Head Or Heart Leadership?

An expansive amount of business literature is available, which describes the many different leadership styles that exist, each with its own merits and each with a degree of effectiveness in certain circumstances. Regardless of the leadership style an individual leans towards, it is indispensable to be adept at making decisions with emotional and intellectual intelligence.  

In today’s society, using your heart in business can be perceived as a sign of weakness and, on the contrary, leading with your head a sign of competence. In fact, the most effective leaders are skilled at both and are able to strike a good balance between tasks and people. 

Emotional leadership has many benefits, the most important may be how by demonstrating a good character and care and empathy for your employees, teams feel more connected and engaged. Research unequivocally concludes that there are productivity gains to be realized from an engaged workforce. Put simply, employees that want to come to work and understand that they are making a valuable contribution to the organization are more invested in the needs of the team and the company than of themselves.   

Leading with your head is equally important and has similarly indisputable advantages. Setting a strategy, setting goals, following a budget and holding employees accountable are just some of the core skills of head leadership. For an organization to be successful, competitive and innovative, leaders must use knowledge, logic, and analytical thinking when making business decisions. 

When I agreed to join BlackBerry, my choice was certainly a heart-led one. I knew that if I did not accept the job of saving BlackBerry, an iconic company that many of us have grown up with, I would regret it and always wonder ‘what if’. It has been important for my team to know that I came to BlackBerry with this emotion, as they have then understood and emulated my dedication to the success of the company.   

On the other hand, to define the company’s turnaround and growth strategy, I led with a strategic evaluation of what BlackBerry does best and built up from there. The BlackBerry of yesterday defined the smartphone industry, by developing devices that had our DNA, of security, connectivity, productivity and mobility, built into their foundation. The BlackBerry of today is a leader in the Enterprise of Things market, delivering software solutions with the same trusted DNA at their core.

To conclude, I will share a quote from Nelson Mandela: “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

John Chen

Hear more about John’s head versus heart philosophy here.