RESEARCH NOTE An exploration of the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership potential Malcolm Higgs and Paul Aitken Henley Management College, Greenlands, Oxfordshire, UK Keywords Public services, Leadership, New Zealand Abstract This research note explores the extent to which the claims for the importance of emotional intelligence as a predictor of leadership potential are borne out. The paper reports the results of an exploratory study of a leadership development centre in which participants also completed an established measure of emotional intelligence – the EIQ Managerial. The sample comprised 40 senior managers working within the New Zealand Public Service (NZPS). The results provide some evidence to support the relationships between EI and leadership potential asserted from both a theoretical standpoint and from other studies of leadership performance. The limitations of sample size are clearly identified. The results do however, indicate that further research using both larger and more diverse samples may be warranted. Introduction Over the last 50 years organisations have been obsessed with identifying the traits or characteristics associated with effective leadership (Kets de Vries, 1993; Higgs, 2002; Parry and Meindl, 2002). This search has been underpinned by a belief that effective leaders deliver effective organisational performance (Goffee and Jones, 2000; Higgs and Rowland, 2001; Conger and Toegel, 2002). While much leadership research has focussed on “proving” this relationship, results showing a consistent correlation have been sparse (Kets de Vreis, 1993; Chaudry, 2000). However, more indirect relationships are reasonably well established in terms of leaders impacting on a productive climate (Alimo-Metcalfe, 1995); developing the capability of followers (Conner, 1999) and building high levels of employee commitment (Kets de Vries and Florent-Treacy, 2002).The search for the traits of effective leaders has been combined with a long period of research into identifying leadership potential (Thornton and Byham, 1982). One of the most throughly researched methods of identifying leadership potential has been the assessment centre (Woodruffe, 1993; Thornton and Byham, 1982). More recently it has been asserted that whichever model of leadership is examined it is underpinned by the need of leaders to possess emotional intelligence (EI) (Goleman, 1998, 2000). However, until recently little evidence The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0268-3946.htm JMP 18,8 814 Journal of Managerial Psychology Vol. 18 No. 8, 2003 pp. 814-823 q MCB UP Limited 0268-3946 DOI 10.1108/02683940310511890