The World Economic Forum’s principles are consistent with Goleman’s components of emotional intelligence from more than 20 years ago. The WEF adds the important concept of ‘a learning mindset’. This mindset is related to motivation, a component of emotional intelligence, which is not covered explicitly by the WEF’s principles.
Professor Carol Dweck of Stanford has developed a similar term, 'growth mindset', to describe a more effective attitude towards learning.9 She describes two types of mindset:10
People with a growth mindset are not over confident in their ability, but they believe that they can learn and develop themselves. This makes them more open to accepting feedback about their abilities or performance even if it is unflattering. Indeed, people with this mindset need this information to learn effectively. The growth mindset is about developing qualities. For these people, success is about stretching themselves to learn something new.
The growth mindset is consistent with continuing professional development as management accountants understand it. Also, our management and control cycle (plan, do, review and correct) is a learning process that is consistent with a growth mindset. It doesn’t start with the complacent assumption that we will get our planned activity right the first time. It makes the effort to make an informed decision but manages implementation closely. It reviews performance and responds positively to poor performance by making corrections promptly. Failure is accepted as a lesson that informs how we can do better next time. Potential leaders with a growth mindset don’t expect problems to be easy to understand nor solutions to be straightforward. They know that senior management is not a matter of completing checklists. They are prepared to embrace complexity, to try hard and to learn iteratively through real-life experience.
9 Mindset, the new psychology of success, Carol Dweck 10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= hiiEeMN7vbQ