The pros and cons of being a stoic leader

For most of human history, philosophers and scientists alike have viewed emotion as the enemy of reason. From the Stoics of Ancient Greece to modern behavioral economists, the assumption has broadly remained the same—namely that humans are obviously capable of remarkable rationality, adaptability, and intellectual sophistication, but (still) our emotions frequently sabotage those gifts at the worst possible moments. Leadership offers endless examples. Executives destroy careers because their egos cannot tolerate criticism. Politicians launch reckless vendettas because they mistake personal humiliation for national interest. Founders torch shareholder value because they become emotionally attached to failing strategies long after the evidence has turned against them. One need only observe a boardroom disagreement, a divorce proceeding, or social media during election season to conclude that Homo sapiens is not quite the coldly rational species imagined by economists. Psychologists have documented these tendencies exhaustively. Emotions distort attention, amplify biases, and impair judgment under pressure. Anger increases risk-taking. Anxiety promotes catastrophizing. Pride clouds self-awareness. Fear narrows thinking. Even highly intelligent people routinely behave irrationally when emotionally triggered. The history of leadership is, in part, the history of otherwise capable individuals losing wars, companies, elections, and reputations because they could not manage their feelings. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/10\/tcp-photo-syndey-16X9.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/10\/tcp-photo-syndey-1x1-2.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"Get more insights from Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic","dek":"Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the Chief Science Officer at Russell Reynolds, a professor of organizati