The Management Lesson Of Eleanor Roosevelt

The emotional paradox of management.

A few days ago, while wandering on Twitter, I read a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wife: “To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”

Eleanor Roosevelt – (CC) US Government

This maxim captures the emotional paradox of management.

To manage themselves, managers should not listen too much to their own emotions in order to make informed decisions. To manage their employees, managers should instead give free rein to their emotions in order to empathize with their teammates.

This is one of many reasons why management is so complex.