Emotional Intelligence is commonly characterized as one's ability to connect with, persuade, and lead people. While the result of emotional intelligence is unique leadership ability, the path or way to emotional intelligence is an inward maturation process. The key characteristics of emotional intelligence are one's ability to be authentic, to lead with integrity, to lead by example, and to inspire by example. While many people consider emotional intelligence to be an exercise in learning about how to motivate people and leveraging that knowledge; exceptional leaders must have a firm foundation in their own beliefs, a knowledgeable and practical approach to solving problems, a well-developed style of working with people, and a solid understanding of their own weaknesses.

Recognizing one's own weaknesses is not an exercise in criticizing oneself, but rather a recognition that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It is our ability to see the strengths of others that demonstrate that we are maturing as a leader. Effective leaders understand that we must work with a diverse group of individuals with a diverse set of strengths in order to build high performance teams and organizations.

Recognizing other people's strengths and finding ways to build bridges between yourself and other people is essential to scaling up performance and establishing a competitive advantage as a team or organization. Confident leaders are confident enough to know that while they add value, they do not add all the value that makes for a truly exceptional organization.

* When I was first promoted to a management position of a small I.T. team, the organization I worked for also hired a professional coach to mentor me because I was new to management. This coaching was my first formal exposure to leadership and management principles. As part of the training, I read Executive EQ and really took to it. The above is my best cut at a take on what really good leadership is all about.