Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

"A woman has to be intelligent, have charm, a sense of humor, and be kind. It's the same qualities I require from a man."
Catherine Deneuve


Well, here we are! So close to the end of the semester! It's gone by so quickly!

This week we were asked by Chelsee to blog about a paper we read titled, "Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership" by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis. The paper pointed to 7 qualities that help make a good leader. They are: empathy, attunement, organizational awareness, influence, developing others, inspiration, and teamwork. 

Two qualities of social intelligence that I feel I excel at are attunement and organizational awareness. I feel that I naturally am aware of how people are feeling most of the time and I adjust my demeanor to fit their needs. I often find that the emotions of others influence how I feel so I make an active effort to keep in mind why that person might be feeling that way. Organizational awareness is a skill that I have developed a lot more in college. I have had many experiences working with diverse groups at Iowa State and that has given me a lot of perspective on how to handle different cultures and what their norms or feelings on different topics may be. Living with two Chinese roommates this semester has definitely put those skills to the test in my day-to-day life. 

One characteristic of social intelligence that I feel I can improve is influence. I feel that I have the ability to influence others but most of my training for my career teaches me to remain objective and not try to persuade people to one viewpoint over another. I think I can use influence as a peer mentor, however, as long as I remember that I can influence the first-year Hixsons to begin their experience at Iowa State in a positive way. 

Glad we finished up filming today! Hope everyone had a happy VEISHEA!