Exceptional leaders accomplish good and important things for their organization, sustain success, and earn the trust and respect of their stakeholders. My own experience in leadership reflects the general research findings on emotional intelligence, which is that the higher the leader goes, the more EI is critical to their success than simply smarts or determination. As we might call it in Vegas, that is a sure ‘tell’ of a leader who needs the humility of recognizing that they lead a team of people, and the leader is NOT the story.