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New studies of the brain show that leaders can improve Social and group performance by understanding the biology of . the Biology of Leadership

by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis

Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:

1 Article Summary The Idea in Brief—the core idea The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work

2 Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

8 Further Reading A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications

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New studies of the brain show that leaders can improve group performance by understanding the biology of empathy.

Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis

In 1998, one of us, Daniel Goleman, published Rather, the individual minds become, in a in these pages his first article on emotional sense, fused into a single system. We believe intelligence and leadership. The response to that great leaders are those whose behavior “What Makes a Leader?” was enthusiastic. powerfully leverages the system of brain inter- People throughout and beyond the business connectedness. We place them on the opposite community started talking about the vital role end of the neural continuum from people with that empathy and self- play in effec- serious social disorders, such as autism or As- tive leadership. The concept of emotional in- perger’s syndrome, that are characterized by telligence continues to occupy a prominent underdevelopment in the areas of the brain as- space in the leadership literature and in every- sociated with social interactions. If we are cor- day coaching practices. But in the past five rect, it follows that a potent way of becoming a years, research in the emerging field of social better leader is to find authentic contexts in neuroscience—the study of what happens in which to learn the kinds of social behavior that the brain while people interact—is beginning reinforce the brain’s social circuitry. Leading ef- to reveal subtle new truths about what makes fectively is, in other words, less about master- a good leader. ing situations—or even mastering social skill The salient discovery is that certain things sets—than about developing a genuine inter- leaders do—specifically, exhibit empathy and est in and talent for fostering positive feelings become attuned to others’ moods—literally af- in the people whose cooperation and support fect both their own brain chemistry and that of you need. their followers. Indeed, researchers have found The notion that effective leadership is that the leader-follower dynamic is not a case about having powerful social circuits in the of two (or more) independent brains reacting brain has prompted us to extend our concept consciously or unconsciously to each other. of , which we had OPYRIGHT © 2008 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. RIGHTS ALL CORPORATION. SCHOOL PUBLISHING BUSINESS HARVARD 2008 © OPYRIGHT C

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Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

