Diving Back In

Labour Day has passed, for those of you who celebrate that extra day off of summer and now people are diving back into work with both feet. For some of us, the down time was a great time to catch up on research and writing, while of course making sure we didn't miss a second of sunshine. I made a deal with myself. On rainy days I wrote for hours and when the sun came up I'd be out and absorbing it so it would last through the cold days of winter.

Fall also brings a great deal of travel, symposia, speaking engagements and back to teaching. In the middle of all this, the interviews for my book have begun, each one taking my breath away as it couldn't be more perfect and in alignment with what I want to shine a light on: Human Based Leadership.

As people are coming back from holidays, this is the perfect time to sit back and listen to their stories. You can learn a great deal about a person by listening to how they spent their holidays, what lights up their whole being while the stories are being told. We spend so little time getting to know the people we work with and yet demand the most and best from them. However these people, these colleagues, staff, managers and leaders are people first and people in roles second.

We only seem to be paying attention to one side of the coin. However that's a very one dimensional existence, isn't it?

Emotional Intelligence is a term we're hearing more and more about. It's not just a term, it's a way of being. When you lead through your authetic self, including your emotions, while, at the same time not getting bogged down by those emotions, you will connect with people in the most fundamental way...through their humanity.

A colleague of mine, Lee Salmon, was a guest writer for the new book "A Coach's Guide to Emotional Intelligence: Strategies for Developing Successful Leaders". We've had many a discussion on this topic, one that continues over time as we use EI more and more in our work. "A Coach’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence is a groundbreaking book that combines the topics of coaching and emotional intelligence in a down-to-earth resource for coaches, facilitators, and consultants."

I would say it's a book for anyone who wants to grow people, either for a living or a passion. Emotional Intelligence is not a passing fad. It's how humanity will evolve.

"Companies can continue to give top priority to financial performance -- but many now also realize that technical and intellectual skills are only part of the equation for success. A growing number of organizations are now convinced that people's ability to understand and to manage their emotions improves their performance, their collaboration with colleagues, and their interaction with customers. After decades of businesses seeing "hard stuff" and "soft stuff" as separate domains, emotional competence may now be a way to close that breach and to produce a unified view of workplace performance." -- FastCompany

Think about it, but don't think too long. You'd be much better off if you started paying attention to it.

Best..

Donna Karlin