Musk’s ambitions for his team have been known to the public as shared in his 2015 biography “Elon Musk” by Ashlee Vance. There, she details the management tricks the executive uses to inspire his employees. In Musk’s email, he encourages other leaders at Tesla to take initiative in making sure employee safety is a priority.
“This is what all managers at Tesla should do as a matter of course,” he writes. “At Tesla, we lead from the front line, not from some safe and comfortable ivory tower. Managers must always put their team’s safety above their own.”
Musk is just one example of an executive who effectively demonstrates emotional intelligence and leadership skills for the overall advancement of the company.
Here are three other CEOs who demonstrate high emotional intelligence in the workplace.
Nooyi writes more than 400 letters each year to the parents of her senior executives as a way to express her gratitude and recognition for the part they have played in her employees’ lives.
“It occurred to me that I had never thanked the parents of my executives for the gift of their child to PepsiCo,” she says.
In an effort to shape all of his employees into “mini-entrepreneurs,” Hsieh says he wants those working at Zappos to be comfortable with ambiguity and have a strong sense of curiosity as well as emotional intelligence.
“Those are things that we now are emphasizing even more as we move toward self-organization and self-management at Zappos,” Hsieh says.
Every morning at 4:30 a.m. Schultz rises to make time for his employee by sending motivational e-mails to his employees, among other personal upkeep, before disconnecting from technology to eat breakfast and drink French press coffee with his wife.
“Starbucks has been in business now for 45-plus years. You know, I’m not putting myself in the class of Tom Brady or any other athlete that has been at the cornerstone of success on a team sport,” Schultz tells CNBC about leading the company. “This is a team sport. It has always been a team sport. I’ve gotten more credit that I deserve. The company has a large base of fantastic leaders.”
See also: