hen the theory
of emotional intelli-
gence at work began to
receive widespread atten-
tion, we frequently heard
executives say – in the same
breath, mind you –“That’s incred-
ible,”and,“Well, I’ve known that all
along.” They were responding to our
research that showed an incontrovert-
ible link between an executive’s emotional maturity,
exemplified by such capabilities as self-awareness and
empathy, and his or her financial performance. Simply
put, the research showed that “good guys” – that is, emo-
tionally intelligent men and women – finish first.
We’ve recently compiled two years of new research
that, we suspect, will elicit the same kind of reaction.
People will first exclaim, “No way,” then quickly add,
“But of course.” We found that of all the elements affect-
ing bottom-line performance, the importance of the
leader’s mood and its attendant behaviors are most
surprising. That powerful pair set off a chain reaction:
The leader’s mood and behaviors drive the moods and
behaviors of everyone else. A cranky and ruthless boss
creates a toxic organization filled with negative under-
achievers who ignore opportunities; an inspirational,
inclusive leader spawns acolytes for whom any challenge
is surmountable. The final link in the chain is perfor-
mance: profit or loss.
Our observation about the overwhelming impact of
the leader’s “emotional style,” as we call it, is not a whole-
sale departure from our research into emotional intelli-
gence. It does, however, represent a deeper analysis of
our earlier assertion that a leader’s emotional intelligence
creates a certain culture or work environment. High lev-
els of emotional intelligence, our research showed, create
climates in which information sharing, trust, healthy risk-
taking, and learning flourish. Low levels of emotional
intelligence create climates rife with fear and anxiety.
Because tense or terrified employees can be very produc-
tive in the short term, their organizations may post good
results, but they never last.
Our investigation was designed in part to look at how
emotional intelligence drives performance–in particular,
at how it travels from the leader through the organiza-
