Study after study illustrates the point: The differences between executives who are outstanding performers in their respective fields and those who are just average lie not in their cognitive abilities or technical skills, but in their ability to achieve results through a broad range of leadership skills. In other words, the intellect and analytic ability that we, as lawyers, have so carefully cultivated through years of education and practice will only take us so far. If we want to excel in our careers, we must also develop our capacity to lead — to lead our firms and organizations, to lead our practice groups, to lead our cases, projects and transactions, to lead our clients, and to lead our communities.
A critical component of leadership is what business scholars now refer to as emotional intelligence or EQ. EQ includes competency in self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. In EQ guru Daniel Goleman’s Harvard Business Review article, “What Makes a Leader,” he reports a significant finding that is applicable to lawyers as much as it is to corporate executives. After studying the competency models of 188 companies, Goleman found that, while cognitive skills (IQ) are important, 90% of top performers, as compared to average ones in senior positions, had high levels of emotional intelligence.
What this suggests for lawyers is that, as they progress in their careers, and are required to manage cases and transactions, manage practice groups, and serve in executive positions in their firms, competency in the areas of emotional intelligence becomes more and more important.
Larry Richard of Hildebrandt International reports bad news/good news here. Based on his analysis of 10 years worth of EQ assessments of partners in large firms and US Attorney offices throughout the country, he found that lawyers, who score on average three standard deviations above the norm on IQ (i.e., 130), actually score below the norm on EQ – at the 94th percentile range. The good news is that, unlike IQ which generally remains constant over time, EQ can be increased – but not with traditional training programs. In order to increase EQ, lawyers need to engage in extended practice, get feedback from colleagues, and be generally enthusiastic to make the change.
Are you ready to develop your EQ in order to maximize career performance?