Charlotte Otter is an author, speaker, and advisor located in Heidelberg, Germany. She runs a boutique communications consulting firm called Otter Advisory.
We asked Charlotte: What role does emotional intelligence plays when forming effective C-Suite partnerships?
Charlotte: “I recently read that IQ gets you a job, but EQ helps you stay in it. Emotional intelligence is key in all jobs, but it is particularly effective when working with the C-Suite who tend to be overworked, extremely bright people carrying a large burden of responsibility. In communications leadership, it’s important to understand that your request for a leader’s time is not the only request on their table. It also helps to present information in bite-sized pieces and make it very clear if you’re asking for a decision or just highlighting something for their information.”
In Charlotte’s upcoming book We Need New Leaders, she also shows that if leaders want to build a great relationship with their communicator to manage and mitigate reputational risk, it’s incumbent on them too to have emotional intelligence and give their communicator time and space to build trust. Charlotte added, “It’s a two-way relationship.”