Excellent book on a key component of leadership: intelligence. But specifically looking at the different types of intelligence and their respective influences upon leadership effectiveness.

The domains of intelligence as discussed by the papers presented in this book are:
– analytical
– cognitive
– creative
– cultural
– emotional
– practical
– social

I found it not only intriguing, but also leading me to reflect upon, the notion of multiple types of intelligences. That we each hold a mix of intelligences, with degrees of sub-competencies, and that these factors greatly influence our leadership styles.

For example, successful organisational leadership requires a high degree of social intelligence. Social intelligence comprises the two competencies of social reasoning and relational skills. These social reasoning skills are:
– social perceptiveness
– social knowledge structures
– metacognitive reasoning
And the relational skills are:
– behavioural flexibility
– negotiation
– conflict management
– persuasion
– social influence

Which all leads to the thought that one’s social intelligence could be improved by targetting each of these skills.

Likewise with emotional intelligence. Although there are a couple of models that attempt to explain emotional intelligence (the ability model & the mixed model), they too are structured with competencies (ie, perception, empathy, self-awareness, etc).

Then there is the discussion regarding transformational leadership (as opposed to transactional leadership). Those leaders seen as transformational will have greater emotional and social intelligences than cogntive intelligence.

Another important factor covered by the book, whilst not exactly a leadership skill or competency, is motivation.

As the authors state at the end of the book: “successful leadership is extraordinarily complex, and we are only beginning to understand the implications of multiple intelligences for research on leadership, and for leadership selection, training and development”.

For me, understanding that there are numerous skills which ultimately combine to produce a capacity to lead implies that, to a degree, leaders can indeed be made.

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As a company director, and within the paid day-job roles, I am called upon to develop all or part of the organisation’s IT strategy.

And so, what does “IT Strategy” mean, what is the scope and how does it play out?

At one level it means explaining to, lobbying if you will, key decision makers of the various technologies and industry trends. It means informing internal clients on how to best save money, or how to perform some business processes more efficiently. It means bringing to bear my experience of IT together with my understanding of what the business requires to either enlighten or influence key decision makers.

In another context it requires developing the ICT Strategy. My preferred method is the Boar method. That is analaysing the situation from a number of angles, developing strategy statements, and finally putting in place projects to execute the vision painted by the strategy statements. These inputs could cover situational analysis, position statements and what directives & assumptions they are working under. The statements and related information talk about objectives & goals and what strategic moves need to be made.

And yet a third meaning of ICT Strategy Development is developing the architecture. It means what technological jigsaw pieces need to be in place. If its DR and Business Continuity, what procedures are required, where is the storage going and what network insfrastructure is needed. If its security, what are the layers, the devices, and what vendor support is available.

But all this requires understandable communication & integrity. Those turning to me for advice must understand that I will offer business sensible solutions and that the advice is birthed in the practical. They are assured that what I propose will be a good fit for the organisation in terms of where their capabilities lie, and the direction that they are heading. And they know they’ll be able to understand the technology and any implications.

At board level, pushing the implementation of the ICT Strategy along. People are getting the vision. Efficiences & partner-ready information sharing are two focii