Among the key focuses of the article by Segon and Booth (2015) is a realization made through the financial crisis of 2008. This is the fact that from an economic perspective, the real power lies in the private and not the public sectors. When something goes wrong in the private sector, it can trigger a chain reaction that even the most powerful governments in the world will be unable to extenuate (Suleiman, 2014). Focus in the private sector is more on people, than institutions because a decision by one individual can make all the difference. This focus has caused a reevaluation of the concept of competence in leadership based on what actually constitutes competence. Erstwhile, focus on competence was mainly kindred to academic prowess and the requisite experience. New elements kindred to emotional intelligence (EI) have hence been added. Soon after, EI had to be revisited to include the concept of ethics, temperance, and even the moral compass into EI as a component of competence. This is because, even a professionally competent manager can make an irrational decision either erroneously or corruptly, thus causing great damage to the company and the society at large.
Summary
The instant article can be considered in summary as being focused on the Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI) as developed by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis. It also evaluates the extension of the ECI to form the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI) to assess the competence of leaders and top managers. At the beginning of the article, it qualifies why ECI and ESCI as an element for testing EI became necessary for assessing the competency of leaders. As indicated therein, during normal times, leadership is easy and its outcomes predictable (Segon & Booth, 2015). Leaders are, however, meant to rise to the occasion when contingencies arise and when serious decisions are to be made, a fact that happens often in organizations. During this time, the leader needs to apply a lot of professional competence acquired through academics and experience. However, researchers have found this to been insufficient. A well-educated leader with poor temperaments, for example, can make a knee-jerk decision and lead the organization on a wrong path. Similarly, a competent leader can be corrupt and in an attempt to misappropriate funds intentionally make the wrong decision (Segon & Booth, 2015). The leader will benefit, but the organization and general society will suffer.
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The article outlines several respected leaders who were known to be very competent based on the traditional definition, but caused great damage because they were not competent in the EI perspective. Among the best examples given was Rebekah Brooks, the former CEO of News International who was reputed to have favor in the public and private sector (Segon & Booth, 2015). It was later to be discovered that Brooks was involved in levels of corruption as reprehensible as bribing police officers. The taint in Brooks extended to her organization and even its associates and also caused great damage. Yet professionally, she was extremely proficient. From an EI perspective, Brooks would never have been considered as competent to run even a small company let alone an organization with a global impact.
The ECI versus ESCI Perspective
The article defines ECI and ESCI at length complete with respective diagrams. ECI alone is shown to be insufficient as aforesaid and the test for EI extended to include ESCI with the difference being social competence. ECI and ESCI involve the ability of the leader to control both their own emotions as well as the emotions of others so as to lead competently and aid their organizations to thrive. Within ECI, leaders need to acknowledge that they are only human and, therefore, have emotions. These emotions can act to the detriment of the organization and should be curbed and controlled to avoid the same. The leader will also be able to tap into and/or control the emotions of others towards the same end. ESCI adds the perspective of social competency from an emotional perspective (Segon & Booth, 2015). This can be considered as EI from a people’s perspective. It entails being able to harness emotions to make a social impact than using the social impact to benefit the company. For example, a good leader should be able to make the internal and external stakeholders of a company feel important. These include the employees of the company, shareholders, and outsiders whose input can benefit the company. An excellent example given in the article is that of Enron’s Kenneth Lay (Segon & Booth, 2015). When the company was facing imminent collapse, Lay launched a massive campaign to save the company. He made friends with individuals across the political divide in America and used his influence over them to save his company. This was not per se managerial competence but rather social competence. Lay harnessed his own emotions and also those of his stakeholders and used the same to his company’s advantage.
Conclusion
When granting someone the superintendence of a trillion dollar global organization, more power is entrusted therein than perhaps any presidency in the world. An error by this individual can cause damage to billions of people across all continents. Academic proficiency is, therefore, not enough qualification to be a capable leader with sound academics and a good experience. This is because that competence alone can be reversed if emotions get the better of the leader. Furthermore, if there is a lack of ethics and morals, an intentionally wrong set of decisions can be made as happened in the rundown to the 2008 financial meltdown. This calls for a secondary level of competency-based on Emotional Intelligence (EI). Initially, the ECI was developed to test it but further research realized that emotion was not enough without social skills hence the advancement of ECI into ESCI. With the ESCI, competency levels have been advanced and adjusted to ensure that the seemingly non-professional human aspects of leaders do not jeopardize the professional aspects.
Personal Critique
Every major crisis in the history of the world can be attributed to a singular decision, made by a singular person that made all the difference. A junior Soviet military officer is credited as having alleviated the advent of a nuclear holocaust in the world by seemingly disobeying an unequivocal direct order. The officer, who died recently saved billions of lives. This level of power has since shifted to the private sector as was signified by the 2008 financial meltdown and the myriad Ponzi schemes and scandals that have ravaged different part of the world. Many of the people who perpetrate these Ponzi schemes are some of the most competent leaders in the world from the perspective of planning and implementation. Their emotions, ethics, and morality, however, came into play and so much damage was occasioned. This makes the contents of the instant article crucial to modern management and leadership. The articulation that emotional competence is a vital prerequisite of competence in leadership is fundamental. Another important aspect of the article is how it so aptly defines social aspects. The Lay example outlined above is akin to a top executive operating like a politician running for office by appealing to the humanity of the stakeholders. This is a great leadership lesson that should be aped. Therefore, my personal opinion of the article is positive.
References
Segon, M., & Booth, C. (2015). Virtue: The missing ethics element in emotional intelligence. Journal of Business Ethics , 128 (4), 789-802
Suleiman, E. N. (2014). Private Power and Centralization in France: The Notaires and the State . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
