Carmen López

Psychologist. Master in Human Resources.

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​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxRLkoP6aIw

Emotional or 

Rational Leadership?

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Who is more effective, an emotional leader or a rational one? 

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Let's do an experiment together: Look at this face! 

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Your brain has quickly recognized this expression, has judged it to be "a threat”. An emotion of fear, anger or shame arises and with it a defensive or fleeing behavior. 

 

Let's go to experiment 2. Now I would like you to try to resolve this multiplication mentally: 

 

17 x 79 

 

At this moment your pupils are dilated, your pulse increases 7 beats per minute and you have all your attention in the problem. It is impossible to focus on any other stimuli at the same time. 

 

In both exercises you face a problem. In the first one we use emotion. Our reaction is automatic and fast. In the second we use reason, a different neural circuit that needs more energy and more time to get things done. The curious thing is that the emotional and rational networks cannot act at the same time. When we use one, the other is deactivated. 

 

These two neural networks are identified with two types of leadership: emotional leadership and rational leadership. The emotional leader focuses on changing behaviors, motivating and engaging people toward a goal. The rational leader focuses on analysis, strategy and results. 

 

Who is more effective, an emotional leader or a rational one? 

 

The question is tricky, because the most effective leaders know how to use the two networks according to the circumstances, and change quickly from one to the other, from emotion to reason, to achieve the goals. 

 

Analyze what type of leader you are, look for your weak point (emotional or rational) and train that neural network to achieve maximum effectiveness in your leadership. You will improve your impact on your team and get the financial goals you are looking for.