Primal Leadership

I just finished Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, & Annie McKee. No, it has no connection to Hanlon's Primal Branding.

The book in a nutshell is simple. As a leader, you should be aware of your self and others when it comes to emotions. The book refers to the importance of having a high EI (emotional intelligence).

I enjoyed the read because it takes a completely different approach to leadership compared to the past few books I've read on the subject. It caused me to do a lot of reflection on myself. Although it is easy to read a book like this and think about others who need to read it, I actually found myself easily thinking about myself more than others.

A few things that stood out to me...

• Smile more.
• Keep your Customer Service people VERY, VERY, happy. They need & deserve it, because there job is so emotionally draining.
  
• Write a page about how you would like for your life to be like 15 years from now and make a list of 27 things you want to do before you die. These exercises will help you identify what is important to you and who your ideal self is (I haven't done this yet, but maybe in a future post - why 27? I have no idea).