The Socially Intelligent Leader
By now, it’s a given that business leaders need the ability to think strategically and execute well. Indeed, these abilities show up prominently in a recent study called “What Makes a Successful Leader,” and they’re a large part of the educational focus at business schools.
But that same study reportedly suggests leaders need other abilities that aren’t as easily or as likely to be taught in schools. One that’s especially important is the capacity to build relationships (Salopek, 2004). This skill is more an aspect of intuitive, right-brain thinking than rational, left-brain thinking, and it’s a skill that could become more essential in coming years.
In his book A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink argues that society is moving from the Information Age to something he calls the Conceptual Age, a time when creativity and high-touch characteristics such as empathy will become increasingly important to business success (Pink, 2005). Why empathy? Partly because much of future business growth will be in the caregiver industries, such as health care or eldercare, where it’s important to be able to see the world from the perspective of others. But also, empathy is an aptitude that helps people build social relationships, which are critical in an increasingly networked world that depends on business alliances.
Futurist Karl Albrecht is another business thinker who stresses the importance of people skills. He argues that the concept of social intelligence is critical not only to business success but to human survival. He defines such intelligence as “a combination of a basic understanding of people – a kind of strategic social awareness – and a set of skills for interacting successfully with them” (Albrecht, 2004, p. 30).
Author of a forthcoming book called Social Intelligence: The New Science of Success, Albrecht states that there are five primary dimensions of such intelligence: the ability to read social situations well and respond in the right ways, a palpable sense of confidence and self-respect, an aura of being authentic, an ability to be clear and – in a parallel to Daniel Pink’s observations – an ability to empathize with others.
It’s possible that women have an advantage over men in at least this fifth area of social intelligence. “Dozens of studies ... have shown that women are generally better at reading facial expressions and at detecting lies,” Pink writes. He goes on to quote psychologists such as Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University, who claims that women’s brains are “hard-wired for empathy” (p. 166). This doesn’t mean that all men lack empathy or that all women are blessed with large amounts of it. But, argues Baron-Cohen, women are more likely than their male colleagues to be empathic.
So, is social intelligence more a matter of nature than nurture? Karl Albrecht doesn’t seem to think so. He writes, “I’ve seen convincing evidence that the biggest single cause of low social intelligence is simply lack of insight.... [People with poor social skills] need help in seeing themselves as others see them” (Albrecht, 2004, p. 31).
In fact, Albrecht has a model that assesses social intelligence by looking at a person’s social skills, self-awareness and interaction styles. The social interaction style section, for example, allows people to gauge whether they fit into one of four types: driver, energizer, diplomat and loner (Albrecht, 2005; Salopek, 2004).
Two other tools used for assessing and addressing social skills are the TRACOM Group’s “Social Style Model” and its “Versatility Report and Improvement Guide.” Casey Mulqueen, director of research at TRACOM, notes, “Social style is fundamentally who you are; it isn’t going to change much.” Versatility, on the other hand, is “very changeable.” TRACOM’s Versatility Report looks at people’s tendencies in the areas of image, presentation, competence, and feedback, and these can be gauged via an online assessment (Salopek, 2004).
In A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink notes that there’s an array of online instruments and sources that test a person’s empathy. There are also some techniques that can be used for boosting empathy or harnessing it to gain a strategic advantage in the area of product design. Pink points, for example, to a game invented by the design firm IDEO. “Like conventional playing cards, the Methods Cards are organized into four ‘suits’ that represent four methods of empathizing with people: Learn, Look, Ask and Try” (p. 174).
If Pink is correct that the world – and especially developing nations – are headed into the Conceptual Age, then employers will be looking more closely into ways of gauging and perhaps developing people’s social intelligence. Perhaps female leaders will have advantages in this new era, or maybe leaders of both genders will simply have to work harder on nurturing their social skills and boosting their empathic abilities. People with the ability to use their whole mind rather than just the rational part of it could become the “high potentials” of the next several decades.
For more information on Karl Albrecht’s ideas about social intelligence, click here.
For more information on Daniel Pink and A Whole New Mind, click here.
For more information on the TRACOM Group, click here.
For more information on how to measure your empathy quotient, click here.
For a 20-question test to see how good people are at judging whether a smile is fake or real, click here.
Documents used in the preparation of this TrendWatcher include:
Albrecht, Karl. “Social Intelligence: Beyond IQ.” Training, December 2004, pp. 27-31.
Albrecht, Karl. “Social Intelligence Theory.” Retrieved May 26, 2005, from karlalbrecht.com
Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Riverhead Books: New York, 2005.
