The Intelligence of Sentiment in Leadership

There is another quality worth exploring when talking about leadership. Heart should potentially be added to the definition, along with the more obvious attributes of decisiveness, resilience, strategy, astuteness, strength, diplomacy.

In a world craving authenticity, I believe leading by heart may be the ultimate strategic move.

To speak of heart in leadership is not a naive take. It’s not plain talk about feelings and emotions or expressing them as such when leading. In fact, there’s a growing case to be made—backed by behavioral science, workplace psychology, structural performance indicators—that leadership without emotional attunement is incomplete. Having the heart in it is necessary, and it’d best be taken into clear consideration. The challenge, however, lies not only in acknowledging and understanding of emotions and sentiments in the workplace, but in discerning their meaning and use from emotional intelligence. Practiced wisely as a part of strategic leadership, both sentiments and emotional intelligence have the potential to elevate leadership.

---

Emotions Are Data

There is a common misconception that emotions are, somehow, the opposite of reason. The heart wants what the heart wants, they say. We make choices or decisions, they say, as well, with the brain or the heart. Never with both, so the separation could not be clearer. Yet, there should be no division: emotions are integral to judgment, whereas sentiments can be explained by logical and reasonable avenues. In leadership, as in life, emotions signal and reveal, whereas sentiments lead to a better understanding in rational terms.

Emotions expressed in the workplace are often treated as vulnerabilities, but I believe it’s because they are generally (and superficially) perceived as the opposite of professionalism, objectivity, of strategy, rigor, or even mental acuity. For instance, irritation may reveal a glitch in the process or an issue within the team itself; anxiety can signal poor commitment, bad organization, or lack of delegation; stress itself is typically considered inherent at work. Such emotions are early alerts, but leaders who tune in, who can pay attention, interpret, communicate, and calibrate, can use them to act with both nuance and foresight.

---

Sentiments Run Deeper

While emotions are both fleeting and momentous, sentiments are slow-burning, long-lasting and as such, not less far-reaching. Everybody has experienced stress at work at one point or another, but if the prevailing sentiment is that leadership genuinely supports subordinates, that leaders are aware of their emotions, there is a good chance stress not materialize into resentment.

Smoldering and incremental, but enduring, sentiment is shaped by patterns in evanescent emotions, and as such, the way leaders reckon or deal with emotions in the workplace creates a specific emotional climate. It is thus up to them if this is one of consistent behavior, fluid unambiguous communication, reliability of actions over words, acknowledging contributions, even response to failure or ability to apologize and correct. It is up to them for this to grow into a permanent setting of trust and cohesion.

Enter emotional intelligence—the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and influence emotions in oneself and others. Also, leaders should not only be able to understand other people’s feelings and emotions, but also have and show feelings of their own. For a leader, this intricate ability is part of an essential toolkit to navigate the currents of emotions within the team, transforming them into sentiments such as rooted beliefs, emotional sincerity. In the end, authenticity.

---

The Wisdom in Leadership

The wise leader doesn’t swing between emotional detachment and unfiltered vulnerability, either. Taught leaders know, by having educated themselves into it, when to let emotion guide a decision and when to pause for perspective, when to acknowledge sentiment. What they stand for, what they implicitly mean, when to use emotional intelligence as a bridge to connect, lead, and inspire.

It’s a carefully choreographed balance, and it requires constant recalibration.

Leadership is a dance between head and heart—and the tempo changes often. It’s this delicate choreography where instinct meets reason, emotion flows into logic, and intuition steps back just enough to let analysis lead. For that, one needs grace, transparency, sincerity, authenticity, humanity, and heart.

What does your leadership manner of dance look like?