Description of Emotional Skills and Top Skills for Technical Profiles. Based on books and videos by Daniel Goleman

1. Emotional Intelligence Skills
The following emotional skills have been identified and clustered by the analysis of
large groups of leaders, and are statistically validated. The main sources of this
information are the books cited below, plus selected scientific publications by prof.
Richard Boyatzis.
Table 1. Emotional Intelligence within the context of leadership
Self-Awareness Self-Management Social Awareness Social Skill
Emotional self-
awareness:
the ability to read and
understand your
emotions as well as
recognize their impact
on work performance,
relationships etc.
Accurate self-
assessment:
a realistic evaluation
of your strengths and
limitations
Self-confidence:
a strong and positive
sense of self-worth
Self-control:
The ability to keep
disruptive emotions and
impulses under control
Trustworthiness:
a consistent display of
honesty and integrity.
Conscientiousness:
the ability to manage
yourself and your
responsibilities.
Adaptability:
Skill at adjusting to
changing situations and
overcoming obstacles
Achievement
orientation:
The drive to meet an
internal standard of
excellence.
Initiative: a readiness
to seize opportunities
Positive outlook:
Seeing the positive
aspects of things and
the future
Empathy:
Skill at sensing other
people’s emotions,
understanding their
perspective and taking
an active interest in
their concerns
Organizational
awareness:
The ability to read the
currents of
organizational life,
build decision
networks, and
navigate politics.
Service orientation:
the ability to recognize
and meet customers’
needs.
Visionary
leadership:
The ability to take
charge and inspire with
a compelling vision.
Influence:
The ability to wield a
range of persuasive
tactics.
Developing others:
The propensity to
bolster the abilities of
others through
feedback and
guidance.
Communication:
Skill at listening and at
sending clear,
convincing, and well-
tuned messages.
Change catalyst:
Proficiency in initiating
new ideas and leading
people in a new
direction.
Conflict
management:
The ability to de-
escalate disagreements
and orchestrate
solutions
Building bonds:
Proficiency at

2. cultivating and
maintaining a web of
relationships.
Team work and
collaboration:
Competence at
promoting cooperation
and building teams
Coaching and
mentoring: Sensing
others' development
needs and bolstering
their abilities
The competencies in italic are the ones that have been demonstrated to be
distinguishing for excellent leaders compared to average leaders. Distinguishing
cognitive capabilities are systems thinking and pattern recognition
References
“Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More Than IQ”,
Daniel Goleman, Bantam, 2006
“Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence”, Daniel Goleman,
Richard E. Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, HBS Press, 2004.
“Resonant Leadership”, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee, HBR Press, 2005.
Top Skills for Technical Job Profiles
Achievement orientation
(Emotional)
Improve performance. People have very high internal standards
for success, work long hours, like to keep score, setting
challenging goals
Influence/Impact
(Emotional)
Make persuasive arguments, capability to debate, marshal date,
tailor presentations
Pattern recognition
(Conceptual Thinking)
(Cognitive)
Capable to see what matters, seeing patterns in data to make
out what is crucial, make essential connections, identify
underlying problems and fix them, knowing where to make a
difference
Analysis
(Cognitive)
Breaking down problems systematically, anticipating obstacles,
seeing implications within a complex system how a change
ripples through to other elements, drawing logical conclusions

3. Taking on challenges on
own initiative
(Emotional)
Persistent in tackling problems
Self confidence
(Emotional)
A strong and positive sense of self-worth, operate independently,
having freedom and autonomy
Reference:
Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence, Talks at Google, Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hoo_dIOP8k&spfreload=1#t=7.050053495