September 2006

ope. Mindfulness. Renewal. Relationship management. These terms may sound like the elements of a marriage encounter, but they are also at the heart of the emerging concept of “resonant leadership.”

The term resonant leader was popularized in a 2002 book titled Primal Leadership, written by Daniel Goleman, father of the concept of emotional intelligence, along with emotional intelligence researchers Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee.

In that book, they argued that an organization responds to the energy and enthusiasm of its leader. If the leader expresses a positive attitude, an organization tends to thrive; if a leader spreads negative emotions, the organization struggles. Because emotions are “open loop” (positive emotions beget more positive emotions and vice versa) and “contagious,” the leader’s emotional impact can resonate throughout the organization. In other words, they defined the connections by which the emotional intelligence of the leader—whether CEO or manager, coach or politician—translated to the success of the enterprise.

Since then, Boyatzis and McKee have continued their research in this field. In their recent book, Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion, they have come up with surprising recommendations for what it takes to achieve—and sustain—resonant leadership.

As Boyatzis explained in an interview, the goal of the book was to look at leadership with a lowercase “l,” meaning not just corporate management, but leadership within any kind of organization, including families and other social groups. What emerged was an even more basic concept, which he refers to as “leadership around your own life.”

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