My December 14th blog on Positive Impact at any Age and the video I posted on December 19th of the 15-year-old Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg giving her speech to the UN Climate Change Conference both demonstrated one necessary personality dimension you need to possess if you want to have a positive impact; self-awareness. People of any age who are having the kind of impact that are proven in those two posts usually have higher than average levels of self-awareness.
Self-awareness is a key starting point in one’s ability to have the emotional intelligence that is often required to reach one’s goals. In the Emotional Intelligence Workbook available for order online at The Korn Ferry Store, the point is made that, “Self-awareness lies at the heart of the emotional intelligence model, and to a great extent, influences our ability to develop the other EI competencies. It enables us to sustain our behavior over time, despite setbacks.”
Anybody who is looking to have a positive impact is going to have setbacks to deal with as mentioned in the quote above. If you either do not have innate self-awareness or have not worked to develop it, you will often not react appropriately in those situations and will therefore not have optimal success.
The chapter on Peak Performance in my book “Have a Positive Impact During Uncertain Times” – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732793808 – describes how to harness your emotional intelligence in order to have a positive impact. In that chapter I describe the three competency clusters that contain the eleven emotional intelligence competencies that complement the key Self-Awareness competency:
-Self-Management which includes the Emotional Self-Control, Achievement Orientation, Positive Outlook, and Adaptability competencies.
-Social Awareness which includes the Empathy and Organizational Awareness competencies.
-Relationship Management which includes the Influence, Coach and Mentor, Conflict Management, Inspirational Leadership, and Teamwork competencies.
Individuals who are successful having a positive impact often possess not only self-awareness but also some or many of the competencies described in each of these clusters. The really good news is that Emotional Intelligence (EQ/EI) unlike IQ, can be developed which is one reason it is such a popular concept. Here is an example. When I was doing individual leadership development I coached many very intelligent individuals, often acknowledged as the most intelligent person in their department or team. Unfortunately, they often lacked the self-awareness, emotional self-control, empathy, organizational awareness or teamwork competencies necessary to connect with their colleagues and others outside their organization.
After I had interviewed multiple colleagues and their boss, and they received very specific feedback about the fact that their career would not move forward no matter how smart they were if they did not act on what they heard, they would often alter their behavior. In multiple instances these individuals asked their colleagues to let them know when their arrogance was getting in the way of the success of the team or the organization. I am not suggesting this was always the result, but the candid feedback they received was often enough of a jolt for them to take the need for some behavior change seriously.
Dr. Dan Goleman’s international best seller “Emotional Intelligence” significantly altered the conversation about what was necessary to succeed in reaching one’s goals. Goleman defines emotional intelligence as “recognizing our own feelings and those of others, motivating ourselves, managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.”
I believe a follow-up emotional intelligence book that he wrote, “Working with Emotional Intelligence” is particularly useful for individuals who are looking to have a positive impact. Another valuable emotional intelligence resource is Goleman’s article in the Harvard Business Review titled “Leadership That Gets Results.” It is one of the most popular HBR articles and outlines a process for leading that has been successfully used with leaders from six continents. This extremely well researched model begins with understanding the importance of emotional intelligence as it relates to being a leader who gets results and has a positive impact. I will write and post an article in the future that outlines how that model works and how it relates to having a positive impact.
In conclusion, Goleman uses a quote from Aristotle to stress the need for individuals to develop emotional intelligence:
“Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – this is not easy”