Emotional contagion
Συναισθηματική μετάδοση
The tendency of a state to travel from one person to the people watching them, faster than the content of what is being said. In a group the loudest source of it is whoever is holding the conversation, which is why a room can change without a single sentence explaining why.
How to spot it
Before you walk into the next meeting, name in one word what you are carrying: if you cannot, the room will read it before you do.
The research behind the term
The term is not our invention. It comes from published research, and what follows is what that research found — our own synthesis of the published abstract, not a translation of the original.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence — πηγή
The book sets out the decisive role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership. The authors argue that successful leaders stand out not only for their technical knowledge but above all for their ability to recognize, manage, and influence their own emotions and those of their colleagues. Different leadership styles and their effects on team performance are also presented.
Practised in
The term does not stay a definition. It appears inside missions where the pattern happens in real time and you have to recognise it as it happens to you.
The First Ten Minutes
Sources
Every claim on this page maps to published research. The citations link to the original source.
- Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence — Source on store.hbr.org