Navigating the gloriously messy landscape of human emotions is challenging for many leaders.
What Is Emotional Complexity?
It’s the difference between saying “I’m fine” (translation: I’m not fine) and having the vocabulary to express that you’re “cautiously optimistic but slightly anxious with a side order of impatience.” It’s emotional high-definition versus standard definition.
What Is Emotional Complexity?
It’s the difference between saying “I’m fine” (translation: I’m not fine) and having the vocabulary to express that you’re “cautiously optimistic but slightly anxious with a side order of impatience.” It’s emotional high-definition versus standard definition.
Do Leaders Need This?
When you can name exactly your feelings, you’re less likely to snap at Bob from accounting for breathing too loudly near your office. More importantly, teams led by emotionally complex leaders report higher trust, greater innovation, and fewer instances of hiding in bathroom stalls to avoid meetings.
Do Leaders Need This?
When you can name exactly your feelings, you’re less likely to snap at Bob from accounting for breathing too loudly near your office. More importantly, teams led by emotionally complex leaders report higher trust, greater innovation, and fewer instances of hiding in bathroom stalls to avoid meetings.
Compassionately Complex
The beauty of emotional complexity isn’t just self-awareness, it’s the ability to create spaces where others don’t have to stuff their feelings into the corporate-approved emotional containers of “professional” and “unprofessional.” Every team member carries an invisible emotional backpack. Some days, it’s filled with feathers, and other days, with bricks. The compassionate leader acknowledges the weight without demanding it be set aside.
Compassionately Complex
The beauty of emotional complexity isn’t just self-awareness, it’s the ability to create spaces where others don’t have to stuff their feelings into the corporate-approved emotional containers of “professional” and “unprofessional.” Every team member carries an invisible emotional backpack. Some days, it’s filled with feathers, and other days, with bricks. The compassionate leader acknowledges the weight without demanding it be set aside.
Growing Your Emotional Range
Become an Emotional Detective: Instead of settling for “stressed,” ask yourself, “Am I worried, overwhelmed, fearful, or just hangry?”
Practice Emotional Contradictions: Yes, you can be thrilled about the new project and terrified of failure all at once. That’s not indecision; that’s being wonderfully human.
Create “Both/And” Conversations: Replace “Don’t worry” with “I hear you’re both excited about the opportunity and concerned about the timeline. Let’s explore both.”
Growing Your Emotional Range
Become an Emotional Detective: Instead of settling for “stressed,” ask yourself, “Am I worried, overwhelmed, fearful, or just hangry?”
Practice Emotional Contradictions: Yes, you can be thrilled about the new project and terrified of failure all at once. That’s not indecision; that’s being wonderfully human.
Create “Both/And” Conversations: Replace “Don’t worry” with “I hear you’re both excited about the opportunity and concerned about the timeline. Let’s explore both.”
A Final Thought
Emotional complexity is when people are at their most human and, therefore, most powerful and vulnerable. Use it generously, wisely, and develop it intentionally, and watch as your relationships transform.
After all, nobody ever changed the world by feeling “fine.”
A Final Thought
Emotional complexity is when people are at their most human and, therefore, most powerful and vulnerable. Use it generously, wisely, and develop it intentionally, and watch as your relationships transform.
After all, nobody ever changed the world by feeling “fine.”
