Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence

Primal Leadership connects the concepts of emotional intelligence to the role of leadership. Written by three experts, including Goleman, the founder of emotional intelligence, this update to the original conveys both the principles and the application. The main idea is that leaders maximize their impact when they communicate with resonance. There are different modes of leadership ranging from visionary to directive. Each has a time and place, but the resonant visionary is most effective at mobilizing a large organization over the long term. Other ideas that resonated with me include a framework for self-directed learning (relying on self-awareness followed by a learning agenda and help through others) and also the four domains of show more emotional intelligence ( self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship management). show less

Overall, very helpful. The bottom line is people want to work for positive, resonate people and not negative, dissonant people. Getting to resonance is easier for some than others and takes work from everyone to stay there, all the time. The discussion of emotional leadership was edifying. The first 2/3 of the book was 4 stars, the last third drug a bit and was more 3 star. Worth the read.

I picked up this book for a class assignment where we had to read a “management” book. I was really dreading this assignment since I hate being forced to read anything, and I have a hard time understanding any aspect of business. A few chapters in I realized this was definitely not a “business/management” book- this was a psychology and basic human interest book. A few weeks ago, I read an article on Yahoo! about how to get what you want in customer service. The number one rule? “You don’t have to be nice”. All I thought was “okay, that may be true…but why wouldn’t you?” This book gives the reasons that being nice (and keeping your emotions- both negative and positive- in check) can improve your relationships- show more personal and busines.

Emotional intelligence, in a nutshell, is understanding your own emotions so that you can manage them and keep situations under control. While this sounds like it has no place in the business world (and empathy does seem to be lacking in many “cut-throat” business plans) in fact, it does. Lower turnover, increased customer service, increased morale…are all good things! On top of that, building emotional intelligence should be a priority in everyday life. Connecting with people tends to get you exactly what you want- and against the article I had previously read (and had gotten slammed by customers and customer service agents across the board) you don’t need to be rude, stubborn, and arrogant to get your way. The best part? Anyone can (and should!) learn to increase their emotional intelligence with a little hard work…and this book! show less

Of the three or four emotional intelligence books I've read recently, this was definitely the most useful and readable. It's intended for business and other leaders, but offers plenty of content applicable at a personal level. It emphasizes both intra-personal and interpersonal dynamics.

The explanations and examples in this book are mostly really dry (and somewhat vague.) Not very easy or fun to read. The gist of the book is emotional intelligence is important for managers. You need emotional intelligence to cultivate your ability at exhibiting the six different existing leadership styles, and navigate between the styles to always use the best one that the scenario calls for. The leadership styles include: visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding. In order to cultivate your emotional intelligence you need to identify ideally who/what you want to become, examine your current performance, recognize where the gap between ideal and reality lies, find means to practice the skills you like to show more have, and then practice over and over. The authors say you will definitely improve in the longterm (in their examples, "long-term" can mean six months, or two years) if you continue to practice over and over. show less

I have seen this book around for the longest time but never picked it up - I mean what does 'Primal' even mean?!?! Then, one day while browsing another book 'Resonant Leadership', the authors make reference to their earlier work - Primal Leadership. It was then that I also noticed that one of the authors is none other than Daniel Golement - the EQ guy. Decided to give the book a read and I really really liked it!!! I thought it really hit the nail on the head about the many aspects of leadership and how leadership can be used to really motivate those the leaders serve to action.

This will be one of two books I will recommend to any aspiring leaders. The other book is Mintzberg's 'Leadership without easy Answers'.

After going through the “Emotional Intelligence” from Daniel Goleman - I was chasing “Primal Leadership” as I was pretty convincing this could be smart transition! Actually – no doubt that Emotional Intelligence is a prerequisite for Leadership and therefore to succeed in Management role! However - Leaders need to be focused on the real world and not just emotions. Well – useless to say how difficult it is to change our default neural path and do something different from what we are wired to … Right?
Anyway – This book provides nice escapades into leadership and will definitively keep your interest ;()

Dec, 24th - 2013