CRITICAL REVIEW ON:

“WHAT MAKES A LEADER”

-BY DANIEL GOLEMAN
INTORDUCTION:
Daniel Goleman is an established author as well as a renowned science journalist, who has
specialized in brain and behavioural sciences. In his article titled "What makes a leader",
Goleman has tried to highlight the crucial qualities all effective leaders possess. He states that
the one factor that differentiates and defines an effective leader from the rest is emotional
intelligence and that different surveys have corroborated the same. Goleman has explained
the idea and nuances of emotional intelligence in simple language and has structured the
article elegantly, for better understanding. The article is very engaging and informative for
people from all spheres of life.

SUMMARY:
The article "What Makes a Leader", concentrates on explaining one crucial factor that
differentiates an effective leader from the rest - emotional intelligence. Emotional
intelligence, as explained by Goleman, is one common factor that can be traced back to all
effective leaders the world has ever had and hence understanding and acquiring it becomes
very important.
 According to the author, EQ has five components. Namely; 
1. Self-awareness
2. Self-regulation
3. Motivation
4. Empathy
5. Social skill
SELF-AWARENESS, according to Goleman, is the deep understanding of one's own
emotions, needs, drives, strengths and weaknesses. A person with a high degree of self-
awareness will be able to recognise their true feelings, how it affects them and other people
around them. This can be useful in channelling their energies and efforts in a proper way that
manipulates these emotions for better results.
SELF-REGULATION, as explained in the article, is the proper management of the primary
impulses that drives one's emotions. It is an essential component of EQ because people can
become more reasonable and rational if they are in control of their emotions. They would be
able to refrain themselves from hasty judgements and thus will come to decisions and
conclusions based on a better understanding of situations at hand.
The third component, MOTIVATION, is the drive to achieve beyond expectations, both their
own as well as others'. Goleman emphasises on this as a virtue that all leaders must possess.
According to the article, people with high levels of motivation constantly raises the
performance bar and keeps score of their achievements. Besides, such people are found to be
more optimistic and hence will keep on trying even when the score is against them. This
practice helps them to learn from their mistakes too.
EMPATHY, the fourth component of EQ, according to Goleman, is the most easily
recognised trait in the list. It is the thoughtful consideration of others feelings and taking
these feelings into account while making decisions. It is a particularly important practice in
today's context because of three reasons: 
a. Increase in team activities
b. The increasing pace of globalisation
c. growing need for retention of talent
In these situations, it is important to behave in a manner that portrays a heightened level of
social sensitivity and cultural differences.
SOCIAL SKILL, the last component, according to this article, is defined as "friendliness with
a purpose". It is the use of proper communication and management of relations to make
people achieve their as well as the organisation's overall objectives.

The first three components described above are self-management skills, and the last two
pertains to people's ability to cultivate and manage relationships with others. In today's world,
most of the large companies are incorporating these aspects into their competency models for
identifying, training and promoting the best leaders. Goleman has also conducted various
surveys which corroborates the importance of emotional intelligence not only in
differentiating outstanding leaders from the rest but also as an important factor linked to
performance. These researches also state that given the proper practice of right approach,
people can develop their emotional intelligence.

Goleman observes that all these traits are not given due importance in the organisational
context. Such qualities are often overlooked and rarely rewarded. He reiterates that a better
rewarding of these activities will improve the performance of individuals as well as their
organisations.

CRITIQUE:
1. RELEVANCE:
This article is a goldmine in today's world because of the increasing demand for effective
leaders to manage the global world and its organisations. Goleman has described the
desired traits for an effective leader and its importance on the organisational environment.
Also, he has, from his surveys, stated that these traits could be achieved if certain
practices are inculcated into routine behaviour. Hence, this article is very relevant in the
current world scenario.
2. LANGUAGE AND STYLE ANALYSIS:
Goleman has used simple terms to explain the concept clearly and concisely. He has
structured the article in a way which imparts the intended meaning coherently and
adequately. Proper structuring by way of the proper division of paragraphs for different
subtopics is especially helpful in gauging the entire topic and in its easy retention. Thus,
we can conclude that he has efficiently used the language to convey the idea.
3. STRENGTHS:
The relevance of the theme itself is the major strength of the article. It can be very useful
for executives aiming to improve their corporate game. Along with this, the article has
universal applicability cancelling out geographical boundaries and time zones.
4. WEAKNESS:
Even though Goleman has taken special care in explaining all the aspect of an effective
leader and its importance in improving the organisational behaviour and performance, he
hasn’t clearly mentioned a path on how to achieve these traits. This could be an addition.
CONCLUSION:
This article was written with the intention of bringing into light the desirable traits of an
effective leader and its importance in bringing up the performance of individuals as well as
their organisations. We can effectively say that Goleman has succeeded in this aspect and has
effectively communicated the intended idea. The article is well written and contains relevant
and important information which anybody can incorporate into their lives. Its applicability
and the effort behind the research are commendable. If he could’ve improved on the aspect of
an explanation on how to achieve these traits, this would have been an error free article.
Overall, the article is one of the most relevant articles we have today and is a well written and
communicated embodiment of his idea.