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IQ and technical skills are important, but emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership. What Makes a Leader? by daniel goleman E very businessperson knows a story about a highly intelligent, highly skilled executive who was promoted into a leadership position only to fail at the job. And they also know a story about someone with solid – but not extraordinary – intellectual abilities and technical skills who was promoted into a similar position and then soared. Such anecdotes support the widespread belief that identifying individuals with the “right stuff” to be leaders is more art than science. After all, the personal styles of superb leaders vary: some leaders are subdued and analytical; others shout their manifestos from the mountaintops. And just as important, different situations call for different Daniel Goleman is the author of Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1995) and Working with Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1998). He is cochairman of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, which is based at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology in Piscataway, New Jersey. He can be reached at [email protected]. art work by cr aig fr a zier Copyright © 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.