TC’s Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership has given its 2013 Klingenstein Leadership Award to psychologist and former New York Times writer Daniel Goleman. Best known for his 1995 international bestseller Emotional Intelligence, Goleman writes that “Our emotions guide us in facing predicaments and tasks too important to leave to the intellect alone.”

Past Klingenstein Leadership Award recipients include philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, entertainment mogul Oprah Winfrey, Harvard education researcher Howard Gardner, and business and organizational guru Jim Collins.

Goleman’s ideas have been widely hailed for their application to organizational leadership. Through research conducted at hundreds of large global companies, Goleman has documented that while intelligence, toughness and vision matter, they are only “the entry-level requirements for executive positions.” Instead, he has shown that emotional intelligence – a composite of qualities such as self-awareness, the ability to regulate one’s emotions, the desire to achieve for achievement’s sake and the social skills to find common ground with a wide range of people – is more important. 

Thanks to Goleman’s work, many states now make social and emotional learning (SEL) a curriculum requirement. One major study conducted at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that in schools requiring SEL as many as half of all children improved their achievement scores and more than one-third improved their grade point averages. 

Published Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2013