A lot of managers – people in general – tend to (try to) avoid emotions.

Because emotions can feel uncomfortable, messy, and not particularly helpful.

So we suppress them, keep things logical, and move on.

But is that really working?

The other extreme is acting them out — dumping emotions on others.

After holding them in for too long, a boundary gets crossed and suddenly someone deserves your anger.

That doesn’t help either.

Fear, anger, sadness — these emotions are not obstacles to leadership.

They’re signals.

They make you aware of what matters and give you energy to act.

• Fear sharpens awareness. Do I need to orient more carefully? Take a step — but stay alert to the consequences.

• Anger restores boundaries and drives action. Feel it, sense which values or limits were crossed — then plan your response rather than react.

• Sadness opens care and connection. When things go wrong, let them settle. Don’t rush. Accept and allow.

When we suppress these signals, we lose energy, clarity, and authenticity.

We might look composed on the outside — but feel disconnected inside.

The real work of leadership is not emotional control — it’s emotional intelligence.

Not resisting emotion, but learning from it.

𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

Which emotion do you tend to avoid as a leader — and what might it be trying to tell you?

#emotionalintelligence  #leadership  #innerleadership