Primal Leadership

Annie McKee, Ph.D.

Teleos Leadership Institute
and the University of Pennsylvania
amckee@teleosleaders.com
 The greatest change in
human history?

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
Wendy Kopp
Warren Buffet
Jaime Escalante
11
Rafe Esquith
Wael Ghonim
Geoffrey Canada
 Great leaders move us.

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Who Helped Me?

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Resonant Leadership

Mind Spirit
Body Heart 20

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Resonant leadership
is common sense,
not common practice.

Why?
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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Myths

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
Leadership Myths and the Truth
Myths The Truth

IQ helps but EI is
Smart is good enough
essential

Your mood doesn’t matter Emotions are contagious

Leaders are tough When faced with constant

enough to take constant challenge, you lose sight of
pressure your passion for work
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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Myth 1: Smart is Good Enough
Intellectual Capability (IQ) Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Threshold competencies The differentiating factor

Only one cognitive ability 85-90% of the difference

− pattern recognition − between outstanding and
differentiates outstanding average leaders is linked
leaders to Emotional Intelligence
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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 We feel before we think.
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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Social
Awareness

Self- Relationship
Awareness Management

Self-
Management
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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Neurophysiology of Emotions
CEREBRUM
THALAMUS
Controls the higher cognitive
The relay station for
functions: logical and rational
most information
thought processes
going into the brain;
triggers emotional
reaction in the
Amygdala before
engaging logical
function in the
Cerebrum

CEREBELLUM
HYPOTHALAMUS
Regulates sex hormones, Essential for coordination
of movement
blood pressure and body
temperature
PONS and MEDULA OBLONGATA
AMYGDALA HIPPOCAMPUS Control of breathing, circulation,
Processes the emotions heartbeat and digestion
Helps establish long-
and regulates the
term memory in
heartbeat and other regions of the
visceral functions SPINAL CORD
cerebral cortex 27

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Leadership Matters
• 20-30% of variability in performance is a result of
leadership and climate
• 30% of the time, poor leadership is cited by people as a
reason for leaving
• In management jobs alone, women earn 28% less and
occupy 40% of the positions.
• When it comes to executive management positions, the
story has been improving: 26% of chief executive positions
are held by women, BUT they receive just 72% of the pay
of their male counterparts.
• In the Fortune 500, women hold only 15.7% of board
seats.
• The percentage of board seats held by white men? 72%
• The percentage of board seats held by women of any 28
color? 17%
McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.
2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
EI and Organizational Performance
• A recent study of 229 businesses showed that
positive emotional climate was the most
significant factor associated with company
performance over an 18-month period

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 The most complicated
leadership jobs in the world

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 1,240,000,000
vs
4,460,000,000

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Myth 2
Emotions Don’t Matter

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 The Path to Performance
Up to 70% of climate is related
to leadership practices

Leadership
EI practices & Organizational Results
competencies Team Alignment Climate

85-90% of difference
between outstanding and Up to 30% of
average is Emotional discretionary
Intelligence output is related 33
directly to climate
McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.
2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Feelings and emotional states
travel from brain to brain

Resonance is contagious…
and so is dissonance. 34

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Emotional Attractors
• Hope • Fear
• Joy • Anger
• Compassion • Resentment and
• Excitement and jealousy
Challenge • Stress and anxiety
• Calm • Impatience
• Safety • Mistrust
• Growth and learning • Forced Compliance
• Love • Hate
• Respect • Disdain
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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Power and Emotion

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Do some people care so much
about power?

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
Personalized and Socialized Power
Personalized power  A need for power that
drives people to seek control through assertive
or aggressive behavior, often for personal gain.

Versus

Socialized power  A need for power that is

based on a desire to support the welfare of
others, a group, society, or the common good.
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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Ubuntu
“I am because you are.”
“A person is a person through other people.”

Nelson Mandela described Ubuntu this way:

“Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The
question therefore is: Are you going to fulfill your needs in such a way
as to enable the community around you to be able to improve? These
are the important things in life. And if one can do that, you have done
something very important, which will be appreciated.”
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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Sub-Saharan African concept (Xhosa

and Zulu tribes, among others). It is a mindset that
motivates people to direct power toward the good
of the group.

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Power at Work: Ubuntu

Link what
Working
“I” need
well
with what
together “we” need

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Okay you get it…

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 What about THEM?

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
Dissonant Leaders are Dangerous

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 The minute you become a
victim you cease to be a leader

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
Resonance or Dissonance: Your Choice

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 You understand your values.

You are self aware and have

high EI.

You know how to use power

and you are a resonant leader. 47

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 What if YOU are the Problem?

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Myth 3
The Superheroes

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McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 Physical & Power
Good
Emotional Stress
Leadership
Toll
Self-control

Crisis
 Cycle of Sacrifice and Renewal
Resonant Effective
Relationships Leadership

Mindfulness
Renewal Sacrifice Crises
Hope Syndrome
Compassion

Ineffective or
Non-sustainable
Sustainable, Threats Leadership
Effective
Leadership
McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.
2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
 In the Words of the Dalai Lama
“The true mark of being learned, is
humility and mental discipline.”

“Through training the mind,

people can become more calm—
especially those who suffer from too
many ups and downs…”
Goleman, Daniel. Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue 52
with the Dalai Lama. Bantam Doubleday, January 2003

McKee, Annie. Management: A Focus on Leaders.

2012 ©Pearson/Prentice Hall
Mindfulness
Hope
Compassion
BE THE CHANGE
YOU WANT TO
SEE
Gandhi
Appendix

57
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Boyatzis, Richard and McKee, Annie (2005). Resonant Leadership: Renewing
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compassion. Boston: HBR Press.
Goleman, Daniel, Boyatzis, Richard, and McKee, Annie (2002). Primal
Leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence. Boston: HBR
Press.

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