A smart leader with no emotions is no leader at all

I am finally starting to realize the power of emotional intelligence. Emotional intellect is crucial for survival as well as leadership. "Our emotions are, in a very real sense, more powerful than our intellect (Goleman, 322)." This surprised me because most people advocate leaving emotions outside of the workplace. Our thinking brain and limbic brain have cooperated relatively smoothly when faced with past physical threats. Now, with complex social realities, we must heighten our awareness and reprogram our "brain [solely] designed for surviving physical emergencies (Goleman, 323)."

Let us take a look at Michael Scott, self proclaimed "World's Best Boss" in the show The Office. He definitely generates excitement, optimism, and passion in the work place. He tries to be involved in the work process and in his staff's lives. He has a huge sense of empathy, always able to listen and take others perspectives in order to conflict manage and lead day by day. Michael is also extremely transparent, clear, and direct even when he wants to be verbose and mysterious. But, as the EI domains are permanently and biologically intertwined, I can not agree with Michael being the best boss. He lacks a crucial domain: Self-management. He has trouble managing his impulses, handling many things with little stress, and also he gets too nosey with the personal lives of his staff. These skills, or lack-thereof in this instance, demonstrate the intense degree of connectivity between domains. Michael also might not be the most intelligent of the bunch, but his emotional intelligence mostly makes up for that (remembering that this is a TV sitcom meant for comedic release).

Dear Obama, "Distributing knowledge is the secret to success (Goleman 325)." Just FYI... Clearly showing compassion fatigue (and many other negative attributes) "apathy or indifference towards the suffering of others or to charitable causes acting on their behalf (OED, 343)," towards issues that are constantly debated and thus exceedingly prevalent to our society. AKA EDUCATION.

This reading has left me questioning... How much empathy is too much? How much sympathy is too much? Do the EI domains change depending on what the leadership position is? Does it really bring dissonance if a leader only utilizes his or her intelligence?