Emotion is a two edge sword it can be handy to a leader and can make a Leader handicap and blind too. It can be a effective power in the hand of a leader or it can be biggest hurdle in managing people. A leader must be observant and keep the emotion in control, of self as well as others. We will discuss few aspect of  emotion here and will see how it makes or breaks a leader.

The entire world is ruled by emotions, emotions are the only reality. The stock market responds to emotion. The general election affected by emotions. The scientific researches too are influenced by emotions, and feelings. Emotions makes war happen, emotions run the corporate.

Many leaders make mistake to see the truth void of emotions, and respond to the facts. The people see the facts colored with emotions and see the actions differently than the leader had intended it to. A leader while should see the facts he also should be very much aware of the prevailing emotions.

Every human is always under influence of some other emotional high, Or under influence of a strong psychological orientation.

Emotion and Human psychology

The emotions affect the human psychology to a great extent. The emotions could be of positive type like excitement, euphoria, pride, happiness, joy, love Or it could be of negative type for example fear, anger, disgust, frustration, helplessness, ego etc. Strong emotions or a sustained emotion shapes the human psychology. It shapes the mind of the human and influence the way the human see, perceive or imagine the world, and also it gives direction to the human imaginations.

Many time the factor that impact the human psychology are not very obvious, and very difficult to understand too. Many a time the emotions are so subtle that the person fails to notice it. A small emotional high over a long period of time impacts the person more than a sudden short term event. Example of few long term events that shapes the human psychology are, cultural influence, long education, parental influence, financial constraint etc.

Emotion and Leadership

The emotion is a great power in the hand of an able leader. An able leader is the one who able to address the emotional need of the people. The emotion is the only power and the skill that a leader needs. It is the emotion that keeps people moving. Without emotional force nothing will work. Every human being has an emotional need, a leader need to understand that. Every one around the leader has some emotional expectation from the leader. Those emotional needs must be addressed by the leader.

Emotion makes people blind. It colors their vision and imaginations. The human fail to see the truth and perceive fictitious stories.  A leader should always protect himself from getting into emotional high. Or at least should avoid from taking decision or from making important communications while he or she is in an emotional high. A leader must have very high degree of self awareness, and to some degree of control over self emotions.

A leader must be skillful enough to understand the emotional state of his fellow beings. A leader must provide ample time ad energy to understand individual emotional needs and manage them. Managing others emotional is a very highly evolved subject. The more a leader has mastery over subject and practice it, the better he can manage the people around himself and engage them to achieve the objectives.

The challenges in managing the human emotions

Managing Human emotion requires time and huge amount of mental energy. It also requires a very balanced emotional state of the leader himself. It is a tough thing to achieve. In lack of the energy the leader tends to use the highhandedness to deal with people issues. This style of management is most of the time justified with not being emotional in business.

The reward

The reward of proper people skill with emotional intelligence is immense. There is a huge direct and indirect cost implication for corporate. It can impact your Brand recognition, save cost in recruitment, reduces attritions, increases productivity, and increases Employee satisfaction level.

Risks

Mahatma Gandhi was very highly skilled in managing human emotions, still he failed many time in controlling the emotions of mob. Many a time leaders face challenges in managing self emotions and emotions of others. There is no silver bullet to deal with it. The maturity and the character of the leader will be the determinant factor in such situations.