AI and Emotional Intelligence: The New Power Couple in Leadership

This weekend, I fell into a rabbit hole of thoughts about GenAI and leadership. A realization hit me between sips of my second (okay, maybe third) double espresso: we're asking the wrong questions about AI in business.

Everyone's obsessing over GenAI's capabilities. But what about what it can't do, especially when it comes to strategic decision-making?

I started experimenting, asking GenAI the same strategic questions in different ways. The results? They were a real eye-opener! Some responses were gold, others were just... meh, and a few were useless.

That's when it clicked. The difference between a leader who strikes AI gold and one who ends up with digital dust isn't in the AI itself. It's in something we've had all along: Emotional Intelligence (EI).

Think about it. The best leaders I know have an uncanny ability to ask the right questions, not just to AI but to their teams. They know how to uncover those hidden gems of insight, those game-changing competitive advantages. They're not just using AI; they're dancing with it, leading it through the complex choreography of strategic thinking.

But here's the thing - if we don't frame our queries just right or approach AI with the right mindset, we risk getting answers that not only miss the mark but could send our entire strategy off a cliff.

This revelation sent me down a weekend-long rabbit hole, exploring the intricate dance between EQ, EI, and AI. What I discovered will change the way you think about leadership in this wild, AI-driven world.

So, happy Monday everyone, grab your coffee, and let's dive into what it really means to lead in the age of AI. Trust me, by the end of this, you'll see your role as a leader - and the potential of AI - in a whole new light. Let's go!

Quick Primer: EI and EQ Defined

Firstly, let's get on the same page about what we mean by Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Emotional Quotient (EQ):

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions and recognize, understand, and influence the emotions of others. It's about being smart with feelings - yours and everyone else's.

Emotional Quotient (EQ) is how we measure Emotional Intelligence. Think of it as the emotional equivalent of IQ. A high EQ means you're adept at navigating the complex world of feelings and interpersonal dynamics.

In the context of leadership and AI, EI encompasses skills like:

• Self-awareness: Understanding your own emotions and how they affect your decisions
• Empathy: Sensing and understanding the emotions of others
• Social skills: Managing relationships and building networks
• Adaptability: Flexing your approach based on emotional cues from your environment

Now, why does this matter in the world of GenAI and leadership? Let's go down the rabbit hole.

The EI Advantage in the Generative AI Era

Here's the realization: The most successful leaders in the age of generative AI will be someone other than those who can prompt an AI the best. They'll be the ones who can interpret, contextualize, and humanize AI outputs most effectively. And that is where EI comes into play.

Consider this: A recent MIT study found that companies that extensively use AI while scoring high on EI metrics outperformed their peers by 73% in revenue growth [1]. Coincidence? I think not.

The Hidden Layer: How EI Unlocks Generative AI's Potential

1. Intuitive Problem Framing EI allows leaders to frame problems in ways that generative AI can truly sink its teeth into. It's about asking the right questions, not just getting the right answers. Real-world application: Instead of asking your AI, "How can we increase profits?", an emotionally intelligent leader might prompt, "How can we enhance customer experience in ways that align with our team's passions and skills?" The result? Solutions that resonate on multiple levels.
2. Contextual Interpretation Generative AI can produce a wealth of ideas and analyses, but it takes EI to understand which ones will actually work in your unique organizational context. Real-world application: When an AI suggests a radical restructuring, an EI-savvy leader considers the company's cultural DNA, the unspoken alliances, and the emotional ripple effects. They might then refine the AI's suggestion, preserving its innovative core while ensuring it's implementable.
3. Ethical Navigation As AI capabilities grow, so do ethical concerns. EI is your compass in these murky waters. Real-world application: When implementing AI in hiring processes, an emotionally intelligent leader anticipates and addresses fears of bias, ensuring transparent communication and human oversight that builds trust rather than erodes it.
4. Adaptive Communication Generative AI can draft a message, but EI ensures it lands. Real-world application: Use AI to generate multiple versions of a company-wide announcement, then leverage your EI to select and refine the one that will resonate most with your team's current emotional climate.
5. Innovation Catalyst EI creates the psychological safety needed for teams to embrace AI-driven change. Real-world application: When introducing a new AI tool, an EI-focused leader might pair its rollout with workshops that address fears, celebrate early adopters, and create peer-support networks, transforming potential resistance into enthusiasm.

The EI-GenAI Feedback Loop

Here's where it gets really interesting. As you use EI to better leverage generative AI, the AI can, in turn, enhance your EI capabilities. How?

• Use AI to analyze your organization's communication patterns and emotional trends, giving you deeper EI insights.
• Employ AI simulations to practice difficult conversations and develop your EI skills in a safe environment.
• Leverage AI's pattern recognition to identify your own emotional blind spots and areas where your EI might need work.

This creates a virtuous cycle: Better EI leads to better AI use, which provides tools for even better EI, and so on.

The Million-Dollar Move: Investing in EI for AI Success

While 92% of executives are increasing AI investments, only 12% are significantly investing in EI training [2]. Therein lies your competitive edge.

Here's your power play:

1. EI Audits: Regularly assess your organization's EI, just as you would its technological capabilities.
2. AI-EI Integration Training: Develop programs explicitly teaching how to use EI when working with AI tools.
3. EI-Driven AI Governance: Create AI oversight committees that prioritize EI in decision-making processes.
4. Hire for EI: In the AI age, prioritize EI skills just as much as technical prowess in hiring and promotion decisions.

The Bottom Line

Generative AI is not a threat to emotionally intelligent leadership; it's rocket fuel for it. The leaders who will thrive aren't those who see AI as a replacement for human decision-making but those who use their EI to make AI an extension of their leadership capabilities. In my journey with generative AI, I constantly discover my biases and limitations in thinking as a leader. This article taught me the importance of adding EI into my decision making when using AI. It's not about women vs. machines. It's about women and machines dancing to a rhythm only emotional intelligence can hear. I hope you enjoyed this twist to GenAI prompting and how AI and EI are the new power couple in leadership.

Behind the Curtain

In true AI-EI synergy, I used generative AI to help research and structure this article. But every insight, every challenge to conventional wisdom, and every strategic implication comes from years of brainstorming with these concepts in the real world. EI-driven AI leadership is all about using the best tools available while never losing sight of the human element that makes leadership an art as much as a science.

Zdenka Cumano is the author of the forthcoming book "AI-Powered MBA: From Classroom to Boardroom." As a relentless entrepreneur, business instructor, and PhD candidate, she is pioneering the integration of cutting-edge AI technologies into business education and strategy, always emphasizing emotional intelligence.

References:

[1] MIT Sloan Management Review, "The New Leadership Playbook for the Digital Age," 2020.

[2] Capgemini Research Institute, "Emotional Intelligence – the essential skillset for the age of AI," 2019.