In her coverage of the recent meeting of world leaders in Indonesia, The Guardian journalist Katherine Murphy commented on the emotional intelligence of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and of President Joe Biden, contrasting it to the lack of this quality in former President Trump and former Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Her perceptive comment invites further reflection on emotional intelligence and its place in public life.
Emotional intelligence is one of those terms that is hard to define. They take their meaning from people whom we think certainly possess it and those whom we think certainly lack it. To explain what emotional intelligence means we point to examples of it. Pope Francis has it. Elton Musk to all appearances lacks it. Nor is it an on/off quality, but allows gradations of more and less. As a result, when we are tempted to divide people between sheep and goats who have and lack emotional intelligence respectively, we shall inevitably leave many people unassigned. They are conspicuous neither for its presence or its lack. If we go back through the line of United States Presidents, for example, we might conclude that Nixon and George W Bush lacked it, Clinton and Obama possessed it, and be uncertain about Kennedy, Reagan and George H W Bush. Or we might come to quite different conclusions.
If we put emotional intelligence in the same sentence as politicians and other leaders, we shall then confront other questions. Is it a gift that is transparent, for example, or can you fake it? If you study carefully and practice how to smile, to appear to listen, to greet warmly, to choose what spectacles and clothes to wear, to read the points at which other people will be susceptible to flattery or open to persuasion, and to convince everyone that you are on their side, have you come to possess emotional intelligence or merely to display its facsimile?
In the aftermath of the Victorian election we might also ask whether it matters if political leaders have emotional intelligence or not. Will it help them win elections or contribute to their defeat? Will it help them lead government or the nation? Will it help them make decisive and prudent decisions or leave them paralysed by the demands on them made by deserving people and groups?
When we move away from politicians to ask about people in general, we might ask whether emotional intelligence is a virtue