Introduction
If leaders are emotional thermostats for their teams, then managing their own temperature isn’t just personal, it’s organisational. In Part 1, we explored how emotions spread and intensify, particularly from people in power. The question now is: how can leaders manage what they transmit without becoming emotionally numb or inauthentic?
Emotional regulation isn’t about faking it, it’s about being aware, intentional, and responsible with your emotions. In today’s emotionally charged environments, this is not just a skill, it’s leadership hygiene.

The Science
Emotional regulation involves processes that influence the type, intensity, duration, and expression of emotions. James Gross’s Process Model of Emotion Regulation outlines five core strategies: situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change (reappraisal), and response modulation (expression control).

Leadership research suggests that reappraisal (changing how one thinks about a situation) is more effective than suppression (hiding emotional responses). Suppression can reduce trust and authenticity, while reappraisal preserves both performance and interpersonal connection (Gross & John, 2003).
Moreover, emotional granularity—having a rich vocabulary for feelings—has been linked to better emotional regulation and resilience (Barrett et al., 2001). Leaders who can distinguish between feeling “overwhelmed,” “disappointed,” or “discouraged” are more equipped to manage their emotional states.

Key Practices for Emotionally Attuned Leadership

1.Label before you lead
Use emotional literacy to name what you’re feeling. Studies show that leaders who regularly label their emotions are rated as more trustworthy and approachable by their teams (Kashdan et al., 2015). Labelling emotion reduces its intensity and improves your ability to choose your next move.
Try: “I’m noticing I feel anxious about this deadline—but I think that’s rooted in uncertainty, not in distrust.”
Don’t confuse labelling with oversharing—be honest, but also appropriate for the context and audience.
 
2.Build emotional boundaries, not walls
Regulation isn’t detachment. Set emotional boundaries, pause before responding, take breaks, ask yourself: Is this mine or theirs? This helps leaders avoid emotional enmeshment while remaining empathetic.

3.Reappraise, don’t repress
It’s important to remember that emotional regulation does not mean suppressing or ignoring your feelings. Overusing suppression can come across as inauthentic and may actually reduce trust within your team. Likewise, projecting constant positivity without acknowledging real challenges sometimes called “toxic positivity” can make team members feel unheard. Practice cognitive reappraisal instead, can this setback be a learning opportunity? Can frustration be reframed as a signal of care? This mindset shift changes what you project to your team.

4.Model healthy expressions
Express emotion without losing control. It's OK to say, “This is disappointing,” if you also say, “But here’s what we can do next.” This builds trust and psychological safety.

5.Buffer your bandwidth
Emotionally volatile leaders are often depleted leaders. Protect your emotional reserves with rituals, morning walks, breaks between meetings, journaling, coaching. Regulated leaders lead better.

6.De-escalate collective emotion
When tension is rising in a team, slow things down. Use “emotional circuit breakers”: acknowledge the emotion in the room, offer perspective, and invite shared problem-solving.

7.Seek feedback on your emotional footprint
Ask trusted colleagues how your emotions land. Do you come off colder than you mean to? More anxious? Feedback creates awareness. Awareness fuels adjustment. Emotional regulation is not a one-time skill, but an ongoing practice. Consider engaging in regular emotional intelligence training, peer coaching, or reflective journaling to deepen your self-awareness and adaptability as a leader.

In virtual or hybrid environments, emotional cues are often muted or lost. Leaders should be intentional about clarifying their emotional tone in written communications and use video calls when possible to convey warmth and empathy. Regular check-ins can help prevent misunderstandings and maintain connection.

Emotional expression norms varies across cultures, genders, and personalities. What feels open and authentic in one context may feel uncomfortable or inappropriate in another. Invite feedback and be willing to adapt your approach to support a diverse team.

A Quote to Reflect On
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” — Viktor Frankl

A Question to Reflect On
What’s one emotion you regularly bring into your team space and how might that emotion shape their day, their risk-taking, or their view of leadership?
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Further Readings

• Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
• Barrett, L. F., Gross, J., Christensen, T. C., & Benvenuto, M. (2001). Knowing what you’re feeling and knowing what to do about it: Mapping the relation between emotion differentiation and emotional regulation. Cognition & Emotion.
• Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion.
• Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence.
• Goldenberg, A., & Gross, J.J. (2023). Emotional Contagion in Virtual Teams: New Challenges and Solutions. Journal of Organizational Behavior.
• Grant, A. (2025). The New Rules of Emotional Influence in Hybrid Work. Harvard Business Review

Introduction

Have you ever walked into a room after a leader has spoken and felt the whole team's mood lift—or crash? Emotions are contagious. In leadership, they aren’t just personal experiences, they are workplace currents that ripple across teams. Research by psychologist Amit Goldenberg reveals just how potent and cumulative these emotional ripples can be, especially when they escalate through group dynamics.



