Stop Managing And Start Leading The Socially Intelligent Leader

"Successful projects" is a much-argued term. Too many definitions and key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to measure the different levels of project success. This paper is not intended to add more definitions or argue new KPIs. It explains the human factor of projects and its importance for project success, regardless of what or how the success is defined. According to a growing body of studies and research in the scholarly literature, business managers (including project managers) should develop new skills, particularly social and emotional intelligence skills, to deal with people and their evolving mindsets and changing attitudes. To sustain project success and consequently business growth, project managers should lead more than manage; should understand, influence, coach, trust, and inspire the people around them more than just craft schedules, control budget, manage scope, and monitor progress. This paper discusses emotional and social intelligence. Furthermore, it looks at social skills and project success as well as emotional regulation and the socially intelligent leader. The emotional and social skills framework is presented. The paper concludes by identifying 14 traits of effective and socially intelligent leaders.