The individual with high self-awareness will also be able to deal with others more effectively even if the other person is difficult. The self-aware individual has a better understanding of his or her own goals and so of the goals of others. The person who is self-aware can generally speak about that fact more openly and about the impact this has on his or her work. The author also points out that self-awareness can be discerned in others by various means, from performance reviews to the level of self-confidence seen in the person being evaluated. This is important in developing future leaders, beginning with recognizing who has the potential.
Self-regulation is cited next, meaning the ability to control internal forces that might shape behavior in a way that is not conducive to the best performance. Such a person can control emotions like anger so that he does not act impetuously or precipitously. Self-regulation enables the leader to pick the most effective response rather than the one that might leap to mind first.
Motivation is another trait required by the leader, specifically those who are motivated to achieve. They mist also motivate others, and they first need to have that motivation in themselves.
The author puts more emphasis on how to identify the potential leader, noting that the motivated person has a passion for the work and is persistent.
Empathy is cited next as a requirement for emotional intelligence, and this is defined as the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people and to treat people accordingly. Empathy is needed to recruit and retain talent in any endeavor. Today, this has to include cross-cultural sensitivity to avoid problems that are associated with a failure in this regard.
Social skills are necessary for the leader, based on an ability to find common ground and to build rapport with subordinates and...
Along with empathy, this dimension is necessary in working with others.
Analysis
These two articles are not mutually exclusive and can be seen as complementing one another more than being in conflict. Goleman is more interested in identifying and training future leaders, though what he says does identify the characteristics a leader should develop. Prentice offers a more direct analysis of what makes a leader more effective, though this knowledge could also serve in training future leaders to be more effective. Both see a variety of traits centering on forms of awareness and the ability to read others, though Goleman gives more attention to how reading others begins with the ability to read oneself. Leadership has been defined as "the process whereby one person influences others to work toward a goal" (Hellriegel, Slocum, and Woodward, 1992, p. 342). The issue here is not to define leadership but to achieve it, an both writers offer ways of finding a leader and of knowing that the leader can be effective.
The various elements cited by both authors have been cited by others as well. In my own experience, I have seen how the best leader would embody most of these qualities, though identifying who has them and how well they will be able to used them may not be as easy as these writers make it seem. For many leaders, these qualities only become apparent in the breach and not in a job application situation, for the leader can often appear in a time of crisis and may not be so obvious to those seeking to find and train a leader.
References
Goleman, D. (2004, January). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, 82-91.
Hellriegel, D., J.W. Slocum, and R.W. Woodman (1992). Organizational Behavior. New York: West Publishing.
Prentice, W.C.H. (2004, January). Understanding leadership. Harvard Business Review, 102-109.