Salopek, Jennifer J. “Social Intelligence.” T&D. ProQuest. September 2004, p. 17.
But that same study reportedly suggests leaders need other abilities that aren’t as easily or as likely to be taught in schools. One that’s especially important is the capacity to build relationships (Salopek, 2004). This skill is more an aspect of intuitive, right-brain thinking than rational, left-brain thinking, and it’s a skill that could become more essential in coming years.
In his book A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink argues that society is moving from the Information Age to something he calls the Conceptual Age, a time when creativity and high-touch characteristics such as empathy will become increasingly important to business success (Pink, 2005). Why empathy? Partly because much of future business growth will be in the caregiver industries, such as health care or eldercare, where it’s important to be able to see the world from the perspective of others. But also, empathy is an aptitude that helps people build social relationships, which are critical in an increasingly networked world that depends on business alliances.
Futurist Karl Albrecht is another business thinker who stresses the importance of people skills. He argues that the concept of social intelligence is critical not only to business success but to human survival. He defines such intelligence as “a combination of a basic understanding of people – a kind of strategic social awareness – and a set of skills for interacting successfully with them” (Albrecht, 2004, p. 30).
Author of a forthcoming book called Social Intelligence: The New Science of Success, Albrecht states that there are five primary dimensions of such intelligence: the ability to read social situations well and respond in the right ways, a palpable sense of confidence and self-respect, an aura of being authentic, an ability to be clear and – in a parallel to Daniel Pink’s observations – an ability to empathize with others.
It’s possible that women have an advantage over men in at least this fifth area of social intelligence. “Dozens of studies ... have shown that women are generally better at reading facial expressions and at detecting lies,” Pink writes. He goes on to quote psychologists such as Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University, who claims that women’s brains are “hard-wired for empathy” (p. 166). This doesn’t mean that all men lack empathy or that all women are blessed with large amounts of it. But, argues Baron-Cohen, women are more likely than their male colleagues to be empathic.
So, is social intelligence more a matter of nature than nurture? Karl Albrecht doesn’t seem to think so. He writes, “I’ve seen convincing evidence that the biggest single cause of low social intelligence is simply lack of insight.... [People with poor social skills] need help in seeing themselves as others see them” (Albrecht, 2004, p. 31).
In fact, Albrecht has a model that assesses social intelligence by looking at a person’s social skills, self-awareness and interaction styles. The social interaction style section, for example, allows people to gauge whether they fit into one of four types: driver, energizer, diplomat and loner (Albrecht, 2005; Salopek, 2004).
Two other tools used for assessing and addressing social skills are the TRACOM Group’s “Social Style Model” and its “Versatility Report and Improvement Guide.” Casey Mulqueen, director of research at TRACOM, notes, “Social style is fundamentally who you are; it isn’t going to change much.” Versatility, on the other hand, is “very changeable.” TRACOM’s Versatility Report looks at people’s tendencies in the areas of image, presentation, competence, and feedback, and these can be gauged via an online assessment (Salopek, 2004).
In A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink notes that there’s an array of online instruments and sources that test a person’s empathy. There are also some techniques that can be used for boosting empathy or harnessing it to gain a strategic advantage in the area of product design. Pink points, for example, to a game invented by the design firm IDEO. “Like conventional playing cards, the Methods Cards are organized into four ‘suits’ that represent four methods of empathizing with people: Learn, Look, Ask and Try” (p. 174).
If Pink is correct that the world – and especially developing nations – are headed into the Conceptual Age, then employers will be looking more closely into ways of gauging and perhaps developing people’s social intelligence. Perhaps female leaders will have advantages in this new era, or maybe leaders of both genders will simply have to work harder on nurturing their social skills and boosting their empathic abilities. People with the ability to use their whole mind rather than just the rational part of it could become the “high potentials” of the next several decades.
For more information on Karl Albrecht’s ideas about social intelligence, click here.
For more information on Daniel Pink and A Whole New Mind, click here.
For more information on the TRACOM Group, click here.
For more information on how to measure your empathy quotient, click here.
For a 20-question test to see how good people are at judging whether a smile is fake or real, click here.
Documents used in the preparation of this TrendWatcher include:
Albrecht, Karl. “Social Intelligence: Beyond IQ.” Training, December 2004, pp. 27-31.
Albrecht, Karl. “Social Intelligence Theory.” Retrieved May 26, 2005, from karlalbrecht.com
Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Riverhead Books: New York, 2005.
Salopek, Jennifer J. “Social Intelligence.” T&D. ProQuest. September 2004, p. 17.