grounded in theories of individual psychol- emotions. Collectively, these neurons create ogy. A more relationship-based construct for an instant sense of shared experience. assessing leadership is social intelligence, Mirror neurons have particular importance which we define as a set of interpersonal com- in organizations, because leaders’ emotions petencies built on specific neural circuits (and and actions prompt followers to mirror those related endocrine systems) that inspire oth- feelings and deeds. The effects of activating ers to be effective. neural circuitry in followers’ brains can be very The idea that leaders need is not powerful. In a recent study, our colleague new, of course. In 1920, Columbia University Marie Dasborough observed two groups: One psychologist Edward Thorndike pointed out received negative performance feedback ac- that “the best mechanic in a factory may fail as companied by positive emotional signals— a foreman for lack of social intelligence.” More namely, nods and smiles; the other was given recently, our colleague Claudio Fernández- positive feedback that was delivered critically, Aráoz found in an analysis of new C-level exec- with frowns and narrowed eyes. In subsequent utives that those who had been hired for their interviews conducted to compare the emo- self-discipline, drive, and intellect were some- tional states of the two groups, the people who times later fired for lacking basic social skills. had received positive feedback accompanied In other words, the people Fernández-Aráoz by negative emotional signals reported feeling studied had smarts in spades, but their inabil- worse about their performance than did the ity to get along socially on the job was profes- participants who had received good-natured sionally self-defeating. negative feedback. In effect, the delivery was What’s new about our definition of social more important than the message itself. And intelligence is its biological underpinning, everybody knows that when people feel better, which we will explore in the following pages. they perform better. So, if leaders hope to get Drawing on the work of neuroscientists, our the best out of their people, they should con- own research and consulting endeavors, and tinue to be demanding but in ways that foster the findings of researchers affiliated with the a positive mood in their teams. The old carrot- Consortium for Research on Emotional Intel- and-stick approach alone doesn’t make neural ligence in Organizations, we will show you sense; traditional incentive systems are simply how to translate newly acquired knowledge not enough to get the best performance about mirror neurons, spindle cells, and oscil- from followers. lators into practical, socially intelligent behav- Here’s an example of what does work. It iors that can reinforce the neural links be- turns out that there’s a subset of mirror neurons tween you and your followers. whose only job is to detect other people’s Daniel Goleman (contact@ smiles and laughter, prompting smiles and danielgoleman.info) is a cochairman of Followers Mirror Their Leaders— laughter in return. A boss who is self-controlled the Consortium for Research on Emo- Literally and humorless will rarely engage those neu- tional Intelligence in Organizations, Perhaps the most stunning recent discovery in rons in his team members, but a boss who which is based at Rutgers University’s behavioral neuroscience is the identification laughs and sets an easygoing tone puts those Graduate School of Applied and Pro- of mirror neurons in widely dispersed areas of neurons to work, triggering spontaneous fessional Psychology in Piscataway, the brain. Italian neuroscientists found them laughter and knitting his team together in the New Jersey. He is the author of Social by accident while monitoring a particular cell process. A bonded group is one that performs Intelligence: The New Science of Human in a monkey’s brain that fired only when the well, as our colleague Fabio Sala has shown in Relationships (Bantam, 2006). monkey raised its arm. One day a lab assistant his research. He found that top-performing Richard Boyatzis (richard.boyatzis@ lifted an ice cream cone to his own mouth and leaders elicited laughter from their subordi- case.edu) is the H.R. Horvitz Chair of triggered a reaction in the monkey’s cell. It nates three times as often, on average, as Family Business and a professor in the was the first evidence that the brain is pep- did midperforming leaders. Being in a good departments of organizational behav- pered with neurons that mimic, or mirror, mood, other research finds, helps people take ior, psychology, and cognitive science what another being does. This previously un- in information effectively and respond nim- at Case Western Reserve University in known class of brain cells operates as neural bly and creatively. In other words, laughter is Cleveland. He is a coauthor, with Annie Wi-Fi, allowing us to navigate our social world. serious business. McKee and Frances Johnston, of Be- When we consciously or unconsciously detect It certainly made a difference at one university- coming a Resonant Leader (Harvard someone else’s emotions through their ac- based hospital in Boston. Two doctors we’ll Business Press, 2008). tions, our mirror neurons reproduce those call Dr. Burke and Dr. Humboldt were in

