Share this:

A lot of people say that to be a leader, one must possess all the needed skills, abilities, commitment, expertise and wisdom. However, those skills alone are not the only ones needed to be a truly great leader. While all of the above are needed for successful leadership, unless a leader uses his heart, he will not be all that he might be.

 

The head is the one that provides the thinking. It does the analysis and decides on the needed actions. On the other hand, the heart is the one that drives out emotions. A leader who uses his heart is able to feel compassion for, as well as to empathize with the needs of his constituents.

 

The head and the heart provide a formidable combination. The ability to combine or balance the head and the heart can be considered a skill. Such can create an unusual but great leader. But siding only to one will make leading difficult.

 

Having a heart without a head will make choices more emotionally inclined, instead of rational, thus either jumping to premature conclusions, or acting impulsively without considering the potential ramification.

 

Solely emotional leaders fail to appreciate thorough analysis and decide to neglect them. Not only this, but they also fail to be objective, which make it hard for them to achieve carefully thought out opinions required to make a rational decision.

 

While this is true, simply having a head brings the same far from optimal leadership. Despite being rational and in control, one who only sides with the head fails to understand his constituents. He is unable to empathize with their needs as they work, and thus rarely attracts their support to make possible the greatest plan they can and bring positive fruition.

 

When someone remains emotionally detached, he may be able to be the most objective person there is. But despite all his efforts to find the greatest goal he wants to achieve, he will always fail to see the bigger picture. Most organizational leadership that are inclined solely to the head end up failing in the end due to loss of emotional attraction from their constituents. People find it hard to be attracted to most leaders who do not have a heart due to being seen as cold and aloof.

 

What brings out the best model of a true leader is the balance between intelligence and emotions – a leader who is capable of creating the greatest plans while having the capability to relate to his people. Most leaders who succeeded were able to use their hearts to drive out their motivations providing them with the best plans in a well, thought-out manner.

Share this: