The energy you lead with
It wasn’t her words that changed the room; it was her presence. The team at the marketing firm had been paralysed for weeks by uncertainty over a failed campaign. The moment their new director walked in, she didn’t offer immediate solutions. She listened, smiled, and calmly said, “Let’s learn from this.” The tension visibly dropped. People leaned forward again, ideas resurfaced, and by the end of the meeting, creativity was back on the table. Nothing strategic had shifted, yet everything had changed.
What changed was energy.
Leadership energy is the invisible currency that fuels every interaction, decision, and outcome in an organisation. It is not charisma or enthusiasm alone; it is the emotional tone you transmit that shapes how people feel, think, and perform in your presence. Teams don’t just respond to what leaders say; they absorb the energy leaders carry.
Researchers at the University of Michigan found that emotional contagion, the subconscious transmission of moods, occurs within seconds of interaction. A leader’s optimism can elevate performance by 30%, while their anxiety can suppress creativity by nearly the same amount. What leaders often underestimate is how powerfully their internal state becomes the emotional climate of their team.
Energy is not mystical; it is measurable. You can walk into a meeting and sense it, the buzz of collaboration or the heaviness of fear. Every organisation has an energy signature, and it often mirrors its leadership. In high-performing cultures, energy is generative; it uplifts, empowers, and multiplies possibility. In declining cultures, energy is extractive; it drains, divides, and diminishes hope.
Think of leaders like conductors in an orchestra. The instruments are the people, the strategy is the sheet music, but the tempo, the emotional rhythm, comes from the conductor’s energy. A distracted leader produces discord. A centred one, harmony.
When Satya Nadella began transforming Microsoft, he spoke about “empathy as a superpower.” But what he was truly describing was leadership energy: the shift from fear-driven control to trust-fuelled curiosity. His calm, listening presence turned a competitive, siloed culture into one driven by collaboration and growth. The organisation didn’t just adopt new strategies; it absorbed new energy.
The same principle applies in smaller settings. Walk into any team that feels burnt out, and you will likely find a leader who is exhausted, anxious, or perpetually reactive. Energy leaks from the top. Yet the reverse is also true; when leaders manage their emotional energy intentionally, even turbulent environments can regain clarity and focus.
So how can leaders regulate the energy they bring into their spaces? The answer begins with self-awareness. Leadership energy is often shaped by what you carry internally but haven’t yet named. If your day begins with chaos, it will follow you into every meeting. Emotional residue is contagious. Before entering a room, pause and ask, “What energy am I about to transfer?” This question alone can recalibrate presence.
It also requires emotional discipline, the ability to separate what is urgent from what is important, and what is happening around you from what is happening within you. The best leaders cultivate emotional steadiness, not emotional suppression. They know how to breathe through moments of tension, hold silence when others panic, and project calm even when the future is uncertain.
A case study from the Boston Consulting Group revealed that leaders who intentionally practised “energy resets”, brief moments of mindfulness before key meetings, reported a 26 percent improvement in team focus and morale. Small pauses, it turns out, can redirect the emotional current of entire organisations.
Here is a simple but powerful truth: your energy either expands possibility or contracts it. A rushed tone can close dialogue. A measured pause can open new thinking. The energy of a leader becomes the emotional template for how a team handles pressure, feedback, and failure.
Ask yourself: What emotional residue do I leave behind after I speak? Do I elevate or deplete those who interact with me? Do I project possibility or pessimism? The answers reveal not just your leadership style but your leadership impact.
For leaders in today’s volatile environments, managing energy is not about artificial positivity; it’s about authenticity. Teams can sense pretended optimism just as easily as they can sense fatigue. Authentic leadership energy is grounded in congruence, the alignment between what you feel, what you believe, and how you show up. When that alignment is present, trust flourishes. When it’s missing, even the best strategies collapse under emotional dissonance.
In practical terms, cultivating positive leadership energy means setting emotional tone intentionally. Begin meetings with gratitude before metrics. Recognise effort before outcomes. Replace the question “What went wrong?” with “What did we learn?” These subtle shifts recalibrate the room from judgment to growth. Over time, such energy becomes cultural currency, a shared rhythm that sustains performance and morale.
At its core, leadership energy is stewardship. You are not just managing tasks or talent; you are managing the atmosphere, the unseen environment that determines whether your people thrive or merely survive. Every email, every word, every silence emits something. The most effective leaders treat their emotional state as a form of strategic capital to be managed, replenished, and multiplied.
So, pause before your next conversation. Breathe before your next decision. Notice before you react. Because in leadership, what you project is often more powerful than what you pronounce.
What energy do people feel when you walk into the room?
Does your presence create calm or tension?
Are you intentionally shaping the atmosphere you lead or unconsciously leaking it?
This week, choose one high-stakes moment – a performance review, a difficult meeting, or a tough decision – and lead it with deliberate emotional presence. Before entering, ground yourself. Speak slower. Listen deeper. Then observe the ripple effect. Watch how calm invites clarity, how empathy invites openness, and how your inner composure becomes contagious. Because leadership energy isn’t invisible after all; its results are written on every face in the room.
About the author:
Dr Toye Sobande is a strategic leadership expert, executive coach, lawyer, public speaker, and award-winning author. He is the CEO of Stephens Leadership Consultancy LLC, a strategy and management consulting firm offering creative insight and solutions to businesses and leaders. Email: [email protected]
