress is high and sustained, the brain reacts with sustained cortisol secretion, which actually hampers learning by killing off brain cells in the hippocampus that are essential for new learning." (Well that [stinks]!)

However, there is hope for stressed-out leaders or followers. Quoting the authors again: "Human brains can create new neural tissue as well as new neural connections and pathways throughout adulthood."

The authors argue that most leadership training fails because it teaches the neocortex brain or the learning brain. But, leadership skills require more limbic learning. The limbic part of the brain is the more emotional part that learns via repetition and personal experience. The authors compare learning leadership to learning to play the slide guitar. You must practice good habits.

To motivate oneself to improve as a leader, the authors suggest forming an image of your ideal self, acquiring a realistic image of your present self, and then practicing behaviors (until they become automatic) that have you act more like your ideal self.

The authors argue that this is the best way to improve, because it's a positive way of seeing yourself in the future and seeing a positive goal. Plus, as you improve your EI skills, not only will your leadership skills be enhanced, but so too will your personal relationships. Don't look at your weaknesses as 'gaps' that need to be improved.

The authors write: "Emphasis on gaps often arouses the right prefrontal cortex--that is, feelings of anxiety and defensiveness. Once defensiveness sets in, it typically demotivates rather than motivates, thereby interrupting, even stopping, self-directed learning and the likelihood of change."

Focusing upon how good you can become versus fixing gaps seems akin to looking at the glass half full versus half empty, but apparently that makes all the difference.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur."

Boyatzis offers a critical look at what makes up management competencies. It contains much more than just "what someone thinks," or "what looks right." This book's findings come from extensive research. It is an excellent book for someone serious about understanding what makes a manager competent.

Richard Boyatzis is the Chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western University; Annie McKee is on the Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education and is cochair of the Teleos Leadership Institute in Philadelphia; Daniel Goleman is the cochair of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, based at Rutgers University's Graduate School of Professional and Applied Psychology. They are the authors of 'Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence' (2002). This article was published in the April 2002 issue of Harvard Business Review.

The tragedy of September 11, 2001, provided many of us with the impulse to take stock: "Am I really living the way I want to live?" This impulse to take stock comes up periodically for most of us in far less dramatic circumstances. In normal circumstances, most of us have a passion that drives us. But when that passion fades, we begin to question the meaning of our work. So what are the signals that it's time to take stock? The authors provide us with some traditional feelings: "I feel trapped."; "I'm bored."; "I'm not the person I want to be."; "I won't compromise my ethics."; "I can't ignore the call."; "Life is too short!" It does not necessarily have to be a world tragedy to set these feelings off. The most traditional one is probably the mid-life crisis. Once these signals/feelings are identified, it is vital to listen and respond to them. The authors also provide us with some tools for reflection. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are various approaches available. Probably the simplest one is the call for a time-out. This can take the shape of a sabbatical, or holiday, or taking up a (new) hobby. The second strategy is to find a program. This is a more structured strategy, guiding people as they explore their dreams and open new doors. Others create a "reflective structure", or time and space for self-examination, which can take place a few hours a week, a day or two a month, or a longer period every year. You could also decide to work with a coach to provide you with an outside perspective. This can come from family, friends, and/or colleagues. For most of us, it's not possible to change job or move somewhere new, even if the current situation is undesirable. In those circumstances, you could make some small adjustments so that your work more directly reflects your beliefs and values. This, however, requires courage to take some risks. The authors use various real-life examples from the business world to explain the points.

Unlike Daniel Goleman's previous articles on leadership, this one is more a self-help article. It discusses a problem which we see more and more often in modern society - the classical 'burn-out' - and I mean not just within the business world. The aim of this article is to make us understand when and how we can take stock of our lives and, most helpful, how we can renew our passion. The subject reminds me of Stephen R. Covey's compass ('The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'), in which we map our goals for our life. I also recommend Peter F. Drucker's 1999-article 'Managing Oneself', in which he advises us to prepare for a life after work. Although the article is published in the Harvard Business Review, it is useful for not just business people. The authors use simple US-English.

This is a good methods book on one type of qualitative analysis, but some of the information is confusing and seems out of order. The chapter on developing themes and codes should have been incorporated into later chapters on code development. It was basically a poor summary of excellent information given in later chapters. Also, the author's need to use thematic analysis to prove that qualitative research is as good as quantitative leads the reader to over-quantify qualitative data.