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I have just read an undeniably timely article by Jeanie Daniel Duck¹ with the title “Leading in Emotional Times”. I immediately thought that there was no greater time in these days then now, to mention what she has written in the article. She states, and I could not agree more with her, that in times of tumultuous times there has to be a leader with crystal-clear purpose with the energy to provide change. However, these are all insufficient without the emotional part, without the personal touch. She mentions six important factors that help leaders:

Be highly Visible.  These hard times require the leader to be approachable. It helps reassuring.

Provide Relevant Information. Everybody knows about the problem, tell them about what you know and what you don’t know. Tell them about your scenarios, nobody expects you to know everything.

Ask for Help and Share the Credit. Two things: in difficult times, it pays off to be wise and ask for opinions — the rules have changed. On the hand, “making space for others to contribute and be recognized has enormous payoffs²”.

Be Human. Jeanie Daniel Duck’s first sentence is of great importance: “People want to think their leader is in control and in charge, “but they won’t go the extra mile for someone who is all logic and no emotion³”. Talk individually, be authentic, humane and there must be connection, too.

Offer Hope and a Renewed Sense of Purpose. People need to have something to fight for. They want to see what is the purpose, they want to see a better tomorrow.

Encourage People to Get Excited. I tend to say that passion and excitement are really important: they are great part of the change. You need them. But you need as much energy and effort from their part as possible. 

These all provide a chance for change to occur. Of course this does not mean that you do not need to have a concise strategy, and other skills. But emotions are the fuels of humans which you have to take into account. If people are not motivated they will have no fuels and as cars they will fail to start and fail to go. If they are motivated by the abovementioned six things you are on a good way to do the best!

1. Jeanie Daniel Duck, 2002, Leading in Emotion Times, appeared in: The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy, edited by Carl W. Stern and Michael S. Deimler, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, p. 345-347 [↩]
2. op. cit. p. 346 [↩]
3. ibid. [↩]