Am I a Resonant Leader?
The first time I heard of the term, 'resonant leader,' I was in my last course and chose to look at what my next class would be about. I immediately understood based on my physics background that it had to do with resonating with others. I felt I was going to really enjoy this course. For as long as I can remember, I have been a highly self-aware individual. One of my favorite past-times (and still is) was going to a bookstore, heading to the Personal Development section, and pulling books to learn more about me and how to become the next best version of me.
Up until the beginning of this course (MSLD 641), I felt I was a resonant leader of sorts; always reading people, self-aware of my emotional disposition, and managing it around others to develop a relationship. The development of a relationship was, in part, reflective of the environment I interacted with them albeit at work, home, the grocery store, the neighborhood, etc. Each environment gave meaning to those individual relationships. Each environment told me what boundaries to have and what boundaries were not required. Of course, this had to do directly with what vulnerabilities I was willing to share which were dependent on the type of relationship I felt I should have with each individual. Was it someone I met in passing at a gas station, or someone I sat down within a coffee shop discussing our families with? At other times, rare as they may be, it had nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with the connection and conversation.
I do not feel I am the resonant leader that I thought I was. While I am a good reader of people, and very self-aware of my own emotional state and manage it well, I am discovering there is much more I can do to become the leader whose primary job is to connect emotionally with others and direct their strengths and weaknesses to support and positively impact the overall mission or organization; to inspire them to work together for the sake of a personal or united vision. Nath (n.d.) states, "Organizations everywhere need now to realize the benefits of primal leadership by cultivating leaders who generate the emotional resonance that lets people flourish." My mindfulness should be centered around reflecting on these things. I have been naturally reading, empathizing, and connecting with people all my life without really being conscientious about the process. Now I feel I need to wake up. I need to pay close attention with a sense of purpose; to develop my intent of becoming the resonant leader and not just someone who works in a leadership position that can simply connect with people. "When leadership is resonant, followers become upbeat and enthusiastic and vibrate with the leaders. Resonance amplifies the emotional impact of leadership" (Goleman et al., 2002).
The truth is that I do not know if I inspire people. I have never asked anyone. There has been a few in my life that I recall coming up to me to let me know that my gymnastics career has inspired their child in the gym, or how my discipline and focus to make it through Navy SEAL training has inspired them to try as well, but I have yet to discover or learn that my leadership behavior has inspired anyone. I do not try to inspire anyone. I feel if my passion for what I do comes through my language and, or performance, it will inspire others, with or without my awareness. In truth, I am surprised I never thought of becoming this type of leader on my own without having to first read about it. What is nice about reading about it and connecting aspects of resonant leadership I am already practicing and been doing so for years is that I now have a much greater, broader, more meaningful concept as to how to be the resonant leader I desire. I now have a map to navigate and discover with.
References:
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2002). The new leaders: Transforming the art of leadership into the science of results. Retrieved from https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/51222222/The_New_Leaders.pdf?1483720144=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DThe_New_Leaders_Transforming_the_art_of.pdf&Expires=1623570215&Signature=N1OhRsUh3X~Ku7rML6xuvX2vRP2M0dRKxncMC5dNqMO8EgNZPH9RPBZgRouiHiQzAMjFgVa5HIVtPBRF3CgGjVdyotx8k~Ngy7PYIP4RODcG43Val-lPRTy7W658YZp5rjRk7jdHANxRTuFvCeLvHojdq-vK2JP0gqxopLUE0LSV~uylFsgKnEUHKj-U1kE1BZJvgTLH57zYyE0JZiUo8MltL~s3NpETIvwMw-fLbFnww25lvMXe1fR7ejW1XyzdwEkmLCAFQ5qcgf93RMRDl6VGLlEYuF3CVshyvL5PCE7ncHEr3nTedTk9451iZ5MUvj2~LPyDLG0P~T60SJWojw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
McKee, A, Boyatzis, R., & Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a resonant leader: Develop your emotional intelligence, renew your relationships, sustain your effectiveness. Harvard Business School Publishing
Nath, B. (n.d). An examination of the relationship between emotional intelligence, leadership styles, and leadership effectiveness [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Jaypee Institute of Information Technology.
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