Leader #2 directed a nonprofit corporation that offered health and social services to Hispanic communities in the Southwest. His vision statement flowed freely, and focused squarely on greater goals: "to create a good environment for this community, which has been nurturing our company all these years, to make it a profit sharing endeavor and to benefit from our products." His vision was positive and embraced an expanded view of stakeholders.
In the following weeks, employees who worked directly for each leader were asked in confidence to evaluate how inspiring they found their boss. Leader #1 had one of the lowest ratings among the fifty leaders evaluated; leader #2 was among the highest.
More intriguingly, each leader had been assessed on a brain measure of "coherence," the degree to which circuits within a region interconnect and coordinate their activity. The specific region was in the prefrontal area of the right side of the brain, in a zone active in integrating thought and emotion, as well as in understanding the thoughts and emotions of others. The inspiring leaders showed a high level of coherence in this key area for inner and other aware ness, the dull leaders very little.
Leaders who inspire can articulate shared values that resonate with and motivate the group. These are the leaders people love to work with, who surface the vision that moves everyone. But to speak from the heart, to the heart, a leader must first know her values. That takes self-awareness.
Inspiring leadership demands attuning both to an inner emo tional reality and to that of those we seek to inspire. These are ele ments of emotional intelligence, which I've had to rethink a bit in light of our new understanding of focus.
Attention gets talked about only indirectly in the emotional intelligence world: as "self-awareness," which is the basis of self management; and as "empathy," the foundation for relationship effectiveness. Yet awareness of our self and of others, and its ap plication in managing our inner world and our relationships, is the essence of emotional intelligence.