Everything Speaks

What are the characteristics of the best leaders you know?  I suspect they are CEO’s - Chief Energy Officers - as proposed by HBR contributor, Tony Schwartz. Thinking about the leader as the energy officer  merges the leadership characteristics I addressed in my last post “A Nonverbal Nugget (how leaders lead without even saying a word) with a previous post challenging leaders to “Be Electric.”

In his article, Schwartz states, “The most fundamental job of a leader is to recruit, mobilize, inspire, focus, direct, and regularly refuel the energy of those they lead.” I would add to that statement, that through their leadership, they build the capacity in other leaders and throughout the organization to refuel others. In his list of characteristics that effective leaders exude, over two-thirds involved emotional intelligence. (e.g. encouraging, positive, inspiring, positive, decisive, visionary) Check out his article for reference.

Taking that and some previous thoughts into consideration, I would say an effective CEO leads with E3 Leadership- Energy, Electricity, and EQ

1. Energetic – the leaders needs to be able to to refuel, inspire, focus and direct

2. Electric – the leader must transfer energy, not simply to refuel others, but to develop other leaders’ capacity to refuel

3. EQ – the leader needs to  develop their emotional quotient.  In other words, tune into how positive energy can inspire and motivate

That is E3 Leadership.  A leader can be most effective if they think intentionally about how they cast vision to inspire action, how they are develop other leaders, and how every aspect of their communication and interactions affects others.

Many of us forget to develop ourselves as leaders. You know you have the gift of leadership.  Take a moment to think about  how you are developing your E3 leadership.