Is emotional intelligence the missing link in leadership?

Senior leaders spend a great deal of time thinking about performance, strategy, motivation and difficult relationships. How much do they spend understanding their own response to them?

Frustration with a Board decision. Anxiety before a critical conversation. Irritation when someone challenges your judgement.

We tend to leap to action (“what do I do next?”) without asking what’s driving the reaction.

Emotions aren’t an obstacle to rational decision-making. They’re information about our values, needs and assumptions. The emotion is data, not an instruction.