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In her new book, Leading on Purpose: Emotionally Intelligent Early Childhood Administration (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009), Holly Bruno emphasizes how important it is for early childhood leaders to employ emotional intelligence in their work. Bruno defines emotional intelligence as "the ability to read people... having the capability to acknowledge and understand feelings and to use these feelings as informational guides for thinking and action." Leaders with emotional intelligence acknowledge...

1. There is no thinking without feeling, and no feeling without thinking.
2. The more conscious we are to what we are experiencing, the more learning is possible, and,
3. Self-knowledge is integral to learning.

And, the most effective early childhood leaders utilize emotional intelligence in every facet of their work — their work with children, parents, board members, teachers, custodians, bus drivers, vendors, volunteers, and community members.

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