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

60 LEADING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
leaders who had 360-degree feedback to examine what makes an
extraordinary leader. They discovered key fi ndings such as:
• Great leaders make a huge difference when compared to
merely good leaders. Leaders in the top 10% produced twice
as much revenue to the organization as managers in the 11 th
through 89 th percentiles. Great leaders also have a positive
impact on profitability, turnover, employee commitment, and
customer satisfaction and retention.
• “The more great leaders an organization develops, the more it
will become an outstanding organization.”
• There is a significant difference in performance when a
leader is in the top 20%. Good leaders in the 40 th to 80 th
percentile are not significantly different from one another
in performance.
• The key to developing great leaders is to build strengths.
• If there are “fatal flaws” (derailers), they must be fi xed. 84
Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson wrote Soar with Your
Strengths as a result of research they did with the Gallup consulting
fi rm. Clifton had been pursuing the following question since graduate
school, over 50 years before: “What would happen if we studied
what was right with people versus what’s wrong with people?” Some
of their key fi ndings were:
• “Maximum productivity can be gained from focusing on
strengths and managing weaknesses.”
• Understanding strengths leads to knowing the difference
between good and great.
• Stop wasting time working on weaknesses.
• You can make more effective decisions by studying what’s
right versus what’s wrong.
• Strengths develop best when sufficient time is devoted to a
single subject or goal. 85