Emotional competence: a key leadership competence for university students

Abstract In the leadership literature, emotional competence is commonly regarded as an important quality of an effective leader. In this paper, the basic concepts and theories of emotional competence are introduced. The role of emotional competence in positive youth development and effective leadership is described. To help students appreciate the importance of emotional competence, a lecture on emotional competence was developed in a subject entitled “Tomorrow’s Leaders” at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The objectives, intended learning outcomes, lecture outline and lecture materials are presented in this paper. Issues regarding the teaching of emotional competence are discussed.