CHAPTER 10Element One—Emotional Awareness and Recognition
WELCOME TO THE MOST DIFFICULT ELEMENT OF THE leadership process. Emotional Awareness and Recognition will challenge you and, in many cases, frustrate you in every aspect of your life.
We give so little regard to our emotions. We've come to believe that we've got a handle on it or that we've got more important things to concern ourselves with than something as trivial and juvenile as our emotions. We may even consider paying attention to and acknowledging our emotions as a sign of weakness.
Here is the quick answer as to why Emotional Awareness and Recognition is essential to great leadership: Emotions drive our actions, and our actions drive our results. As leaders, we are judged by our actions: what we do, what we say, and the results we achieve.
If we want to be in control of the things we do and say that impact organizational success or failure, then we must be hyper-aware of the very thing that drives our actions—our emotions. Without this, mission accomplishment may as well be left to a flip of the coin.
Emotions Influence Both Our Outer and Inner Worlds
Research tells us that we have between 60,000–70,000 thoughts in one day, and 80–90% of those thoughts are the same as the day before.2 Seventy percent of the time, those thoughts are associated with the hormones and emotions of stress (anger, jealousy, frustration, worthlessness, fear, anxiety, insecurity, guilt, envy, etc.).3,4
Every time you have a thought, ...
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