Becoming an Emotionally Intelligent Leader

In MD Made Leadership Academy last week, we learned the importance of being and becoming Emotionally Intelligent Leaders. First, let me define Emotional Intelligence. “Emotional Intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict”. We learned the importance of EQ and ways in which we can improve our own EQ. One way to improve your EQ that I personally struggle with is, “Acknowledge and appreciate your emotions”. This is a challenging task because as a society we have been told that feelings are bad, we should always be emotionless, and never communicate your feelings. When in reality, emotions are what make us stronger. Emotions are what allow us to connect with ourselves, while giving us the ability to relate to others. I challenge you to reflect on your emotional intelligence and instead of ignoring your emotions come to embrace them because with understanding comes great power.

???????? During our meeting, we did a group activity which identified our EQ styles. After reflection I concluded that I am an EQ leader of action. I am someone who always says, “Let’s do it”. I love to act, try things, and plunge in. The strengths that come with this EQ style is I am unafraid to do the hard things, I am resilient and will continue to work until I get it right, and I appreciate and accept any challenge. On the other hand, some weaknesses that come with this style are that I can be impulsive and sometimes forget to think before I do, I forget to reflect and consider others, and I can be controlling where I am not afraid to take lead and do the project by myself. When working in teams it is essential to understand yourself and others so that you can utilize each other’s strengths and understand each other’s weaknesses. When you communicate these ideas, you can be placed in a position where you will be the most successful and your teammates can hold you accountable when signs of your weakness emerge. This activity allowed me to better understand myself so that in the future I can be a better and more effective teammate.