Emotional Intelligence and Army Doctrine 10/12/17

Emotional Intelligence and Army Doctrine* At the Mission Command Workshop Dr. Greg Ruark recommended the paper by Major Taylor-Clark "Emotional Intelligence Competencies and the Army Leadership Requirements Model." In that document she details sample leadership actions with emotional intelligence competencies and lists Army leader attributes and competencies for each.** It is interesting to see how the Army values, leadership competencies and emotional intelligence skills complement each other. In reality great leaders have always embodied these attributes yet no one is born with great interpersonal skills. Some folks grow up in environments where they learn from family, friends or in school but many leaders in the past have had to learn their emotional and social skills in the crucible of life. Today we have many resources to develop skills at our own pace. Books such as "Emotional Intelligence 2.0" and "Emotional Intelligence: The Power of Leadership," are great starters, but to master the skills leaders must constantly work to apply them and assess their performance. The best way to do this is to have a "battle buddy." Great leaders find people who can speak truth and help them see themselves. Army Leadership Doctrine: Taylor-Clark's paper crosswalks ADRP 6-22,with emotional intelligence competencies. The key words that connect them include character, empathy, presence and intellect (pages 32-55 are particularly worth study). *This is a personal reflection based on my own experience. Please feel free to respond to with your own observations. **The paper by Taylor-Clark can be found at www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA623911 For a religious thought consider John 21: 15-19 (a short devotional on this verse is at https://odb.org/2008/08/14/feed-my-sheep/ ). For a human/spiritual perspective (non-theistic) consider (http://www.the-philosophy.com/socrates-know-yourself) as from the Oracle at Delphi (and Ancient Egypt) and is echoed by Plato, Pythagoras, Socrates, Thales and Aristophanes and picked up by Hobbes, Rousseau, Emerson and others.