LEADERSHIP
“There is no separation of mind and emotions; emotions, thinking, and learning is all linked.” – Eric Jensen By Dr. Wilbert R. Mutoko (PhD, FHEA)
Introduction
Dr. Wilbert Mutoko is a Strategist, Professional Speaker, Educator, Coach, Consultant, and Author. He writes in his personal capacity. You can connect with him on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or send feedback on email: wilbertmutoko@ gmail.com.
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n part one, we looked at the first type of creativity, which is, deliberate and cognitive creativity. If you have not yet read, Leadership: Types of creativity part one, please read it first before reading this second part. That will give you a foundation to the series. In this article, we will look at the second type of creativity: Deliberate and Emotional Creativity.
Emotional creativity Kuska etal. (2020) wrote, “Emotional creativity (EC) is a pattern of cognitive abilities and personality traits related to originality and appropriateness in emotional experience.” On the other hand, Oriol (2016) posited, “Emotional creativity is defined as the ability to experience and express original, appropriate, and authentic combinations of emotions.” Thus, in this turbulent business environment, leaders need to know how to harness their emotions and those of others to manage change and lead innovation. Emotional creativity plays a key role in the ability to come up with new ideas because of emotional stability. Emotional creativity is a product of the ability to experience and express emotions effectively and wisely, whether positive emotions such as happiness, love, gratitude, and excitement; or negative emotions such as anger, sadness, grief, frustration, lust, and anxiety. Every person and every leader need emotional creativity to thrive in business and in corporate. While it is debatable, psychologists believe that positive emotions are conducive for creativity, while negative emotions are not suitable for creativity. This will differ from leader to leader, obviously due to differences in personalities. Leaders that have high emotional creativity are usually open-minded. As a leader, if you are Strides Magazine
24
July 2022
Indra Nooyi
going to lead through tough times, emotional creativity is a must have.
Short Case - Indra Nooyi Indra Nooyi, former PepsiCo CEO and Chairperson is an Indian-American business executive. She has been ranked high on the Forbes list of the top 100 most powerful women in the world. She is reputed to have been one of the most emotionally intelligent executives ever. For example, she advocated for sending hand-written ‘Thank you’ notes to each employee at PepsiCo. Indra wrote ‘thank you’ notes to the parents of each of his executives
