Social Intelligence

Society, nowadays, is characterized by rapidly occurring changes in all aspects. Some even refer to our modern society as a period of chaos so that there is an increasing need for effective leaders that place importance on collaboration, empathy and caring and displays motivational leadership attitudes and utilizes an approach that focuses on people (Higgs 2002). This is affirmed by Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2002) as they state that “leaders everywhere confront a set of irrevocable imperatives, changing realities driven by profound social, political, economic, and technological changes.

Our world is in the midst of transformational change, calling for new leadership. ” (p. 246). Therefore, trends on research have come to focus on the interplay of social intelligence and emotional intelligence on the effectiveness of leadership. (Stein and Book 2000) Goleman (1998) further explains that transformational leadership “goes beyond management as usual; such leaders are able to rouse people through sheer power of their own enthusiasm” (p. 196). Having a positive influence on subordinates remain an important aspect as the latter tends to emulate the behavior and actions of their leaders.

Four characteristics has been identified by Sosik and Megerian (1999) which shows the interplay of emotional and social intelligence and leadership namely: (a) strong emotional and social skills, (b) a high level of self-motivation, (c) the capacity to motivate and inspire the performance and development of a team member, and (d) the ability of the leader to give personal attention to each team member. Through this study, I would like to focus on the impact of social intelligence on critical leadership values and its implications to the society we live in today.