Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Intelligence and Personality as Predictors of Sales Leadership Performance

Abstract

Leaders of sales organizations must recruit and inspire salespeople to grow the organization. Skepticism remains about the role of emotional and social intelligence (ESI) in effective leadership. ESI is criticized as not providing distinctive variance in leadership performance beyond general intelligence and personality. This study assessed the role of the behavioral level of ESI competencies on leader performance. The number of new recruits was shown to predict new cash invested 6 years later. ESI significantly predicted leader performance (i.e., recruitment) whereas measures of generalized intelligence and personality did not. Adaptability and influence were two competencies distinctively predicting sales leadership performance.