The Science
Goldenberg’s research shows that emotions, particularly negative ones don’t just pass between individuals like a cold; they intensify as they spread. This phenomenon, called emotional contagion, means that one person’s anxiety can become group panic, one person’s frustration can lead to organisational resentment. For leaders, whose emotional expressions are more visible and weighted with power, the stakes are even higher.
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In social psychology, emotional contagion occurs when people “catch” others’ emotions through facial expressions, voice tone, posture, and language. Mirror neurons and empathy mechanisms play a role, but in organisations, it’s amplified by hierarchy and visibility. A CEO’s worry about missed KPIs, even if subtly expressed, can cascade into risk aversion and group tension. Likewise, joy, gratitude, or resilience can also go viral, boosting engagement and morale. The rise of remote and hybrid work has changed how emotions are transmitted. Digital communication can amplify misunderstandings or mute emotional signals altogether.
It’s important to recognize that emotional contagion isn’t just top-down. Leaders can also absorb the collective mood of their teams, sometimes to their own detriment.

Key Findings

• Leaders are “emotional amplifiers.” Studies have shown that team members are more likely to mirror the emotional tone of a leader than of a peer (Sy et al., 2005).
• Negative emotions spread faster and stickier. Goldenberg's work highlights how anger and outrage intensify within groups, especially in online spaces, but the same dynamics apply in the workplace.
• People over-perceive negative emotion from powerful figures. Research from Barsade (2002) showed that even small emotional cues from leaders are magnified in perception by subordinates.
• The more cohesive a team, the stronger the contagion. Emotional synchronization is stronger in tight-knit groups, good for solidarity, risky for burnout.

While negative emotions can spread rapidly, positive emotions are equally contagious and can be powerful tools for building engagement and innovation.

What Does This Mean?

Leadership isn’t just about what you say or decide; it’s about what you feel and what you broadcast. Emotions become part of the organisational climate. If a leader walks in frustrated every morning, teams adapt defensively. If a leader regularly expresses hope and curiosity, teams feel safer to take risks. Emotional regulation becomes a key leadership skill, not to suppress emotion, but to be conscious of its social impact.
It also complicates feedback and performance environments. Teams might not just respond to metrics but to perceived emotional tone. A leader’s well-intended realism can feel like doom; their transparency can be misunderstood as despair. Leaders must become emotionally literate not just about others, but about themselves.

There’s also a warning here: if we fail to recognise emotional contagion, we risk spirals. Resentment can become cultural. Burnout can become collective. When emotions go unchecked, particularly in high-stress periods, they don’t just spread, they ratchet up, as Goldenberg puts it. It is also important to note that professionalism doesn’t mean emotional sterility. In fact, leaders who are authentically, yet thoughtfully, expressive foster more engaged and resilient teams.

A Quote to Reflect On
“The leader is the emotional thermostat of the group.” – Daniel Goleman

A Question to Reflect On
How might your current emotional tone, intentional or not, be shaping the emotional climate of your team?#

In my next post, I will explore key practices for emotionally attuned leadership, because true leadership is certainly not about emotional sterility. Understanding emotional contagion is only the first step. The true mark of effective leadership lies in managing and leveraging this phenomenon.
 
Further Readings

• Goldenberg, A. & Gross, J.J. (2020). Emotional Contagion: Mechanisms and Implications. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
• Barsade, S.G. (2002). The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and its Influence on Group Behavior. Administrative Science Quarterly.
• Sy, T., Côté, S., & Saavedra, R. (2005). The Contagious Leader: Impact of the Leader’s Mood on the Mood of Group Members, Group Affective Tone, and Group Processes. Journal of Applied Psychology.
• Goleman, D. (2006). Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships.

 

Introduction 
 
We don’t often think of nursery rhymes as leadership lessons, but perhaps we should. I recently participated in the Harvard Everest Leadership Simulation. The experience reminded me of the workplace. In the simulation, each team member had distinct goals and partial information, I was struck by how quickly decision-making falters—not from bad intentions or lack of expertise, but from how information is shared, interpreted, or ignored. 
 

It also reminded me of three familiar rhymes: 

• Humpty Dumpty - a cautionary tale of systems that fall apart. 

• Little Bo Peep - a story of passivity and delayed action. 

• The House That Jack Built - a reminder of how everything we do is built on what came before. 

