Is Collective Grief Blocking Emotional Intelligence at Work?

Summary

The piece — an excerpt from Nicholas Janni’s forthcoming book — argues that unfelt personal, ancestral and collective emotions blunt leaders’ emotional intelligence, empathy and even critical thinking. Childhood survival strategies (shutting down feelings, favouring thought over sensation) are reinforced by education and corporate culture, producing senior leaders who appear distant or untrustworthy. Janni suggests that acknowledging and allowing emotions to be felt in safe, experiential settings (not just cognitive conversations) releases life energy and restores sharper thinking, creativity and collective flow. With global anxiety about security, climate and conflict pervasive, the author says leaders who model ‘robust vulnerability’ can relax group nervous systems and unlock better decisions.

Key Points

Unfelt emotions reduce empathy, listening and clarity of thought.
Many leadership blind spots trace back to childhood and intergenerational trauma.
Education and corporate norms often privilege rational thinking at the expense of feeling.
Leaders who acknowledge their own emotional state legitimise feelings in others and ease group anxiety.
Experiential, body-centred facilitation (not only talk therapy) helps metabolise stored emotion and restore intelligence.
Collective anxiety about job security, geopolitics and climate is often ‘in the air’ and should be recognised in meetings.

Context and Relevance

For executives, HR leaders and anyone responsible for culture, the article connects wellbeing with performance: unresolved emotion isn’t just a personal issue, it shapes decision-making, innovation and team dynamics. It dovetails with trends toward trauma-informed leadership, psychological safety and wellbeing strategies in hybrid and distributed workplaces.

Why should I read this?

Short answer: because if your meetings feel flat, people leave drained, or execs get feedback like “cold” or “distant”, this explains why — and gives a simple shift you can try: stop pretending emotions aren’t at work. It’s frank, practical and could change how your team actually thinks and performs.

Author style

Punchy — Janni cuts through management-speak to argue that addressing stored trauma and collective anxiety is not soft-touch fluff but a lever for better thinking and leadership. If you lead people, this is essential reading that amplifies why emotional work matters for business outcomes.