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contention for the post of CEO of the corpo- job. Within one-twentieth of a second, our ration that ran this hospital and others. Both spindle cells fire with information about how of them headed up departments, were superb we feel about that person; such “thin-slice” physicians, and had published many widely judgments can be very accurate, as follow-up cited research articles in prestigious medical metrics reveal. Therefore, leaders should not journals. But the two had very different fear to act on those judgments, provided that personalities. Burke was intense, task focused, they are also attuned to others’ moods. and impersonal. He was a relentless perfec- Such attunement is literally physical. Fol- tionist with a combative tone that kept his lowers of an effective leader experience rap- staff continually on edge. Humboldt was no port with her—or what we and our colleague less demanding, but he was very approachable, Annie McKee call “resonance.” Much of this even playful, in relating to staff, colleagues, feeling arises unconsciously, thanks to mirror and patients. Observers noted that people neurons and spindle-cell circuitry. But another smiled and teased one another—and even class of neurons is also involved: Oscillators co- spoke their minds—more in Humboldt’s de- ordinate people physically by regulating how partment than in Burke’s. Prized talent often and when their bodies move together. You can ended up leaving Burke’s department; in con- see oscillators in action when you watch peo- trast, outstanding folks gravitated to Hum- ple about to kiss; their movements look like a boldt’s warmer working climate. Recognizing dance, one body responding to the other seam- Humboldt’s socially intelligent leadership lessly. The same dynamic occurs when two cel- style, the hospital corporation’s board picked lists play together. Not only do they hit their him as the new CEO. notes in unison, but thanks to oscillators, the two musicians’ right brain hemispheres are The “Finely Attuned” Leader more closely coordinated than are the left and Do Women Have Great executives often talk about leading right sides of their individual brains. Stronger Social from the gut. Indeed, having good instincts is widely recognized as an advantage for a leader Firing Up Your Social Neurons Circuits? in any context, whether in reading the mood The firing of social neurons is evident all People often ask whether gender of one’s organization or in conducting a deli- around us. We once analyzed a video of Herb differences factor into the social in- cate negotiation with the competition. Leader- Kelleher, a cofounder and former CEO of telligence skills needed for outstand- ship scholars characterize this talent as an Southwest Airlines, strolling down the corridors ing leadership. The answer is yes and ability to recognize patterns, usually born of of Love Field in Dallas, the airline’s hub. We no. It’s true that women tend, on av- extensive experience. Their advice: Trust your could practically see him activate the mirror erage, to be better than men at im- gut, but get lots of input as you make deci- neurons, oscillators, and other social circuitry mediately sensing other people’s sions. That’s sound practice, of course, but in each person he encountered. He offered emotions, whereas men tend to have managers don’t always have the time to con- beaming smiles, shook hands with customers more social confidence, at least in sult dozens of people. as he told them how much he appreciated work settings. However, gender dif- Findings in neuroscience suggest that this their business, hugged employees as he ferences in social intelligence that approach is probably too cautious. Intuition, thanked them for their good work. And he got are dramatic in the general popula- too, is in the brain, produced in part by a class back exactly what he gave. Typical was the tion are all but absent among the of neurons called spindle cells because of their flight attendant whose face lit up when she un- most successful leaders. shape. They have a body size about four times expectedly encountered her boss. “Oh, my When the University of Toledo’s that of other brain cells, with an extra-long honey!” she blurted, brimming with warmth, Margaret Hopkins studied several branch to make attaching to other cells easier and gave him a big hug. She later explained, hundred executives from a major and transmitting and feelings to “Everyone just feels like family with him.” bank, she found gender differences them quicker. This ultrarapid connection of Unfortunately, it’s not easy to turn yourself in social intelligence in the overall emotions, beliefs, and judgments creates what into a Herb Kelleher or a Dr. Humboldt if group but not between the most ef- behavioral scientists call our social guidance you’re not one already. We know of no clear- fective men and the most effective system. Spindle cells trigger neural networks cut methods to strengthen mirror neurons, women. Ruth Malloy of the Hay that come into play whenever we have to spindle cells, and oscillators; they activate by Group uncovered a similar pattern in choose the best response among many—even the thousands per second during any encoun- her study of CEOs of international for a task as routine as prioritizing a to-do list. ter, and their precise firing patterns remain companies. Gender, clearly, is not These cells also help us gauge whether some- elusive. What’s more, self-conscious attempts neural destiny. one is trustworthy and right (or wrong) for a to display social intelligence can often backfire.

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Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

When you make an intentional effort to coor- success is always tough. dinate movements with another person, it is not only oscillators that fire. In such situations How to Become Socially Smarter the brain uses other, less adept circuitry to ini- To see what social intelligence training in- tiate and guide movements; as a result, the in- volves, consider the case of a top executive teraction feels forced. we’ll call Janice. She had been hired as a mar- The only way to develop your social cir- keting manager by a Fortune 500 company be- cuitry effectively is to undertake the hard cause of her business expertise, outstanding work of changing your behavior (see “Primal track record as a strategic thinker and planner, Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Per- reputation as a straight talker, and ability to formance,” our December 2001 HBR article anticipate business issues that were crucial with Annie McKee). Companies interested in for meeting goals. Within her first six months leadership development need to begin by as- on the job, however, Janice was floundering; sessing the willingness of individuals to enter other executives saw her as aggressive and a change program. Eager candidates should opinionated, lacking in political astuteness, first develop a personal vision for change and and careless about what she said and to whom, then undergo a thorough diagnostic assess- especially higher-ups. ment, akin to a medical workup, to identify To save this promising leader, Janice’s boss areas of social weakness and strength. Armed called in Kathleen Cavallo, an organizational with the feedback, the aspiring leader can be psychologist and senior consultant with the trained in specific areas where developing Hay Group, who immediately put Janice better social skills will have the greatest pay- through a 360-degree evaluation. Her direct off. The training can range from rehearsing reports, peers, and managers gave Janice better ways of interacting and trying them low ratings on empathy, service orientation, out at every opportunity, to being shadowed adaptability, and managing conflicts. Cavallo by a coach and then debriefed about what he learned more by having confidential conver- observes, to learning directly from a role sations with the people who worked most model. The options are many, but the road to closely with Janice. Their complaints focused

