{"id":66602,"date":"2022-05-08T14:05:49","date_gmt":"2022-05-08T18:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=66602"},"modified":"2022-05-18T16:35:53","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T20:35:53","slug":"lack-emotional-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What happens when leaders lack emotional intelligence? What effect can this have on their followers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions while also being able to understand and influence the emotions of others.&nbsp;The authors of <em>Primal Leadership <\/em>claim that emotional intelligence is the most important trait of a leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s what it looks like when leaders lack emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-non-emotionally-intelligent-leaders\"><strong>Non-Emotionally Intelligent Leaders<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The authors explain that, when a leader lacks emotional intelligence (EI), she creates what they label group <em>dissonance, <\/em>meaning group members are conflicted on how to act and feel, which leads to negativity and poor performance. We\u2019ll call this effect <em>discord.<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong>A leader who lacks <em>even one<\/em> of the four main EI skills can create discord:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If a leader lacks <\/strong><strong><em>self-awareness<\/em><\/strong><strong>, she\u2019s unable to understand her emotions and what caused them, making her unlikely to <\/strong><strong><em>manage<\/em><\/strong><strong> them well.<\/strong> Consequently, she\u2019s likely to express herself ineffectively and unintentionally spread negativity to the rest of the group. If this kind of leader feels stressed, defeated, or disappointed, she\u2019s likely to express these emotions through her words, actions, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/body-language-crucial-conversations\/\">body language<\/a>. This will create conflict in the group on how to feel and act, decreasing productivity and motivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If the leader lacks <\/strong><strong><em>social awareness, <\/em><\/strong><strong>she won\u2019t be able to effectively<\/strong><strong><em> manage her relationships<\/em><\/strong>\u2014she\u2019ll have difficulty understanding the emotions of group members and is likely to read situations wrong and act ineffectively. For example, if this leader notices that her group isn\u2019t meeting company goals due to a lack of motivation, she might approach the group with a demanding attitude, telling people to work harder. This will make the group feel resentful, misunderstood, and even less motivated to complete the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Discordant Leadership Causes Toxic Followership<\/strong><br><br>The authors of <em>Primal Leadership<\/em> argue that leaders who lack EI create discord in groups. Group discord can lead to what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/leading-high-performing-team\/202106\/toxic-followership-and-what-can-be-done#:~:text=those%20actions%20may%20foster%20cohesion,support%20of%20most%20team%20members%20and\">experts call <em>toxic followership<\/em><\/a>, when group members exhibit unethical behavior, manipulation, and failure to acclimate to the team, eroding group cohesion and causing a lack of effectiveness, productivity, and success. Toxic followership happens as a result of prolonged states of group discord.&nbsp;<br><br>However, experts explain that the leader is not the only one who can spread the disease of toxic followership to the group. Often, the initiator of the spread may be a disgruntled employee who is seen by group members as the \u201ccynic.\u201d To prevent anyone from becoming a cynic in the first place, experts recommend fostering a positive climate by using the EI skills discussed by the authors. However, if a cynic does arise, you can handle this person by interjecting when they speak to redirect the conversation to a more positive tone. For example, if the cynic says \u201cthat person doesn\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about,\u201d you can say \u201cwhat I think they meant was\u2026\u201d<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What happens when leaders lack emotional intelligence? What effect can this have on their followers? Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions while also being able to understand and influence the emotions of others.&nbsp;The authors of Primal Leadership claim that emotional intelligence is the most important trait of a leader. Here&#8217;s what it looks like when leaders lack emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,14,9],"tags":[618],"class_list":["post-66602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-management","category-psychology","tag-primal-leadership","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Emotional intelligence (EI) is the most important trait of a leader. Here&#039;s what happens when a leader lacks emotional intelligence.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Emotional intelligence (EI) is the most important trait of a leader. Here&#039;s what happens when a leader lacks emotional intelligence.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-08T18:05:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-18T20:35:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-08T18:05:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-18T20:35:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/\"},\"wordCount\":492,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Primal Leadership\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Management\",\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/\",\"name\":\"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-08T18:05:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-18T20:35:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"Emotional intelligence (EI) is the most important trait of a leader. Here's what happens when a leader lacks emotional intelligence.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\",\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hannah Aster\"},\"description\":\"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing\"],\"jobTitle\":\"SEO Team Lead\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord - Shortform Books","description":"Emotional intelligence (EI) is the most important trait of a leader. Here's what happens when a leader lacks emotional intelligence.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord","og_description":"Emotional intelligence (EI) is the most important trait of a leader. Here's what happens when a leader lacks emotional intelligence.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-05-08T18:05:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-18T20:35:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hannah Aster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hannah Aster","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/"},"author":{"name":"Hannah Aster","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f"},"headline":"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord","datePublished":"2022-05-08T18:05:49+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-18T20:35:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/"},"wordCount":492,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Primal Leadership"],"articleSection":["Communication","Management","Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/","name":"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-05-08T18:05:49+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-18T20:35:53+00:00","description":"Emotional intelligence (EI) is the most important trait of a leader. Here's what happens when a leader lacks emotional intelligence.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-emotional-intelligence\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why the Lack of Emotional Intelligence Creates Discord"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f","name":"Hannah Aster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hannah Aster"},"description":"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.","knowsAbout":["Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing"],"jobTitle":"SEO Team Lead","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/common-communication-problems-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66602"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66633,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66602\/revisions\/66633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}