Inspired by the book Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee.
You can’t delegate the mood of the room.
That’s one of the most uncomfortable and powerful truths from the book Primal Leadership. The authors argue that the single most important job of a leader is to shape the emotional tone of their team.
Not strategy. Not execution. Not even vision.
That might sound overly emotional, especially if you’re in a fast-paced, industrial, engineering-heavy environment like ours. But the reality is every business is powered by humans. And humans respond to energy, trust, and emotional cues. Even when we pretend we don’t.
Leadership isn’t just about what you say. It’s about how people feel when you say it.
The best leaders know themselves, regulate their emotions, connect well with others, and inspire trust and alignment. That’s emotional intelligence.
And in our industry, it might be the most underleveraged leadership skill out there.
4 Leadership Truths from Primal Leadership
Here’s what stuck with us and how we’re trying to apply it.
1. Your mood is your message.
The emotional state of a leader has a big impact on the performance of a team.
Positive emotions expand thinking and creativity. Negative emotions shrink it.
“The leader’s mood is quite literally contagious”
–Primal Leadership
Whether you’re leading a meeting, walking the floor, or working through a problem, your tone matters. That’s why we’re trying to show up consistently with a calm, clear, and problem-solving mindset. No finger pointing. Or drama. Just action and alignment.
2. Emotional intelligence is a skill. Not a personality trait.
It’s not about being “nice” or “charming.” It’s about self-awareness, emotional-regulation, empathy, and the ability to build strong relationships.
We’re not born with these skills. We intentionally build them over time through feedback, reflection, and coaching. Like any technical skill, it takes commitment to practice.
3. Leadership isn’t just what you say. It’s what people feel.
Take a minute to think about how you make others feel when you walk into a room:
Nervous
Confused
Dissmissed
Or…
Motivated
Trusted
Heard
Resonant leadership is about aligning what you say with how you show up. It’s when your presence lifts people instead of draining them. It’s how trust is built, especially on teams that need to move fast and stay connected.
4. You can’t scale a business without emotional intelligence.
Technical expertise gets you started. But leading through growth, complexity, and change requires leaders who navigate people, not just processes.
We’re trying to develop leaders who ask more than they tell and who coach more than they control. Because the bigger the business gets, the more important emotional intelligence becomes.
What Echo Are You Leaving Behind?
This idea reminds us of a post by Tracey Fletcher, our Chief People Officer, called Leadership Echoes. She shares how leadership behaviors ripple through teams and sometimes stays with people for years.
“Everything you say and do echoes. Not only today, but into the future.”
The mood you carry, the energy you set, the words you choose…they don’t disappear when the meeting ends. They echo in your team’s heads. They shape decisions, relationships, and performance.
That’s leadership legacy.
So, ask yourself:
- What kind of echo are you leaving?
- Are you helping your team feel clear, connected, and energized?
- How are you showing up under pressure?
- Are you lifting others up or wearing them down?
Emotional intelligence isn’t soft. It’s the hardest and most human part of leadership.
It’s also the most underleveraged skill in manufacturing.
How are you leveraging your emotional intelligence?
At PJWS, we believe learning doesn’t stop in the classroom or even on the job. Many of our leaders and team members grow through reading, and the ideas we’ve gathered from authors over the years have shaped how we think, lead, and build our business. That’s why we’re launching a new series: Books for Building Better
Each post will explore a book that’s helped us improve—from leadership and engineering to culture and strategy—and the ways we apply those lessons. Have a book that’s inspired you? Share it with us at: wallbank@pjws.com
Concepts and selected quotes adapted from Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, are used under fair use for commentary and educational purposes.