chadkoh reviewed Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman
Review of 'Primal Leadership' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I am of two minds with this book. On the one hand, there are some useful leadership frameworks and exercises, specifically:
1. The 4 domains of EI leadership and 18 competencies
2. The 6 styles of leadership (and when to use them)
3. 5 Discoveries in learning EI leadership
4. Basically all of chapter 7 (imagining your ideal self and associated free-writing exercises)
On the other this book does a lot of work trying to show bad bosses why they are bad, which can be painful to read. As the authors note, clueless leaders with no self-awareness or empathy communicate with "empty platitudes" and the "smokescreen" of business jargon, which just makes everyone more depressed. Between the genuinely useful chapters there are often chapters that merely serve as a "human manual" for sociopaths.