Two Skills of Yoda That Leaders Should Learn More About

To succeed as a leader, you have to become like everyone’s favorite green character: Yoda.

The Star Wars creature is one of the most emotionally intelligent characters of all time. As he guides young Jedi, he continually reminds them to talk about their feelings and use the Force. 

Leaders of today and the future need to also be emotionally intelligent and develop two key characteristics: empathy and self-awareness.

Empathy is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes to understand where they’re coming from. It’s more than just saying “I’m sorry” and showing sympathy--it’s thinking of a time when you felt the same emotion and building a connection with someone else to see things from their perspective.

On the other hand, self-awareness is how you see yourself and other people see you. Internal self-awareness is being in tune with your strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and energy levels. External self-awareness is how other people see you; the key is to get those two areas to align. Do your colleagues and friends view your the same way you view yourself? That’s the goal of self-awareness--to have an accurate view of where you are and where you can improve.

Becoming like Yoda and developing emotional intelligence sets leaders up to build successful relationships, which is the foundation of success.

These skills have always been important but are crucial in the future of work with more people working remotely. In our new virtual world, we’re inviting people into our homes through our screens. The ability to connect on a human level sets us up for success. And that’s only possible if we develop empathy and self-awareness.

So, be like Yoda and become emotionally intelligent. 

I put together a video which talks about this in more detail. Please check it out below.

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