Page 18 - AeM_Mar_2018

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Today’s soft skills are the hard skills

Every year, Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo, sits model something sustainable and replicable to the
down to write a letter… in fact, 400 of them. In each organisation. More than a sunny disposition or
one, she tells the parents of her senior executives extraverted confidence, EI is about discerning and
what their child is doing for the company, and why managing your own emotions, so that you can nurture
they are a gift to the company. The response from and develop the relationships around you.
her colleagues: “This is the best thing that’s
happened to my parents. And, it’s the best thing And considering that teams are now far more agile and
that’s happened to me!” disparate, the ability to lead a diverse workforce is now
indispensable. Vendors, freelancers, offshore teams
Needless to say, Nooyi is enjoying a high approval rating and contractors sit around the same virtual tables these
in her 11th year as CEO. Why is that? Daniel Goleman’s days, and today’s leader must have the empathy,
Emotional Intelligence (EI) theory would say it has communicative savvy and interpersonal skills to
everything to do with her mastering ‘the soft stuff’. synthesise these contributions into a cohesive healthy
brand.

Before this new paradigm infiltrated business schools
and boardrooms, strong leadership was top-down, Today, leaders are expected to go first‒to be
empirical and calculated, emotionally invulnerable. transparent and approachable‒and to model
teachability to their workforce. An emotionally intelligent
Bedside manners and empathy were optional at best.
But increasingly business is waking up to the idea that leader turns mistakes into learning opportunities and
IQ and Ivy League-splattered résumés won’t necessarily operates within healthy boundaries of their finite
translate into running a tight, productive, happy ship. It capacity. Leaders who are emotionally self-regulated
will take more intuitive, fluid forms of leadership that can and self-aware know how to pause, think and step into
leverage the power of human connections and the ability another person’s shoes before acting. They know how
to sniff out the needs of both colleague and customer.
to inspire and envision others. If you want to build
anything great, you’re going to have to get it the hard Those with high EQs know how to keep growing and
way. Soft skills are the hard skills inside the glass walls learning and redefining their contribution to society,
of today’s organisations. even as the business world is rampantly disrupted. And
that’s how they keep winning

EI: what exactly is it ‒ and isn’t it?
EI has a tangible payoff
You only have to listen to Jeff Bezos’ quirky, self-
deprecating laugh, or reference Mark Zuckerberg’s dress A TalentSmart study found emotional intelligence to be
-down wardrobe, to agree that today’s best leaders are the number one predictor of performance (among 33
not gunning for super hero status. But their genius (aside other qualities), with a 58% success rate for a variety of
from they’re genius) lies in the fact that they’re not trying. jobs overall. On average, people with a high EQ
Where they’ve chosen to throw their weight is in their are $29 000 richer every year than people with a low
own emotional regulation‒the ability to recognise and EQ. Technically speaking, that means for every point
tend to their emotional ‘tanks’‒so that they continue to you bring your EQ up, you can expect to make a
thousand dollars more per year.
18 March 2018 - Internet of Things (IoT) and Integrated Marketing