[February 15, 2016] My commander during my first combat deployment was a passionate man, dedicated, and an experienced soldier. He was everything I could want in a boss and everyone was loyal to him and loved him. When things got bad he was like a rock in a stream; steady and inspiring. Things can turn out good when leaders follow their emotions.
Conversely, leaders who follow their emotions can also fail. Here at theLeaderMaker.com I once asked the question, “Does emotion obstruct good leadership?” The answer was that it depends because emotions are a bucket of a complex, confusing mixture of human feelings. Typically, however, emotions (especially high level emotions) generally do not have a positive impact on leadership.
Recall the meltdown of U.S. presidential candidate Howard Dean and famous “scream” where he allowed his excitement to get the best of him. It sent the message that he was not in control of himself and the result was that he later dropped out of the race (see his scream here). More recently in the news were two liberal icons, Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright, who didn’t do U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton any good with their emotionally-fueled comments.1, 2
We’ve all witnessed it in leaders and we ourselves have been caught up in emotional events. Junior leaders and followers learn acceptable behavior when they observe it in their senior leaders. They repeat what is said and follow them closely … as they should since how else do we learn to lead? Learning bad habits from careless talk and emotional outbursts of leaders, however, can have long-term effects that are difficult to shake.
How do we measure a great leader? How do we measure a leader who has achieved fantastic and unexpected positive results? The answer to these is tied closely to how the leader leverages his own emotions and how it translates to others. General George Patton was a leader who rarely held back his thoughts or emotions and yet we consider him great. He possessed an “inspiring” character (read that as emotional) but was also a master at adaptation.
Leaders, even great leaders, have tremendous emotions but it is those who can control them and use emotions to their advantage are the leaders who will be seen as the most successful. Patton got high marks for his successes as did Steinem and Albright. But, today, Steinem and Albright will be judged as has-beens and second rate. Clinton’s association with them to enhance her credibility in her campaign will have unpredictable results.
When leaders follow their emotions, the results are not always knowable and are fraught with risk. Our lesson for all leaders is to beware and it is often most effective to keep our emotions in check.
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- http://www.thewrap.com/gloria-steinem-slammed-for-suggesting-young-women-support-bernie-sanders-to-chase-boys/
- http://time.com/4220323/madeleine-albright-place-in-hell-remark-apology/