Aug 17, 2025

Emotional intelligence is widely acknowledged as a critical leadership capability, and the evidence supporting its importance continues to grow. From academic research to the insights I’ve gathered in over 160 interviews with leaders across corporate, military, high-performance sport, government, and emergency services, it is clear: leaders who can understand, regulate, and apply emotional intelligence consistently have a distinct advantage in creating situational influence. But developing this skill is not simply about being aware of emotions—it begins much earlier, in the deep work of understanding your own values, beliefs, and purpose.

Every leader operates from a baseline of what they know and understand about themselves. This baseline, shaped by early experiences, ecosystems, and repeated patterns, inherently limits the range and effectiveness of their emotional intelligence. Some individuals, for example, may have a natural facility for empathy and interpersonal attunement, often observed in women’s leadership patterns, but even these skills require conscious development to apply strategically. Conversely, there are times when leadership demands decisiveness, firmness, or the ability to galvanize a group under stress; understanding when to balance empathy with action is a learned capability.

Developing emotional intelligence is therefore an evolutionary process. It requires a willingness to explore and expand your understanding through experience, reflection, and feedback from peers, teams, and stakeholders. Leaders who engage in this process cultivate what I’ve seen repeatedly in high-pressure environments: the ability to assess the emotional landscape of a situation and respond intentionally rather than reactively. This is especially crucial in high-stakes moments where emotions can escalate quickly, and the cost of misjudgment is tangible.

Vulnerability plays a key role in this process. It is not about overexposure or unfiltered emotion; it is a deliberate practice of honesty and humility that signals authenticity to those you lead. Leaders who show vulnerability strategically create space for dialogue, insight, and trust, particularly when they operate from a solid foundation of self-knowledge. Vulnerability, when guided by clarity of values and emotional awareness, becomes a tool for influence rather than a liability.

Yet the path to consistent, effective application of emotional intelligence is neither immediate nor simple. Leaders have differing levels of EI skills and understanding, and situational contexts vary widely. The front-end work—examining your own values, beliefs, and purpose—is essential. Without this clarity, emotional intelligence cannot be applied consistently, and leadership responses risk becoming reactive or misaligned with long-term objectives. When leaders understand what they stand for, they can apply empathy, assertiveness, and judgment with precision, even when under pressure or in complex political landscapes.

What distinguishes leaders with high emotional intelligence is not just their ability to “read the room,” but their capacity to calibrate their response according to the moment, the people involved, and the purpose at hand. Research supports this: emotional intelligence correlates with leadership effectiveness, team cohesion, and organizational outcomes. Yet my work reveals something slightly different—leaders do not simply perform better because of inherent EI. They succeed because they have deliberately cultivated it in the context of their values, beliefs, and experiences. They have created a stable internal reference point from which to operate, allowing them to integrate principle, people, and purpose in real time.

In practice, this means that emotional intelligence is not a static trait but a dynamic skill set, evolving with exposure, reflection, and feedback. Leaders who invest in this evolution can navigate tension, disagreement, and ambiguity with clarity and calm. They understand when to engage with empathy, when to assert direction, and when to create space for reflection. They also recognize that influence is earned, not assumed, and that trust and integrity emerge as byproducts of consistent, values-aligned emotional intelligence.

Ultimately, the cultivation of emotional intelligence is a journey, not a checkbox. It demands front-end work to understand oneself, openness to expand through experience and feedback, and deliberate practice in applying empathy, judgment, and vulnerability in contextually appropriate ways. For leaders in high-pressure environments, this is not optional—it is the difference between reactive positional authority and strategic situational influence that inspires trust, drives purpose, and achieves meaningful outcomes.