Currently, organizations are looking to recent work on emotional intelligence to augment approaches to executive and management development. One study involved a leadership competence model developed by Lyle Spencer for a $2 billion industrial controls division of Siemens.

When star performers were compared to average managers, four competencies of emotional intelligence emerged as the unique strengths of the stars. Not a single one of them related to technical or purely cognitive strengths. The following four abilities distinguished those managers who were star leaders, that is, those whose growth in revenues and return on sales put their performance in the top 10 to 15 percent:

1. The drive to achieve results
2. The ability to take initiative
3. Skills in collaboration and teamwork
4. The ability to lead teams

Then, with a clear idea of which competencies to target, another pool of managers was trained to cultivate these four strengths. They became familiar with and were evaluated on each competence, and they set goals for improving them. The results was an additional $1.5 million profit, double of that of a comparison group who had no training.