Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

Citation

Arvisais, M.A. (2003), "Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 123-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/jocm.2003.16.1.123.3

As organizations increase in complexity and feel threatened by competitors, the need for effective leadership increases exponentially. Primal Leadership offers a possible solution to the current leadership dilemma. It attempts to show how leaders can behave in a way that: optimizes follower performance; increases commitment; creates an environment that nurtures organizational citizenship; and “generate[s] the emotional resonance that lets people flourish” (p. xi).

 While I believe that the authors wrote this as a guide for the practitioner, scholars will find many examples of leadership successes and failures.

This book is a sequel to Daniel Goleman's seminal works Emotional Intelligence (Goleman, 1995) and Working With Emotional Intelligence (Goleman, 1997). Similar to the original works, this book includes a discussion of what emotional intelligence means and the role the brain plays in behavior. The book is divided into three sections.

The first section, entitled “The power of emotional intelligence”, introduces the reader to the underlying principal of “primal leadership” and an overview of the dimensions of emotional intelligence. “Great leadership works through the emotions” (p. 3), claim the authors. A failure to understand and work within this framework will doom performance to less than optimal results. The positional power of leaders vest them with an emotional grip over their follower, and provides an opportunity to cause either exemplary or disastrous performance. When “leaders drive emotions positively” (p. 5), everyone will operate at their best. Alternatively, if the leader drives negative emotions, the “leader spawns dissonance, undermining the emotional foundations that let people shine” (p. 6). Dissonance has the ability to “emotionally hijack” (p. 13) the follower, which means that leaders, through their behavior, can divert followers’ attention away from the important work of the organization. “The emotional art of leadership includes pressing the reality of work demands without unduly upsetting people” (p. 13). Therefore, the authors argue that leaders must avoid dissonance and strive for resonance.

The authors propose that one can create resonance through the use of EI competencies, defined as self‐awareness, self‐management, social awareness and relationship management. Our brains are “wired” to respond to emotionally intelligent behavior. People tend to do their best work when they feel good about themselves. Therefore, a key job for leaders is to make sure that people feel good about themselves or at least avoid making them feel the opposite.

The final part of this section identifies six approaches or styles of leadership: visionary; coaching; affiliative; democratic; pacesetting; and commanding.

The authors suggest that effective leaders use at least one style predominantly but also have the skill to switch to other styles when the situation warrants. According to the authors, two of the styles, pacesetting and commanding, create dissonance and should be used sparingly.

Section two, entitled “Making leaders”, is where the authors present the path for leadership development and change. They identify some of the inherent problems in leadership, such as leaders not always being aware of what they need to know or hear. Followers sometimes avoid telling leaders the “bad news”. This is particularly apparent when leaders have behaved poorly and constructive feedback is necessary, but no one is willing to step forward. This problem is more pronounced as leaders rise in the organization. According to the authors, the higher leaders are on the organizational chart, the less accurate information they will have about their own performance. How leaders rank themselves is very different from how those lower in the organization rank them. Discrepancies need to be resolved through feedback or other means such as the development of self‐awareness. Unfortunately, leaders tend to avoid developing such mechanisms since it is a commonly assumed that change is not possible (pp. 95‐6).

The authors affirmatively answer the questions “Can I change” and “How can I change” and discuss the role of the brain in the change process. They emphasize how to “attack” the correct part of the brain (the limbic brain) that enables the change process to occur. One of the strengths of the book is the description of why most leadership training does not work: most training addresses a part of the brain that does not enable long term change. The authors do a good job describing the complexities of neuroscience in terms a lay person can understand.

The book suggests that sustained change and growth can be self‐directed. The path offered is similar to a strategic planning process that is directed toward the self. Of course, none of this will occur if the leader is not motivated to change. The authors tell us that “changing habits is hard work” (p. 116) and leaders need to “re‐wire” that part of the brain where habits are “hard coded”. Once the leaders are convinced that they can change, the first step is to develop a clear vision of what they want to be, which the book labels the “ideal self” (p. 125). Comparing the realities of current behavior with the ideal targeted behavior is the objective. Since self‐delusion is a common self‐protective occurrence, installing feedback loops is important in order to expose leaders to the data needed. The authors suggest a 360‐degree mechanism be employed, followed by a formal goal‐setting process (p. 144), similar to Locke and Latham's (1994) ideas presented in Goal Setting Theory. The goals are oriented towards closing any “gaps” that exist. They believe that if this is handled properly, the appropriate brain‐center will enable accomplishment of the change (p. 144). This process may take months since the part of the brain under “revision” is very slow to change. The authors also offer techniques to enable the process such as visualization and integrating the change process with one's daily activities as a means to promote continuity. In addition, having a group of supporters in the process increases the probability of success.

Section three, entitled “Building emotionally intelligent organizations”, brings together the personal outcomes of the process and organizational change. Many examples of how emotionally intelligent leaders affect an organization are presented.

The book's ideas are supported in the leadership development literature. For example, the introduction of The Center for Creative Leadership's (CCL), Handbook of Leadership Development (McCauley et al., 1989) describes a very similar change process to that advocated in Primal Leadership. The literature also supports the connection of the emotional brain with leadership processes. James N. Farr (1998), in Supra‐Conscious Leadership, describes the role the mind plays in how we react as leaders and describes self‐awareness as a key process in implementing a behavioral change. There is an interesting dichotomy between Primal Leadership and Supra‐Conscious Leadershipin that the former discusses the role of the brain while the latter discusses the role of the mind.

One of the failings of the book is that it has a formulaic feel. The message offered is follow the emotional intelligence path and apply it to leadership and you and your organization will improve. I fear that some may believe that reading a book like this will make this happen.

In fairness, the authors include warnings about the difficulty of the change by describing the ongoing practice needed to “automate” the new behaviors (p. 158). They also tell us that the process is a “bumpy ride”; however, I don't believe they go far enough. There is no mention that others may not trust the change and may be suspicious of the leader's new persona. Colleagues and staff members may be so attached to “how things were” that they may try to resolve the perceived gap the change brings. This may be likened to the tug and pull of the driving and constraining forces identified in Lewin's force field analysis (see Segal, 1997). Extreme reactions may even result in unconscious sabotage of the leader's success. Some staff may never believe or accept the new behavior as real.

Similarly, the book discusses little about the internal or psychological struggle leaders may face when they try out new behaviors. Even with supportive relationships, the book suggests that leaders may experience internal turmoil for a while as they press against their “safe zone”. A thorough discussion of this issue is missing.

It is also curious that the book suggests that leadership styles should be situationally chosen. Yet, the solution offered promotes a single solution, emotional intelligence, while encouraging a leadership style of the caring, nurturing leader who makes followers feel good about themselves.

The book also seems to defeat a key message by implying that change may only last for a limited period, possibly only for a few years (p. 140). Why would someone embark on such an endeavor without the possibility of this new behavior being permanent?

While I am critical of some of the issues not discussed in the book, I believe it does make a contribution and exposes leaders to different ideas about how their emotional demeanor influences followers. The book presents a path for successful leadership, albeit a little too simplistically. Its greatest strength is the many examples that contrast good and bad leadership outcomes and how emotional intelligence can serve leaders and their followers. Unfortunately, I don't believe it goes far enough.