Harvard Business Publishing

In the U.S., the time-honored tradition of political conventions has come to a close. Both parties have done the job: they've nominated candidates for president and vice president. Silly hats have been put away (thank goodness) and signs have been relegated to garages and back bedrooms as delegates, staffers, candidates and the American people turn their attention to the election itself.

Emotions are running high as this election heads into the final two months. The US is facing crises on almost every front, and we're all affected. Whether it's because of higher gas prices, layoffs, the specter of unprecedented national debt or a terribly unpopular war that seems to have no end in sight, people are tuned in and on high alert. Change is on the horizon. There's no other way. The current situation is untenable.

And in fact, change is already here: as a woman and an African American accept their parties' nominations, a corner has been turned.

So how will people's feelings about these leaders, about the issues, about the future affect the outcome? Some would say that emotion shouldn't be part of the equation at all, that the election of a president should be based on reason, logic, and rational debate. But that's simply impossible. Why? Because neuroscience tells us that emotion is an inherent part of the human experience. We feel before we think, and our emotions guide our thoughts and behavior in profound ways.

Sure, our thoughts guide our emotions, too. Reason enters the equation. It's an incredibly complex neurological process. But the bottom line is this: emotions matter.

Because emotions affect our cognitive processes, they also affect how people respond to one another. This is especially true for the leader-follower relationship. When we experience what researchers call the Positive Emotional Attractor--hope, compassion, excitement, enthusiasm and the like--we are more open to new ways of seeing things, we can be more creative, we're more resilient and able to direct our energy toward long-term goals. The opposite is of course true as well--the Negative Emotional Attractor, especially fear, anger, and chronic distress--send us into a spiral of avoidance, or aggression, or mental paralysis.

But here's the real kicker: emotions are contagious. We read each other carefully and constantly, tapping into unspoken feelings. We literally catch one another's emotional mindset. So, if you lead people, and you want them to be innovative, optimistic and focused, you'll want to pay attention to sharing your own hope, excitement, and passion.

If emotions are contagious between individuals, and if shared emotions can extend beyond a couple of people to impact an entire group's mood and effectiveness, what about large groups? Crowds at conventions, for example? Or entire countries? Research into mob behavior supports the notion that large groups can be gripped by strong and seemingly irrational emotions, and that collective behavior follows. Peering into history shows that millions can be motivated by emotions that can lead us down the path of sacrifice for the greater good, or to the other extreme, to participate in atrocities.

Is it inevitable? Do we always catch emotions from one another? Will we follow blindly when our deepest (and often most unexamined) emotions are triggered? Do we have any control, any choice?

We sure do. We have the power to consciously choose what to believe, what to be passionate about and whom to follow. But we need to listen to what our leaders are saying, not just how they are making us feel. We need to think about our feelings. That is emotional intelligence.

Annie McKee is co-founder of Teleos Leadership Institute and was named by Business Week as "The High Priestess of Executive Coaching" in their 2005 Top 100 Leaders issue. Her latest book is Becoming a Resonant Leader, which she co-wrote with Richard Boyatzis and Fran Johnston.