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Originally Posted On: https://hansschumann.com/2025/01/emotional-intelligence/
2025 Leadership Trends: Why Emotional Intelligence Is the #1 Skill to Develop This Year
As we step into 2025, leadership challenges continue to change. The rise of AI, hybrid working and shifting employee expectations have reshaped what it means to be an effective leader. While technical skills and business acumen remain important, one factor consistently stands out as essential for leaders at all levels: emotional intelligence.
If you want to lead with impact, it’s time to stop seeing emotional intelligence as a “nice-to-have” and recognise it as an essential leadership skill. It’s also a competitive advantage, not only over your colleagues but also over AI.
In this article, I’ll explore:
- What emotional intelligence is (and what it isn’t)
- Why it’s the #1 leadership skill for 2025
- How you can develop it (starting now)
What Is Emotional Intelligence and Why Does It Matter?
Emotional intelligence, often referred to as EQ (Emotional Quotient), is the ability to recognise, understand and manage your own emotions, while also being able to recognise, understand and influence the emotions of others.
Daniel Goleman, one of the pioneers of emotional intelligence, breaks it down into five key components:
1. Self-Awareness – Knowing your emotions and how they affect your thoughts and behaviours.
2. Self-Regulation – The ability to control impulsive feelings and behaviours, manage stress and adapt to changing circumstances.
3. Motivation – A passion for work that goes beyond status or salary.
4. Empathy – The ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people.
5. Social Skills – Building and maintaining healthy relationships, managing conflict and inspiring others.
Unlike IQ, which remains relatively fixed, emotional intelligence can be developed and refined over time. And in 2025 the ability to manage emotions—both your own and others’—is more critical than ever before. It is the ability to leverage the intelligence of your heart; for example, by sensing emotions in the board room.
Emotional intelligence isn’t a buzzword. It’s a practical, measurable set of skills that can transform your leadership. As AI takes over technical tasks, the human-centred leader will rise to the top. Companies that prioritise emotional intelligence will build more engaged, loyal and high-performing teams.
Why Emotional Intelligence Is the #1 Leadership Skill for 2025
With so much change happening in the workplace, why am I calling out emotional intelligence as a key leadership skill? Here’s why:
1. AI and Automation Are Replacing Hard Skills—But Not Human Connection
As AI tools become more sophisticated, many technical skills are being automated. What AI can’t do (yet) is read human emotions, build trust and foster authentic relationships. That’s where leaders with high emotional intelligence have a major advantage.
Emotional intelligence separates “human-centric” leaders from “task-centric” managers”. People follow leaders they feel seen, heard and understood by—and that can’t yet be outsourced to a bot.
2. Hybrid Work Requires Stronger People Skills
Remote and hybrid work environments have fundamentally shifted the way we connect with teams. Without daily face-to-face contact, it’s harder to gauge the pulse of a team.
Leaders who can pick up on subtle emotional cues—like changes in tone, withdrawal from team meetings or signs of disengagement—can address potential problems early. This is where empathy and social skills (key components of emotional intelligence) become essential.
Emotionally intelligent leaders:
- Detect and respond to unspoken emotions that affect decisions, morale and effectiveness.
- Recognise when team members are burned out or disengaged.
- Communicate clearly, even in digital-first environments.
- Build relationships that feel authentic—even from afar.
3. Emotional Intelligence Drives Employee Retention
Gallup studies consistently show that people don’t leave jobs; they leave managers. When employees feel their leader lacks empathy, can’t handle stress or fails to communicate clearly, they disengage or walk away.
With record-high job mobility, retaining top talent has never been more important. Leaders with high emotional intelligence can cultivate psychological safety, reduce burnout and keep top talent committed.
How to Develop Your Emotional Intelligence in 2025
You might be thinking, “I wasn’t born with these skills—can I actually develop emotional intelligence?” Absolutely. Unlike IQ, which is fixed, emotional intelligence can be built through conscious effort.
Here’s how you can get started:
1. Start With Self-Awareness
If you don’t know what’s driving your own reactions, how can you expect to lead others? Self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence.
How to build it:
- I use the Enneagram growth model to help my clients create quantum leaps in emotional intelligence. It starts with a psychometric assessment that will help you better understand how you and other people function. From there, the system suggests a bespoke growth path based on your personality type.
- If you are serious about emotional intelligence, you can’t do it on your own as you are limited to your biased perception of reality. I strongly recommend working with an executive coach. Even if you don’t feel you have specific problems to work on, treat it like going to the gym for the heart to increase your emotional intelligence.
- Practise daily reflection: What emotions did you experience today and why?
- Pay attention to physical cues (tight shoulders, clenched jaw) that may indicate underlying emotions.
- Ask for feedback from trusted colleagues or friends—and really listen rather than jumping straight into defensive mode.
- Look out for trigger points that push you into an emotional response, whether that’s fight, flight or freeze. What’s behind them? If you want to become a powerful leader, you must study your shadow side so that you can manage it. A coach or therapist can help with this.
3. Master Self-Regulation
Every leader faces stress and setbacks. The difference is how you respond. Leaders with strong self-regulation manage their impulses, stay calm under pressure and avoid emotional outbursts.
How to build it:
- Pause and breathe in deeply before reacting; maybe even put the issue aside and sleep on it.
- Identify your emotional triggers so you’re less reactive.
- Practise reframing—look for the opportunity in every challenge.
- Take ownership of mistakes and apologise authentically.
3. Boost Empathy
Empathy is the superpower that builds loyalty, trust and strong team bonds. It’s about deep listening and understanding, not just mere acoustic hearing.
How to build it:
- Cultivate a genuine interest in other people rather than objectifying them.
- Practise active listening (don’t just wait for your turn to speak).
- Ask questions to understand, not to respond.
- Get curious about the perspectives of others, even those you disagree with.
- Learn to mediate conflicts with compassion and fairness.
What’s Next for You?
If you’re ready to become the kind of leader that others trust and follow, it’s time to invest in your emotional intelligence. It’s not something you pick up in a book or a podcast — it takes practice, reflection and accountability.
I help executives and leaders develop the emotional intelligence skills they need to thrive in today’s workplace. Whether you’re looking to boost self-awareness, build empathy or lead your team through uncertainty, I can help.
Check out my Enneagram programmes for leaders and Enneagram teams events that are exciting and powerful starting points for increasing emotional intelligence.
Book a free discovery call to explore how we can develop your leadership edge in 2025.
Don’t wait for the future to arrive—lead it.