The Must-Have Management Skill

Over the course of the last decade we have assessed, created development plans and coached more than 400 senior executives, entrepreneurs and business owners. In that time we have identified the one single skill that is more important to business success than any other.

In Harvard Business Review, author Daniel Goleman comes to the same conclusion as us. While intellectual horsepower and technical skills are important, nothing is more essential for a senior leader than social intelligence. Indeed, if leadership is the art of accomplishing goals through other people it's no surprise that you need the social skills to be able to to listen, communicate, persuade and collaborate well.

Goleman puts it nicely:

"You can be the most brilliant innovator, problem-solver or strategic thinker, but if you can't inspire and motivate, build relationships or communicate powerfully, those talents will get you nowhere."

It should come as no surprise to our clients and regular readers to see we are in close agreement with Goleman. We're accredited to use the Emotional and Social Competence Inventory based on Goleman's work and have found it an excellent way to provide structured and objective feedback to many of those executives we spoke about before, who we have helped with development and coaching plans.

Bottom line for senior executives: be smart, be technically proficient, but never forget it's the ability to work well through others that defines most leadership and executive success.