Required Reading for Pastors and Leaders

I found myself amused recently during a class in which Rev. Paul Hontz (of Holland Central Wesleyan) was the guest speaker. Throughout the course of the class period he named at least two books which should be read by every pastor. One of them he noted was an absolute must read. (I agreed with him on this; it was In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen.) That got me thinking though of all of the books that pastors and other leaders should be reading. In light of that I have a suggestion.
The recent work of Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals, should be a required text for anyone planning to to lead anyone anywhere. Goodwin does a masterful job of showing what true leadership is through the historical lense of the life and experiences of Abraham Lincoln. What Goodwin highlights as Lincoln's most imoportant trait, however, is a trait that has only recently entered the American leadership lexicon and has yet to be integrated into church leadership: emotional intelligence.

"Exactly what is Emotional Intelligence? The term encompasses the following five characteristics and abilities:
Self-awareness--knowing your emotions, recognizing feelings as they occur, and discriminating between them
Mood management--handling feelings so they're relevant to the current situation and you react appropriately
Self-motivation--"gathering up" your feelings and directing yourself towards a goal, despite self-doubt, inertia, and impulsiveness
Empathy--recognizing feelings in others and tuning into their verbal and nonverbal cues
Managing relationships--handling interpersonal interaction, conflict resolution, and negotiations" (taken from http://www.funderstanding.com/eq.cfm)

Lincoln, according to Kearns Goodwin, was the master of these traits, especially in the areas of empathy and relationship management. Now I recognize fully that a book like this will never be required reading for a church leadership class, but the subject of emotional intelligence may not be a bad subject to touch on. I also recognize that Lincoln's leadership was not specificly a Christian style, though it was certainly rooted in the prevailing protestant culture of his day. No matter what I still reccommend the book as one of the very best I've read in a very long time. Read it.