Introduction

Within this second edition of the book, in considering all of the developments in leadership thinking and research over the past 50 years, we have tried to make sense of the models and findings in today’s context. In doing this we have brought the concept of EI into the mix. It does appear that today leaders need to blend EI with a range of cognitive competencies (e.g., critical analysis, strategic perspective) and managerial competencies in order to balance these components to meet the needs of differing change contexts. We summarise this as leading with emotional intelligence and suggest that: Effective Leadership = IQ (cognitive competencies) + EQ (Emotional Intelligence) + MQ (Managerial competences). We also propose that whilst individual leaders need to achieve the balance between these components there is also a need to consider how these need to be developed and deployed by leadership teams. This chapter provides a structure of the book and brief descriptions of the 12 other chapters therein.