Just how e(motive) are you?

If there's one thing that the recently concluded US election taught not just America, but the rest of the world, is that the human race no longer trades in the currency of logic, but emotions.

It would seem you can no longer safely say that 2+2 = 4 these days. Because if that were the case then there should've been really only one conceivable winner of that election and it was not the candidate who ultimately triumphed. Not because she displayed an unquestionable ability to lead, far from it, but because her opponent had brazenly shown such a terrible lack of it. Yet, logic did not rule the day when the chips were counted. The world stands, largely bewildered. How could this have happened? More importantly, why did it happen?

There would be hundreds of varying analysis' on what led to Trump's win but many of them would probably feature at least a passing mention about how he was able to appeal to the sentiments of common folk. The fundamental reason for the failure of the Hillary campaign was that it assumed that all Americans were coffee card-carrying middle-class urbanites with an Instagram account, snazzy career and a logical, rational epicenter. They found out they were wrong, the hard way.

Form goes out the window when emotions enter the room. Then it becomes a swirling typhoon of destruction that plummets across all four corners, threatening to rip the very roof off your decision-making process. You can try and pretend it's not there but it is still going to destroy.

Like Hillary, many of today's organisational leaders still opt to ignore this factor. They assume that logic will prevail over emotional connection and that numbers will always speak louder than words. Truth is, the tide has been changing for some time now. The US election just happens to be the loudest tsunami to date.

There was an age when the ability to make sound and timely decisions and carry oneself with poise were considered the key tenets in leadership potential. You still need these things certainly, but leaders who are able to harness general sentiments and deploy suitable emotional strategies will be regarded as the leaders of the future.

No one did this better than Obama, whose entire campaign and subsequent Presidency was built from the bedrock of emotional strategies. He understood the heartbeat of the people and what they needed to see from their leader and he gave them that.

It's not a matter of sincerity, because many leaders may feel the same things but not all of them are able to articulate that to their people in a relatable fashion. The key lies in a leader's ability to sense the emotional temperature of his/her organisation and to be opportunistic and intentional in engaging with employees, both directly and indirectly, on matters that concern them.

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