Knowledge, smarts and vision are characteristic of a great leader. Add to these the ability to identify and monitor emotions (your own and others) and to manage relationships. Qualities associated with such emotional intelligence distinguish the best leaders in the corporate world.

Great Leaders

<ul><li>Realistic self-confidence: You recognize your own abilities and shortcomings; you operate from competence and know when to rely on someone else.</li><li>Emotional insight: You are aware of your own feelings. You can identify the cause of the emotions to help you manage them.</li></ul>

Self-Awareness

<ul><li>Resilience: You know how to stay calm under pressure and can recover quickly from upsets. </li><li>Emotional balance: You can control any distressful feelings without blowing up at people.</li><li>Self-motivation: You keep moving toward long-term goals despite setbacks.</li></ul>

Self-Management

<ul><li>Cognitive and emotional empathy: You can describe things in ways your colleagues can understand because you are aware of different perspectives.</li><li>Good listening: You pay full attention to the other person and make sure you understand what they are saying.</li></ul>

Empathy

<ul><li>Compelling communication: You put your points in precise ways that persuade so that people are motivated.</li><li>Team playing: People feel relaxed working with you.</li></ul>

Relationship Skills

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What makes a great leader? Knowledge, smarts and vision, to be sure. To that, Daniel Goleman, author of "Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence," would add the ability to identify and monitor emotions - your own and others' - and to manage relationships. Qualities associated with such "emotional intelligence" distinguish the best leaders in the corporate world, according to Mr. Goleman, a former New York Times science reporter, a psychologist and co-director of a consortium at Rutgers University to foster research on the role emotional intelligence plays in excellence. He shares his short list of the competencies. 1. SELF-AWARENESS Realistic self-confidence: You understand your own strengths and limitations; you operate from competence and know when to rely on someone else on the team.
Emotional insight: You understand your feelings. Being aware of what makes you angry, for instance, can help you manage that anger.
2. SELF-MANAGEMENT Resilience: You stay calm under pressure and recover quickly from upsets. You don't brood or panic. In a crisis, people look to the leader for reassurance; if the leader is calm, they can be, too.
Emotional balance: You keep any distressful feelings in check - instead of blowing up at people, you let them know what's wrong and what the solution is.
Self-motivation: You keep moving toward distant goals despite setbacks.
3. EMPATHY Cognitive and emotional empathy: Because you understand other perspectives, you can put things in ways colleagues comprehend. And you welcome their questions, just to be sure. Cognitive empathy, along with reading another person's feelings accurately, makes for effective communication.
Good listening: You pay full attention to the other person and take time to understand what they are saying, without talking over them or hijacking the agenda.
4. RELATIONSHIP SKILLS Compelling communication: You put your points in persuasive, clear ways so that people are motivated as well as clear about expectations.
Team playing: People feel relaxed working with you. One sign: They laugh easily around you.
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What makes a great leader? Knowledge, smarts and vision, to be sure. To that, Daniel Goleman, author of "Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence," would add the ability to identify and monitor emotions - your own and others' - and to manage relationships.

How to Be Emotionally Intelligent

Great Leaders

Self-Awareness

Self-Management

Empathy

Relationship Skills

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