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Summary: More connections of "Primal Leadership" and Neuroscience
Review: This is a very interesting and substantial book and I recommend it highly. It illustrates one thing that'd probably be too trivial in the context of child development, yet is very surprising when applied in the context of leadership: a leader would probably be considered autistic if he/she leads by being just intellectually or analytically superior - the leader must connect affectively with troops to be effective, explicitly or implicitly. Having said that, I think the main points can be further elucidated if it spends a bit more time in incorporating more findings from neuroscience. In particular, I find its arguments for the main themes inadequate by just employing brain¡¯s cognitive and emotional functions. In fact, there are two other brain functions that are orthogonal to the fore-mentioned functions, but nonetheless play key roles in the leadership as well: the automatic and controlled function of the brain. Some of leadership behavior can probably be better explained by the following framework: cognitive and controlled, cognitive and automatic, emotional and controlled, and finally emotional and automatic.
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Summary: Highly recommended for leadership development
Review: I have to admit, I enjoyed the first half of the book (devoted to personal leadership styles, competencies, and learning) more than the second half (which focuses on organizational development). I've assigned this book and related exercises to a number of my executive coaching clients. Even if they only breeze through emotional intelligence domains and associated competencies (page 39) and the styles of leadership (summarized on page 55), we have plenty to work with. Clients come back amazed at how often they employ non-resonant styles (and begin to notice the consequences), at how transparent their moods are to others, etc. One client, hugely successful in prior businesses, wondered aloud if he should "go back" to his former hard-driving (Pace-Setting) style, given his lackluster experience in his current tech start-up using a softer approach. It helped him to distinguish between his former endeavors (where his teams were highly self-motivated, competent, and connected to one another) and his current endeavor (where there was less intrinsic trust and some questions about competencies on the team). Rather than the often dissonant Pace-Setting style, he realized the need to emphasize more resonant styles, especially some very specific Coaching style interventions to address competency issues. After working together, it wasn't just about "hard" or "soft" styles in business, but about appropriate styles for different situations. If you're interested in "integral theory" then this is one of of the ones that counts. Here's a quick mapping of models that Primal Leadership explores and how they relate to the the domains of integral theory: * Self-awareness and self-management map to the subjective world, my world, the world of "I." While "mood" is covered, I would have liked to see more of a distinction between mood (a person's ongoing "climate") and emotions (a person's current reactions or "weather"). * Social awareness and relationship management map to the intersubjective world; the world of business, culture, and relationships, where many rules are unwritten and must be sensed. Social competence is the world of "We." * The "neuroanatomy of leadership," with its focus on how the brain works and learns, maps to the objective world, the world of physical phenomena and measurements, the world of "It." Primal Leadership is an easy read, but it's also a great reference, with models that people "get." Highly recommended!
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Summary: We read this book for a class assignment - mixed reviews
Review: We read Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead With Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee. The authors are well educated and actively participate in the organizational field through consortiums, boards, and consulting. Each author has written numerous best selling books, articles, and programs to help leader become great leaders. The book is broken into three parts: The Power Of Emotional Intelligence, Making Leaders, and Building Emotionally Intelligent Organizations. The main points of The Power of Emotional Intelligence are that leaders are not born, with opportunity and training leaders can be made, and leaders either create resonance or dissonance. Resonant leaders bring positive energy, create excitement and passion for an organizational goal or objective, inspire excellence, and promote collaboration. Dissonant leaders are out of touch with the feelings of others, create emotionally toxic environments, and dispirit by misleading or manipulating. The authors describe four traits that emotional intelligent leaders have in varying degrees: self awareness, self management, social awareness, and relationship management. The main points of Making Leaders are that many leaders do not get appropriate feedback, training and seminars rarely provide lasting change, and self directed learning is the best way to change behavior. Self Directed Learning is a five step process that address who you want to be, who you are, developing an agenda, practicing, and feedback. The main points of Building Emotionally Intelligent Organizations are that the most effective teams are those where the leader relinquishes complete control to the team and sustainable changes should be an ongoing process rather than a one time program. Overall, we felt that the book was well presented. We, each had a different break-through with the book. For instance, one group member felt that the discussion about leaders being made instead of born was beyond prevailing mainstream thinking. Another group member had never heard of the CEO Disease, which describes how, as a leader ascends in power and influence, the quality of feedback diminishes and the leader becomes unable to correctly self assess their effectiveness. Others related to the differences between resonant and dissonant leaders and the realization that many of our leaders are untrained and have no organizational opportunities to grow as a leader. Our action plan includes making sure that leaders have 360 degree feedback, access to mentors and coaches, establish weaknesses and goals to bridge the gaps between their strengths and weaknesses, and have opportunities both social and professional to practice. In conclusion, we would recommend this book to some people but not to everyone. The book focused more on theory rather than practice. We would have preferred several different applications of the theories to case studies, and a more in depth discussion of the four main skills used by managers. Overall, the book was relatively easy to follow, but difficult to remain engaged in. There were some discussions about neuroanatomy that some of us found hard to understand and that tended to break the flow of the book. Primal Leadership had great leadership philosophies in it, but we found many of those philosophies were not knew. We agreed that there are other books on the market that are easier to read and provide more application.
