When you are a leader, emotional intelligence is one of the best tools that you can have under your belt. Emotional intelligence is the ability to observe and work through your emotions. Here are some of the reasons why emotional intelligence is important for leaders.
Better Thinking
Critical thinking is a great skill that every leader should have. Emotional intelligence sharpens critical thinking skills because of the fact that a person must have self-awareness about one’s emotions in order to think critically. Everyone has biases, thoughts and feelings that can easily get in the way of thinking logically. By being emotionally intelligent, a person can look past his or her biased feelings and think critically. If a person cannot understand or pinpoint his emotions, those emotions might get in the way of decision-making.
Become Better At Dealing With People
When you are a leader, you must be able to deal with people in a logical, fair, respectful fashion. In order to do this, emotional intelligence is a must. Self-awareness is highly important for interacting with others because your emotions can affect how you treat people and what you say to them. If you are not careful, you can come off as condescending, irritable, unlikable and ignorant. By having emotional intelligence, you can think more clearly about how to properly interact with people. Self-awareness and self-mastery also helps when it comes to understanding the views and plights of others.
Resilience
Leaders have to be resilient in hard times. Emotional intelligence is one of the most important things to have because it results in mental resilience. It is without a doubt that, many times, leaders often face difficult challenges, time restrictions and interactions that can leave them stressed out. Leaders have to be aware of their emotions so that they do not become completely stressed out. Stress can negatively affect the way that a person deals with situations and challenges.
In conclusion, these are the reasons for why emotional intelligence is a must-have for leaders. It leads to resilience, better people skills and sharper thinking. If you do not have these things, you will ultimately fail at being a leader. Being able to actively think about your emotions is highly important.