Collaborative Networks International

What does EQ have to do with it?

In this inaugural blog, I want to open up a dialogue with folks who think that social intelligence is “wishy washy-feely touchy soft stuff” and not for real leaders in high-tech, life sciences or the professional service firms they outsource to.  Okay, now that I have your attention--

As CEO or senior leader, ask yourself whether you are:

• Constantly keeping your leadership team from imploding themselves?
• Convinced your company needs to reinvent itself, yet all you get is resistance?
• Struggling with the pain of cost cutting, while simultaneously investing in the future?
• Worrying that there are too few leaders among your brilliant scientists or technologists?
• Wishing you had a trusted advisor, a neutral sounding board you could test your strategy and share the “good bad and the ugly”?

If you answered yes, to any of these, you are not alone.

These are just some of the “keep me up at night” issues raised by the many CEOS and senior leaders we have worked with over the past two decades.

What do they all share in common?

The most effective solutions require your skillful use of emotional/social intelligence. The equation is simple. It may sound counterintuitive however the higher up the leadership ladder you go, the less is in your individual control!

Your role goes beyond aligning systems and leveraging resources. You have to harness the “collective wisdom” of all the individuals in your team and across teams in the organization. This requires social intelligence. The soft stuff is in fact really “hard stuff” to master.

Share with us your thoughts and questions you have about social intelligence.

Mindy Gewirtz