Grace Sohoel-Goldberg

Due 3-15-2016
Honors Leadership E Mrs. Godfrey
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage your
own emotions and those of the people around you. Emotional intelligence is
seen as a common factor of successful leadership because it is what is key to
a groups success. If a group of people can stay in control and calmly assess
a situation, they are more likely to seem are dynamic/dimensions of a
problem and can therefore treat the problem accordingly. Those with lower
levels of emotional intelligence are more apt to freak out, and confuse
emotions with facts.
There are 5 main elements to emotional intelligence. The first is selfawareness, or the understanding of ones own emotions. When a person is
self-aware, they understand their own strengths and weaknesses and know
how to compensate for said weaknesses while strutting their strengths. The
second element is self-regulation, or the ability to have extreme self-control.
When in a situation with high stress, emotions can get caught up and
perception of ones surroundings and their meanings can become dazed . A
person who is self-regulated can catch these emotions and understand that

rushing decisions and emotions will only cause situations to spiral out of
control. The third element is motivation, or the ability to work consistently
towards goals. Individuals who have a high level of motivation understand
what emotions must be regulated in order to complete a task effectively and
to the best of their ability. The fourth element is empathy, or the ability to
put oneself in anothers situation. This element allows people to give and
take criticism in a thoughtful manner. The fifth and final element is social
skills, or the ability to manage change and resolve conflicts diplomatically.
When working with a team, everyone has slightly different viewpoints so
being able to listen and understand allows individuals to not only
communicate by work together with a common goal in mind.
The five elements of emotional intelligence are absolutely necessary in
the characteristics of a good leader. A good leader needs to stay in tune with
their emotions and the emotions of others. If they are not in tune, bumps are
hit in the road and the destination (goal) becomes farther away. Effective
leaders are those which understand and work with others well. When an
individual cannot work with another person well, no goal will ever be
reached and how can you be a leader if you never work towards something
with the assistance of others?