Are You a Socially Intelligent Leader? To measure an executive’s social intelligence Empathy Developing Others and help him or her develop a plan for improv- • Do you understand what motivates other • Do you coach and mentor others with ing it, we have a specialist administer our be- people, even those from different compassion and personally invest time havioral assessment tool, the Emotional and backgrounds? and energy in mentoring? Social Competency Inventory. It is a 360-degree •Are you sensitive to others’ needs? • Do you provide feedback that people evaluation instrument by which bosses, peers, find helpful for their professional direct reports, clients, and sometimes even Attunement development? family members assess a leader according to •Do you listen attentively and think about seven social intelligence qualities. how others feel? Inspiration We came up with these seven by integrating • Are you attuned to others’ moods? •Do you articulate a compelling vision, our existing emotional intelligence framework build group pride, and foster a positive with data assembled by our colleagues at the Organizational Awareness emotional tone? Hay Group, who used hard metrics to capture • Do you appreciate the culture and values • Do you lead by bringing out the best the behavior of top-performing leaders at hun- of the group or organization? in people? dreds of corporations over two decades. Listed •Do you understand social networks and Teamwork here are each of the qualities, followed by know their unspoken norms? •Do you solicit input from everyone on some of the questions we use to assess them. Influence the team? •Do you persuade others by engaging • Do you support all team members them in discussion and appealing to and encourage cooperation? their self-interests? • Do you get support from key people?

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Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

