The Best Leaders Operate with High Emotional Intelligence

by | Sep 2, 2025

Effective communication is powered by a high level of emotional intelligence.

According to researchers, those individuals with high emotional intelligence tend to have the following characteristics:

They are not impulsive or hasty, but consider circumstances, reason, and emotion carefully before acting or speaking.

They are constantly conscious of their own emotional state.

They can regulate their own emotions to avoid undesired actions or commentary.

They can easily identify what someone else is feeling and adjust their thinking and behavior accordingly.

Based on these underlying characteristics, Jeff Steen formulated these short phrases to help communication be more emotionally intelligent.

Considering Circumstances:  Let me think about that and get back to you.

Conscious of Your Emotional State:  I’m a little worked up right now. I may need a minute to calm down.

Regulating Emotions:  I’m going to take a breather. It will help me clear my head.

Detecting Other’s Feelings:  It seems like you’re happy/upset/angry/etc. about something. Can you tell me what you’re thinking/feeling before we move forward?

Our industry is packed with challenging circumstances, high stress, and raw emotions.

And it takes thoughtful communication to connect with those you hope to lead and influence.

But great connections don’t just happen—they’re infused with the emotional intelligence of great communicators.

 

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The Attrition Variables

The Attrition Variables

While these attrition constants still have the greatest influence, there are some emerging attrition variables worth noting. People also tend to leave companies when: They feel like they’re not doing as well as others in their peer group outside the company. They feel like they’re not as far along as they should be at a certain point in life.

The Attrition Constants

The Attrition Constants

If you’re not focusing most of your retention effort on these issues, you’ll miss the mark. If you’re not focusing most of your recruiting effort on exploiting these weaknesses among your competitors, you’re missing the best opportunities.

The Persistence Mindset

The Persistence Mindset

A leader equipped with this mindset can have a profound effect on the life and career of each individual they engage. It works because an agent is getting a real-time glimpse of what it would be like to work on your team. But it only becomes believable when it is persistently applied over time.