When Emotions Run High in Leadership

All the time! In fact I see value in integrating it in the day to day. A practice I follow at work is starting all individual and group conversations with a feelings check-in, asking everyone to share how they’re feeling and over time it’s created space for people to be more honest about their vulnerabilities and any personal challenges they might be struggling with that week. It allows for more empathy and trust.

Beautifully put Pratibha! Emotions truly are signals. I’ve also learnt to take a pause and name how I feel. When I’m able to, I can lead myself more firmly and rightly.

Thank you for sharing this. I haven’t had a moment quite like the one you described, but your experience has opened my eyes to how powerful emotional awareness can be in leadership. I’m learning that acknowledging our feelings doesn’t take away from our strength; it actually adds depth and honesty to how we show up.

Your post has encouraged me to be more intentional about naming and expressing my own emotions rather than pushing them aside. I’d love to hear more about how you’ve built this habit over time, was it a gradual shift or something you deliberately worked on?

Thanks for sharing. Yes indeed. The only challenge is realizing our state of emotions. Self-reflection has helped me in that. however, it was possible when I had shared my state with my close ones and they navigated me if I was being too emotional.

This is such a valuable conversation that needs to be had in workplaces. I’ve cried multiple times at work- it’s the way I express feeling overwhelmed and decompress, everyone has different ways of managing their emotions. I’ve found over time that a lot of people around resort to passive aggressive tendencies often as workplaces don’t encourage emotional reflection and taking about the self

Beautiful share. Indeed, emotions are signals.
I feel women think and feel different from men. Their threshold of emotions is different. Plus, in the subconscious, with the pressure to remain strong and steadfast, they tend to breakdown at times. In the event of meeting timelines, the pause moment often does not come, however, self-reflection, has given me space to strengthen myself.

Yes, many times.

What I’ve learned over the years is that emotions don’t usually “run high” on their own. They surface when something meaningful is at stake. A value. A boundary. A sense of responsibility. A relationship that matters.

Earlier in my leadership life, I thought strength meant staying composed no matter what. I learned to manage my tone, my face, my words. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was also managing myself away from others. The cost was subtle but real. Less presence. Less clarity. Less connection.

The shift came when I stopped trying to suppress emotion and instead learned to stay with it. Pausing. Noticing what was being stirred. Naming it internally, sometimes out loud if the moment allowed. Not to unload or justify it, but to orient myself honestly before responding.

What surprised me was how often that created steadiness rather than disruption. When I could say, “Something about this feels important, and I want to be thoughtful in how we proceed,” it lowered the temperature. It gave others permission to slow down too. The emotion didn’t disappear, but it stopped driving the conversation from underneath.

For me, acknowledging emotion has strengthened my leadership because it keeps me present. It helps me respond rather than react. And it signals to others that leadership is not about emotional absence, but about emotional literacy. That kind of presence builds trust, and trust is what carries leaders and teams through pressure far more reliably than composure alone.

Your body never lies … listen.

Pratibha, I feel you learn as you grow. I used to get very emotional in early days of my career. I also feel, we as females have more emotions than other counterpart. Though I agree we should pause when we feel overwhelmed but still in some instances we just are not able ale to hold up. Once a wise lady told me, It is ok to cry in a dialogue, just say ” Please don’t go on my emotions, the dialogue should continue”