on her failure to establish rapport with peo- she rehearsed more-astute ways to present ple or even notice their reactions. The bottom her opinions; and she developed a personal line: Janice was adept neither at reading the vision for change. Such mental preparation social norms of a group nor at recognizing activates the social circuitry of the brain, people’s emotional cues when she violated strengthening the neural connections you those norms. Even more dangerous, Janice did need to act effectively; that’s why Olympic not realize she was being too blunt in managing athletes put hundreds of hours into mental upward. When she had a strong difference of review of their moves. opinion with a manager, she did not sense At one point, Cavallo asked Janice to name a when to back off. Her “let’s get it all on the leader in her organization who had excellent table and mix it up” approach was threatening social intelligence skills. Janice identified a vet- her job; top management was getting fed up. eran senior manager who was masterly both in When Cavallo presented this performance the art of the critique and at expressing dis- feedback as a wake-up call to Janice, she was agreement in meetings without damaging rela- of course shaken to discover that her job tionships. She asked him to help coach her, might be in danger. What upset her more, and she switched to a job where she could though, was the realization that she was not work with him—a post she held for two years. having her desired impact on other people. Janice was lucky to find a mentor who believed Cavallo initiated coaching sessions in which that part of a leader’s job is to develop human Janice would describe notable successes and capital. Many bosses would rather manage failures from her day. The more time Janice around a problem employee than help her get spent reviewing these incidents, the better better. Janice’s new boss took her on because she became at recognizing the difference he recognized her other strengths as invalu- between expressing an idea with conviction able, and his gut told him that Janice could im- and acting like a pit bull. She began to antici- prove with guidance. pate how people might react to her in a meet- Before meetings, Janice’s mentor coached ing or during a negative performance review; her on how to express her viewpoint about contentious issues and how to talk to higher- ups, and he modeled for her the art of perfor- mance feedback. By observing him day in and day out, Janice learned to affirm people even The Chemistry of Stress as she challenged their positions or critiqued When people are under stress, surges in when laboratory scientists want to study their performance. Spending time with a liv- the stress hormones adrenaline and cor- the highest levels of stress hormones, ing, breathing model of effective behavior tisol strongly affect their reasoning and they simulate a job interview in which provides the perfect stimulation for our . At low levels, cortisol facili- an applicant receives intense face-to-face mirror neurons, which allow us to directly tates thinking and other mental func- criticism—an analogue of a boss’s tear- experience, internalize, and ultimately emu- tions, so well-timed pressure to perform ing apart a subordinate’s performance. late what we observe. and targeted critiques of subordinates Researchers likewise find that when Janice’s transformation was genuine and certainly have their place. When a someone who is very important to a per- comprehensive. In a sense, she went in one leader’s demands become too great for a son expresses contempt or disgust to- person and came out another. If you think subordinate to handle, however, soaring ward him, his stress circuitry triggers an about it, that’s an important lesson from neu- cortisol levels and an added hard kick of explosion by stress hormones and a roscience: Because our behavior creates and adrenaline can paralyze the mind’s criti- spike in heart rate of 30 to 40 beats per develops neural networks, we are not necessar- cal abilities. Attention fixates on the minute. Then, because of the interper- ily prisoners of our genes and our early child- threat from the boss rather than the sonal dynamic of mirror neurons and os- hood experiences. Leaders can change if, like work at hand; memory, planning, and cillators, the tension spreads to other Janice, they are ready to put in the effort. As go out the window. People fall people. Before you know it, the destruc- she progressed in her training, the social be- back on old habits, no matter how un- tive emotions have infected an entire haviors she was learning became more like sec- suitable those are for addressing new group and inhibited its performance. ond nature to her. In scientific terms, Janice challenges. Leaders are themselves not immune to was strengthening her social circuits through Poorly delivered criticism and dis- the contagion of stress. All the more rea- practice. And as others responded to her, their plays of anger by leaders are common son they should take the time to under- brains connected with hers more profoundly triggers of hormonal surges. In fact, stand the biology of their emotions. and effectively, thereby reinforcing Janice’s cir-

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cuits in a virtuous circle. The upshot: Janice were no longer able to give their patients a went from being on the verge of dismissal to high level of care. Notably, workers whose getting promoted to a position two levels up. leaders scored low in social intelligence re- A few years later, some members of Janice’s ported unmet patient-care needs at three staff left the company because they were not times the rate—and emotional exhaustion at happy—so she asked Cavallo to come back. four times the rate—of their colleagues who Cavallo discovered that although Janice had had supportive leaders. At the same time, mastered the ability to communicate and con- nurses with socially intelligent bosses re- nect with management and peers, she still ported good emotional health and an en- sometimes missed cues from her direct reports hanced ability to care for their patients, even when they tried to signal their frustration. during the stress of layoffs (see the sidebar With more help from Cavallo, Janice was able “The Chemistry of Stress”). These results to turn the situation around by refocusing her should be compulsory reading for the boards attention on her staff’s emotional needs and of companies in crisis. Such boards typically fine-tuning her style. Opinion favor expertise over social intelligence when surveys conducted with Janice’s staff before selecting someone to guide the institution and after Cavallo’s second round of coaching through tough times. A crisis manager documented dramatic increases in their emo- needs both. tional commitment and intention to stay in the • • • organization. Janice and the staff also deliv- As we explore the discoveries of neuroscience, ered a 6% increase in annual sales, and after we are struck by how closely the best psycho- another successful year she was made presi- logical theories of development map to the dent of a multibillion-dollar unit. Companies newly charted hardwiring of the brain. Back in can clearly benefit a lot from putting people the 1950s, for example, British pediatrician through the kind of program Janice completed. and psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott was advo- cating for play as a way to accelerate children’s Hard Metrics of Social Intelligence learning. Similarly, British physician and psy- Our research over the past decade has con- choanalyst John Bowlby emphasized the im- firmed that there is a large performance gap portance of providing a secure base from between socially intelligent and socially un- which people can strive toward goals, take intelligent leaders. At a major national bank, risks without unwarranted fear, and freely ex- for example, we found that levels of an execu- plore new possibilities. Hard-bitten executives tive’s social intelligence competencies pre- may consider it absurdly indulgent and finan- dicted yearly performance appraisals more cially untenable to concern themselves with powerfully than did the emotional intelli- such theories in a world where bottom-line gence competencies of self-awareness and self- performance is the yardstick of success. But as management. (For a brief explanation of our new ways of scientifically measuring human assessment tool, which focuses on seven di- development start to bear out these theories mensions, see the exhibit “Are You a Socially and link them directly with performance, the Intelligent Leader?”) so-called soft side of business begins to look Social intelligence turns out to be espe- not so soft after all. cially important in crisis situations. Consider the experience of workers at a large Canadian Reprint R0809E provincial health care system that had gone To order, see the next page through drastic cutbacks and a reorganiza- or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500 tion. Internal surveys revealed that the front- or go to www.hbr.org line workers had become frustrated that they