 
These rhymes are more than just childhood stories - they’re powerful leadership metaphors. Humpty Dumpty warns us about fragile systems, where a single misstep or failure can cause everything to fall apart. Little Bo Peep illustrates the risks of reactive leadership, where waiting for problems to resolve themselves can lead to lost opportunities. The House That Jack Built reminds us that every action and decision is built on what came before, and neglecting the foundations can undermine future success. These metaphors mirror the challenges faced in the Harvard Everest Leadership Simulation, where teams must navigate uncertainty and incomplete information to succeed. And in Everest, as in organisations, those incomplete information can cost you the summit. 
 
The Science Behind the Metaphors 
 
The Everest simulation is designed to reflect the reality of team dynamics under pressure. In the simulation, each team member receives asymmetric information—meaning everyone has different pieces of the puzzle, but no one has the full picture. Psychological safety, a concept championed by researchers like Amy Edmondson, is essential here: it’s the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. In practice, this means people feel comfortable speaking up, sharing concerns, and admitting mistakes. Success depends not just on having information, but on the group’s ability to openly share, interpret, and integrate these clues to make strategic decisions. 
 
This isn’t unlike real leadership scenarios: a project manager with a deadline, a marketing lead with a customer insight, an HR professional aware of morale issues. Everyone holds something important, but no one succeeds unless that knowledge is shared, understood, and aligned. 
 
It is important to note, that psychological safety alone isn’t enough. Information must also have clear pathways: structured agendas that surface diverse input, tools that make knowledge visible, and leaders who actively invite and integrate perspectives. Without both the culture and the system to support open flow, insight gets stuck—and Humpty falls. 
 
Key Learnings: The Leader as the Conductor of Clarity 
What made the simulation so powerful was this: the best leaders weren’t the loudest or the smartest—they were the most transparent. They surfaced tensions. They asked better questions. They brought the hidden into the open. 
 
This is what I took away: 
 

1. Avoid the Humpty Effect: When information sits on a wall, unshared and unchallenged. It is precarious. One gust of wind (a misinterpreted goal, a changing forecast) and it falls. And even the best team may not be able to put it back together. Leaders must prevent the fall, not respond to it. 
2. Don’t Be Like Bo Peep: Bo Peep’s sheep may eventually return, but delayed leadership is dangerous. Waiting for people to figure things out on their own is often a gamble. Great leaders go looking—they check for gaps, missing data, unvoiced assumptions. They initiate clarity, not just respond to confusion. 
3. Build Like Jack: Everything you do rests on something that came before. When leaders help their teams understand the layers and how one decision impacts another, they create a cohesive narrative. You can’t “build” if people are unsure of the foundation. 

 
What This Means for Leaders (and You) 
 
Most leadership literature will tell you to be visionary or decisive amongst other things. But what if your most valuable job is actually being a curator of clarity? 
 
That means: 

• Making goals visible (even when they conflict) 

• Prompting quieter team members to share their knowledge 

• Mapping how each role’s insight contributes to the whole 

• Curating information thoughtfully: sharing what’s relevant and actionable, while protecting the team from unnecessary distraction or anxiety 

• Balancing transparency with discretion: knowing when to share details and when to summarise or protect sensitive information 

• Facilitating open discussion: creating space for the team to explore options and make sense of new information together 

 
By embracing these practices, leaders create an environment where teams can navigate uncertainty, make better decisions, and move toward shared goals—whether on Everest or in everyday organisational life. 
For example, imagine a tech company on the verge of a product launch. The product manager learns confidentially that a competitor is preparing a similar feature. Instead of broadcasting every detail which could trigger anxiety or distract the team, a skilled leader highlights the essential message: “The competitive landscape is shifting, so we need to stay agile.” They avoid specifics that might overwhelm the team, but encourage open discussion about how to adapt. This way, the team remains informed, focused, and ready to respond without unnecessary stress. 

In Everest, the teams that did this succeeded. The ones that didn’t, failed to reach the summit. In real organisations, the outcomes may not be as dramatic, but they are no less real: missed opportunities, disengaged teams, burned-out employees. Whether you’re a new manager or a seasoned executive, these lessons are universal. The challenges of information sharing, psychological safety, and building on past decisions are present in every team, at every level. Recognising and addressing them is the first step toward becoming a more effective leader. 
 
A Quote to Reflect On 
 
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” 
— George Bernard Shaw 
 
A Question to Reflect On 
 
What piece of information do you know right now that your team doesn’t—and what’s stopping you from sharing it? 
 
Further Reading 
 

• Amy Edmondson, The Fearless Organization 

• Michael Roberto & Amy Edmondson, Everest Leadership and Team Simulation 

• Karl Weick, Sensemaking in Organizations 

• HBR: Michael Useem, The Leadership Lessons of Mount Everest (Harvard Business Review, May 2001)