Emotions are infectious too

March 13, 2020

By Dan Hammond, Chief Disruption Officer, LIW

These are challenging times. On top of a lack-lustre economy, we now have a pandemic. As a friend of mine put it, ‘Everything’s a bit sh*t’.

He’s right in a way and it’s easy to let the panic outside get inside.

What does this mean for leadership?

Neuroscience (and real life) tells us that emotions are viral. The key to preventing infection is to start with yourself: choose your ‘be’ in order to ‘do’ things well, despite the circumstances.

We are working with our clients to help them go virtual, lead remotely and use the right tools to keep their teams together. For this, I chose ‘calm and confident’ as my ‘be’. My halo slipped early this week but I am now back on track and, I hope, being positively infectious!

What’s your contagious ‘be’?

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