Leadership Compassion

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Critique

Frost breaks down leadership emotional intelligence into seven dimensions. Frost goes into detail about each; providing examples in cases but he does not say whether the dimensions can be developed through educational experience or whether the dimensions are founded in the trait of the individual in the leadership role. This is really the fundamental question because if the dimensions of emotional competence, paying attention, putting people first, practicing professional intimacy, planting seeds, pushing back and acknowledging mistakes can be learned, the focus of the article should have been on first the research which supports the conclusion that the dimensions exist and then there should have been a development of leadership learning models that would best serve to teach the dimensions. The affect the values and traits of the leader would have on the way in which each dimension would be manifested should also have been explored. The leadership component of the leadership interactional framework is stressed in the article, to the exclusion of the other, equally important elements of the situation and followers. There is also no distinction made between leadership and management. Frost uses the terms interchangeably.

Dimensions Evaluated Individually

The dimensions of 'emotional competence' and 'acknowledging mistakes' were both illustrated in cases involving managers admitting they had made a mistake either in behavior or judgment. There is not adequate difference in the examples to warrant the categorizing them as two different dimensions. In the example of 'emotional competence', a project manager admits to his team that he was wrong to have spoken to a member of the team harshly at a previous meeting. In the example of the dimension of 'acknowledging mistakes' a manager admitted he had made a mistake that was originally thought to have been caused by a subordinate. In this portion of the article which was intended to define and exemplify the dimension of 'acknowledging mistakes' reference was made to the same case which had been used to support the dimension of 'emotional competence'. This shows the definitions of the two dimensions are so close that the same incident can be cited to demonstrate both dimensions. As the term 'emotional competence' is so close to the term 'emotional competence' and because the dimension of 'acknowledging mistakes' encompasses the behaviors illustrated as 'emotional competence' the two dimensions should be combined into one dimension referred to as 'acknowledging mistakes'.

In the FFM Model of personality the dimension of 'acknowledging mistakes' would be a natural behavior for a leader who was strong in 'adjustment'. Adjustment is synonymous with emotional maturity and self-control. Most importantly it addresses the ability of the leader to accept personal criticism, of which acknowledging one's own mistake is a part. A leader demonstrating the adjustment FFM is likely to also show the value of Science as the emotional consequence of ...