Shabaan Ahmad

  “Self-awareness is the first component of emotional intelligence,” and it helps people “recognize how their feelings affect them, other people, and their job performance” (Goleman, 2018, p. 1). An emotionally aware person likely (Goleman, 1995, 2018): Knows that tight deadlines bring out the worst in them, plans early, and puts in place the resources needed before the pressure hits. Has a good understanding of their goals and values and is clear on where they are heading and why. They change jobs when they realize that their career no longer aligns with their values. Examines their feelings and states openly when they can’t get behind a decision at work. They can assess themselves honestly and point out when their opinions have changed. What is social-emotional awareness? The social aspect of emotional awareness allows us to understand others, recognize their feelings, and act successfully in our relations with them. Examples of  social-emotional awareness  in practice include (Golem

The road is littered with failed transformation programs that were set up in the traditional way: Leaders define objectives, design a project plan, agree on KPIs, and recruit the right people. As many executives, academics, and consultants can relate to, the rate of failure in transformations is still far too high, and one that organizations can ill afford in these disruptive times. To understand the skills, mindsets, and capabilities behind successful transformations in today’s dynamic environment, EY and Oxford University formed a  research collaboration  to investigate what it takes to lead a successful transformation. We surveyed 935 CXOs and 1,127 members of the workforce. Approximately 50% of them represented a successful transformation project and 50% an unsuccessful one. The respondents came from 23 countries, seven industries, and 16 sub-industry sectors. We also conducted 25 in-depth interviews with CXOs from multiple global companies. Before their interviews, each leader was

When I discuss emotional connection with executives, I’m not suggesting excessive displays of emotion, oversharing of personal information, or getting into therapy sessions with colleagues. Rather, it’s about   connecting   with our teams, our peers, and our bosses as humans with emotions, not task-focused automatons. It’s the emotions that you as a leader evoke within others that enable you to bring out the best in them. Thousands of years ago,  Aristotle identified  p athos  as a critical element in communication and persuasion.  Pathos , in philosophy and rhetoric, is a purposeful appeal to emotion to evoke specific feelings in one’s audience. Aristotle understood way back then that the human connection makes a huge difference in provoking action. As the maxim suggests, logic makes us think, but emotions make us act. Here are three ways I’ve coached executives to harness the power of emotion to motivate the people they work with and drive better results: 1.  Cultivate the energy tha

                Natalie, a two-month-old newborn, alerts herself as a familiar voice — soft, musical, loving — approaches. Her eyebrows lift, her body relaxes, and an oval shape forms on her tiny pink mouth as she speaks: “Goo Goo Gaa Gaa.” When Natalie sees the face connected to this voice, her eyes light up, grow wide, and fix upon the sight of her mother. Saving the best for last, Natalie beams back a baby’s love by igniting her million-megawatt smile. All of Natalie’s behaviors, including baby talk and smiling, occur without the need for a teacher, textbook or a school building. They occur 100% outside of the process called learning. Her motor movement system, which will allow her to crawl, climb and walk, and her sensory systems, which give her the ability to see, hear, touch, taste and smell, are activated by pre-packaged, inborn reflexes which occur automatically. In this sense, all infants start life on an equal footing, determined by genetically hardwired reflexes. So far, so