Primal Leadership Notes

1. Power of Emotional Intelligence

1. Chapter I (Primal Leadership)
   a. primal – It is both the original and the most important act of leadership
   b. resonance – When leaders drive emotions positively
   c. dissonance – When leaders drive emotions negatively
   d. emotional intelligence – How leaders handle themselves and their relationships
   e. transmission – Spreading emotions
   f. mirroring – The phenomenon of physiological changes when people are near eachother (irresistable).
   g. Limbic System (Open-loop)
   1. Not self-regulated : depends largely on external sources to manage itself
   2. Laughter is the shortest distance between two people because it instantly locks limbic systems. Most direct communication possible (limbic lock).
   3. Not all emotions spread with the same ease (laughter spreads easier/quicker than irritability)

h. Group Feelings – Individual feelings of group members synchronize even due to emotions unrelated to the group.

i. “Distress not only erodes mental abilities, but also makes people less emotionally intelligent. People who are upset have trouble reading emotions accurately in other people—decreasing the most basic skill needed for empathy and, as a result, impairing their social skills.”
j. emotional hijacking – Leaders who spread bad moods are simply bad for business—and those who pass along good moods help drive a business's success.
k. Customer Service: For every 1 percent improvement in the service climate, there's a 2 percent increase in revenue.
l. The more emotionally demanding the work, the more empathic and supportive the leader needs to be.

2. Chapter II (Resonant Leadership)
   a. Dissonant leaders
   1. Out of touch with the feelings of the people in the room
   2. Noise – Interference among individuals in the group
   3. 42% of a thousand U.S. Reported incidences of yelling and/or verbal abuse in their workplaces.
   4. People who work in dissonant environments take the dissonance home.
   5. Flooding – The intensity of the fight-or-flight reaction that such an extreme message of contempt can trigger.

         b. Resonant leaders

1. When people are more resonant, there is less noise and more signal.
2. Signal – The involvement of a group
3. Intellect alone will not make a leader; leaders execute a vision by motivating, guiding, inspiring, listening, persuading—and, most crucially, through creating resonance. As Albert Einstein cautioned, “We should take care not to make the intellect our god. It has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. It cannot lead, it can only serve.”
   
   
c. Emotions (Emotional Intelligence)

1. Our complex society conflicts with our primitive emotions.
2. four domains of EI
1.     Self-Awareness
2.     Self-Management
3.     Social Awareness
4.     Relationship Management