"No creature can fly with just one wing. Gifted leadership occurs where heart and head - feeling and thought - meet. These are the two wings that allow a leader to soar."
This quote truly makes a lot of sense to me, a leader with "just one wing" will not be near as effective as a leader with two wings and will never be able to soar like the leader with two wings. In saying two wings, I mean that a leader must have both the heart and the head to complete and lead through tasks. If the leader only has one wing, or just heart for example, that leader may have all the desire to get the work done but doesn't have the head, or the creative nature, forward looking, and the intelligence "wing" of leadership. On the other hand if the leader only has the head "wing" of leadership they will be lacking the heart or ability to relate to others and understand their emotions and the desire to get the task completed. Goleman's quote recognizes that a successful leader needs both feeling and thought to be able to "soar" as a leader.
Thanks, Preston. Though Goleman would say that to be only head poses big problems for a leader because it prevents him from connecting at the deepest level. Knowing what to do is one thing; knowing how to connect with people so they can and will follow you is as much heart as head.
ReplyDelete