Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Hands-On ... - always yours

INTRODUCTION
WHY EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE?
Jim bumbled his way through his first presentation to the
board in his new role as CFO. The CEO, Steve, was very
disappointed and surprised by Jim’s performance. Jim had
forgotten to bring his memory stick to the presentation,
but only discovered his oversight as he set up and all the board
members were fi ling into the room. Kicking himself, and obviously
thrown off, Jim had to talk about the slides from his handout. His
performance reflected this—by his nervousness, disorganization,
and lack of poise. Steve, who had supported Jim for the CFO position,
exclaimed afterward, “What happened? I was counting on you.
Now you are going to have an uphill battle to get back your credibility
with this group, if you can.”
Dejected and miffed, Jim asked himself the same thing: “What
happened?” Half a dozen scenes replayed through his head:
1. On the way to the meeting, Mary, one of his best employees,
had told him she was very disappointed in her review and
was going to write a rebuttal. He was taken aback at her comments
and at the bad timing, as Mary knew he was going to a
big meeting. Jim was very short and defensive with her, which
was not like him, and he immediately regretted his reaction.
2. He had raced to work this morning, as he had to drop off his
daughter, McKensey, at school on the way. She was late getting
out of the house because she was looking for one of her
shoes.
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