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Summary: Too stretching
Review: I really liked Dan Goleman's previous books on Emotional Intelligence (EI). Goleman's article on "Primal Leadership" appeared in Harvard Business Review (HBR) a few years ago. His book version of primal leadership is a little too stretching. If you are not keen on reading the not-so-interesting details, I would recommend the article version in HBR, which gives a very good synopsis of the book.
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Summary: A Favorite Paradox
Review: There is so much of benefit here. The trouble is getting the ideas out into the field where they can do the most good.
If one reads Dr. G's books in sequence - Emotional Intelligence, Working With Emotional Intelligence, and then Primal Leadership - you derive the greatest benefit. As only summarized in Primal Leadership, the concepts are too subtle to lend themselves easily to shaping a leadership development process around them. And then trying to convey them to training participants...a tall order.
That said, there are concepts in here you just won't find elsewhere. My personal favorite: the relevance of the "amygdala highjack" in crucial moments in leadership, and how to assure that months or years of leadership work won;t be put to risk by your own brain chemistry.
A great work, with a lot to say for people interested in bringing their leadership to the next level. Just help me figure out how to get busy people to read and deeply understand three complex books...
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Summary: Great Subject
Review: Goleman uses "Primal Leadership" as a practical outlet for his thoughts on emotional intelligence. My recomendation is to purchase the articles on these subjects from the Harvard Business Review. The subject is important and the articles are much more to the point. There is a collection of three or you can get their "On Point" collection on leadership.
There are various aspects to leadership so don't just stop here. John P. Kotter is a great student of leadership and has written several books and articles on the subject. Spend some time studying great leaders as well.
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Summary: A ground-breaking new model of leadership
Review: Primal Leadership: Learning To Lead With Emotional Intelligence is the collaborative effort of Daniel Goldeman (Co-Director of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, Graduate School of Professional Psychology, Rutgers University), Richard Boyatzis (Professor of Organizational Behavior and Chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior, the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University), and Annie McKee (Faculty Member, School of Education, University of Pennsylvania). Primal Leader-ship is a seminal presentation and explanation of the inextricable link between emotional intelligence, leadership, and organizational success. Contemporary readers are offered a ground-breaking new model of leadership based upon how the emotional brain operates and brings a science-orientation to understanding the emotional factors in successful leadership. Primal Leadership is enthusiastically commended reading -- especially for psychology students and leadership/management personnel.
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Summary: Doesn't get much better...
Review: It is easy to lose sight of what it takes to be a great leader. There is no doubt that being a Manager can be a continual struggle. This book challenges you to become the leader that everyone wants to work for. I would describe it as, you can't afford to lose your cool but you can afford to be human. This is probably the best book on Leadership I have ever read. If you are a manager GET THIS BOOK!
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Summary: Opens up another dimension for leadership
Review: This book has taught me the humbleness of being a leader. Seems like an oxymoran, doesn't it? However, being a leader means to serve and to be sensitive to those you see you. Seeing the world's from another's eyes is the key to leadership. Unfortunately, many leaders lack this important compentency. A good leader must be able to see the big picture and incorporate the competencies w/eloquence and skill. More importantly, at the appropriate time. I've been humbled and re-built by not only the ECI survey but the book as well. As leaders, we must learn to follow before we can learn to lead and Primal Leadership is the foundation to learning how to "serve." I have several people I informally mentor @ Roadway Express and we are studying this book right now and it has does wonders for us all. This is my second time through it and it should be part of all college curriculums regardless of the subject.
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