Daniel Goleman
by Karen Christensen
Your latest book is about a skill that you call “the hidden driv- more science than ever and a greater understanding of it.
er of excellence”. Tell us about it. Focus encompasses a variety of skills, each of which is im-
My new book is about the power of focus, and the brain systems portant in different circumstances. One well known type of focus
involved in training our attention. I argue that leaders need to is concentration, which entails being able to pay attention here
be adept at three varieties of focus. The first is self-awareness, while ignoring what’s coming at you over there. Another form of
and as a result of that, the ability to manage your own emotions; focus is ‘open presence’, which entails just being with the person
the second is awareness of other people; and the third is an outer who is right in front of you and paying full attention in the mo-
focus, whether it’s an awareness of your organization as a whole ment. A third form is ‘free association’, which is a very different
or a larger sense of the broader systems that affect your indus- kind of focus where you let your mind wander wherever it wants.
try. The largest possible lens for our focus encompasses global This is essential for creativity and innovation. In the book I talk
systems and considers the needs of everyone — including the about lots of other forms of focus.
powerless and the poor — peering far ahead in time. The key is to recognize which kind of focus you need in a
Leaders need all three types of focus — in full strength and in given situation, and to be able to achieve it. The data is showing
balance — in order to perform optimally. us that the ability to pay attention well — in the right way at the
right time — is absolutely critical to top performance.
ILLUSTRATION BY LISA SMITH
to think productively about your feelings. The second aspect When it comes to excelling on the job, which is more impor-
is self-management, which is built upon self-awareness. In the tant, EI or IQ?
business realm, this doesn’t mean suppressing your emotions, There is a widespread misconception that I favour emotional
because it’s important to display evidence of passion and moti- intelligence above regular intelligence. To be clear, I don’t; I
vation in the workplace. Self-management means being able to think they’re both extremely important. Every leader must
manage stress and anxiety and other emotional states that affect have a very high level of intelligence and business expertise.
your ability to think clearly; in other words, being able to ‘handle But I’ve talked to countless people who do C-level recruiting,
yourself ’. Particularly in times of crisis, people look to their lead- and they tell me that when executives fail, it is invariably the
ers to see if they will be okay or not, and that’s why the leader’s case that they were hired for intelligence and expertise, but
first act is leading himself or herself. fired for a lack of emotional intelligence. So the prerequisite —
The third aspect of emotional intelligence is social aware- the threshold ability — is high intelligence; but over and above
ness, or empathy, which means being able to understand some- that, what distinguishes star leaders is their emotional intelli-
one else’s perspective, to sense how they’re feeling and have gence skill set.
appropriate concern for them. This includes supporting people
and letting them know that it’s safe to take smart risks, for ex- In your experience, which aspects of EI and focus do leaders
ample. Finally, the fourth aspect is relationship management tend to have the most trouble with?
skills. In the realm of management, things like negotiation, A colleague of mine, Cary Cherniss, who heads up the Consor-
managing conflict, cooperation and teamwork are more impor- tium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organiza-
tant than ever. tions, has analyzed competence models in a variety of organiza-
tions and has found that the domain that is most often left out
How does focus relate to EI? is self-awareness, which requires an inward focus on and attention
Emotional intelligence demands focus as a prerequisite, because to the self. This is understandable because it’s the least-visible
paying attention within ourselves leads to self-awareness, and of the four domains of EI; but as indicated, you cannot prog-
paying attention to others builds empathy. ress to self-management or empathy without a strong degree of
self-awareness.
You have said that the best leadership is ‘primal’. How so? When leaders are complained about behind their backs,
When people talk about great leaders, words like ‘strategy’ and people often say things like, ‘He just doesn’t get it’ or ‘He doesn’t
‘vision’ come up a lot, and the emotional impact of what a leader understand us’. In short, he doesn’t empathize. There are three
says and does is overlooked. The reality is much more primal: different kinds of empathy. The first is cognitive empathy: I
great leadership actually works through human emotions. You know how you see things, and I can take your perspective. Man-
can get everything else right — hiring, strategy, innovation — but agers who rate high on this kind of empathy are able to get better
if you fail to drive peoples’ emotions in the right direction, noth- than expected performance from employees, because they can
ing will work as well as it could. put things in terms that people can understand, and that moti-
The emotional task of the leader is ‘primal’ in two ways: vates them. The way to improve on this is to talk to people about
it is both the original and the most important act of leadership. how they see things, so you can get an idea of what their mental
Throughout history, the leader in any group has been the one models are.
to whom others look for assurance and clarity when faced with The second type is emotional empathy: I feel with you. This
uncertainty or threat, or when there’s a job to be done. In modern is the basis for rapport and chemistry between people. Those
organizations, this ‘primordial’ emotional task is largely invis- who excel at emotional empathy make good counselors, teach-
ible, but driving collective emotions in a positive direction — and ers and group leaders because of their ability to sense, in the
clearing away the ‘smog’ of toxic emotions — remains foremost moment, how others are reacting. And the third type of empa-
on the list of a leader’s tasks. Understanding the powerful role thy is empathic concern: I sense that you need some help and
of emotions in the workplace is what sets the best leaders apart I am ready to give it. Those with empathic concern are the good
from the rest. But all leadership contains this dimension — for citizens in a group, organization or community who voluntarily
better or for worse. help out as needed.