Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Since the publication of Daniel Goleman’s ’Emotional Intelligence (EI)’ in 1995, EI has gained immense popularity in the corporate world all across the globe. It is considered as a pre-requisite for 21st leaders. Goleman himself says that EI is more important than IQ and core skills. A high level of EI suggests that the leader is influential and can considerably inspire their team members to achieve organizational goals. It underscores the leader’s ability to understand their people and get along with them effectively.
There has been ample research done so far in the area of Emotional Intelligence which underlines its significance. However, in my view, EI has a dark side too. New evidence shows that when leaders cultivate their emotional intelligence, they may use it for manipulating others. They deliver electrifying messages and motivate others to act against their own best interests without even realizing it.
Some leaders have the natural ability to deliver mesmerizing talks — the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions of their own and others. The most influential leaders focus on the emotional effects of their body language, consciously use hand gestures analyzing images of their movements and voice tone. One of the major examples that comes to my mind is Adolf Hitler. I see that some corporate leaders are also using rather misusing EI for manipulating the people around.
I would like to share two examples here. A few months back when Covid-19 was at its peak, the owner of a company emotionally delivered an electrifying speech before their employees. He told them that there was a serious cash flow issue in the organization. He appealed the employees to take 50% compensation cut for six months and made a similar appeal to the vendors. All the employees and vendors got carried away by his emotional appeal and whole-heartedly supported him. Later on they realized that he had manipulated the financial figures to create panic among the employees and vendors so that nobody would resist salary cuts, rate reductions and delay in payments. It was soon revealed to the employees and vendors that he had used the Covid-19 situation to his advantage and earned a lot during the pandemic.
In another example, the Executive President of a company met my friend. He emotionally appealed to him stating that the organization would like to transform from a family-owned organization into a multinational organization. He invited my friend to be a part of this journey by being on the board as his organization transformation skills could be highly beneficial to the organization. Next week tickets were sent to my friend. A grand welcome was given to my friend by the Chairman and Executive Vice President. The Chairman requested him to do a dipstick study of the leadership team at macro level and brief him about his insights on dinner which was arranged at his residence . He said that they would discuss his inputs and then finalize the way forward for a professional engagement. During dinner my friend shared his findings. The Chairman and Executive Vice President praised my friend’s competence. The Chairman assured my friend that he would be the advisor to the organization next month. Later on my friend realized that out of the 8 leaders in the leadership team, 3 leaders were his relatives. His motive was to assess their competence and also know what they were thinking for the organization and their opinion about the Chairman. There was no communication on further professional engagement from the Chairman or Executive Vice President. My friend had got carried away by the emotional appeal and the big dream shown to him.
These two examples and many such teach us that we must learn to spot the manipulators. We must not get carried away by the good-looking sweet talkers. This dark side of emotional intelligence can cost you financially, mentally emotionally and socially.
Reference : The Atlantic, Adam Grant January 2, 2014