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Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

Further Reading ARTICLES Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools, and the Cultural Intelligence Formation of Social Networks by P. Christopher Earley and by Tiziana Casciaro and Miguel Sousa Lobo Elaine Mosakowski Harvard Business Review Harvard Business Review June 2005 October 2004 Product no. R0506E Product no. R0410J

When looking for help with a task at work, In an increasingly diverse business environ- people turn to those best able to do the job. ment, managers must be able to navigate the Right? Wrong. New research shows that work thicket of habits, gestures, and assumptions partners tend to be chosen not for ability but that define their coworkers’ differences. for likeability. Drawing from their study en- Foreign cultures are everywhere—in other compassing 10,000 work relationships in five countries, certainly, but also in corporations, organizations, the authors have classified vocations, and regions. Interacting with indi- work partners into four archetypes: the viduals within them demands perceptiveness competent jerk, who knows a lot but is un- and adaptability. And the people who have pleasant; the lovable fool, who doesn’t know those traits in abundance aren’t necessarily much but is a delight; the lovable star, who’s the ones who enjoy the greatest social suc- both smart and likeable; and the incompetent cess in familiar settings. Cultural intelligence, jerk, who...well, that’s self-explanatory. Of or CQ, is the ability to make sense of unfamiliar course, everybody wants to work with the contexts and then blend in. It has three lovable star, and nobody wants to work with components—cognitive, physical, and emo- the incompetent jerk. More interesting is that tional/motivational. Although it shares many people prefer the lovable fool over the of the properties of emotional intelligence, competent jerk. That has big implications for CQ goes one step further by equipping a per- every organization, as both of these types son to distinguish behaviors produced by the often represent missed opportunities. Lovable culture in question from behaviors that are fools can bridge gaps between diverse groups peculiar to particular individuals and those that might not otherwise interact. But their found in all human beings. In their surveys of networking skills are often developed at the 2,000 managers in 60 countries, the authors expense of job performance, which can make found that most managers are not equally these employees underappreciated and strong in all three of these areas of CQ. The vulnerable to downsizing. To get the most out authors have devised tools that show how to of them, managers need to protect them and identify one’s strengths and developed train- put them in positions that don’t waste their ing techniques to help people overcome bridge-building talents. As for the competent weaknesses. They conclude that anyone To Order jerks, many can be socialized through reasonably alert, motivated, and poised can coaching or by being made accountable for attain an acceptable level of CQ. For Harvard Business Review reprints and bad behavior. subscriptions, call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500. Go to www.hbr.org

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