Leading Culture, Leading Emotions: The Hidden Driver of Strategic Success

Writer: Kirpi Salonen

Culture fit is one of the most crucial factors when it comes to employee engagement, workplace success, and overall organizational effectiveness. When a person feels they are part of a community whose values, ways of working, and atmosphere resonate with them, genuine motivation, initiative, and long-term commitment emerge. In turn, this creates a competitive advantage for the company that is difficult to replicate.

We often speak about strategy and goals, but rarely do we stop to consider how an organization’s culture – and the emotional climate connected to it – is in fact the enabler of the entire strategy’s success. A culture is not just about shared values and behaviours – it is deeply shaped by how leaders manage and lead emotions in the workplace. Emotionally intelligent leadership is, in many ways, the engine that powers culture into real, everyday performance. This is where culture and emotional leadership intersect. Together, they create the conditions where key people not only stay – they succeed.

Where traditional leadership emphasized structures and control, today’s leadership focuses on building an emotional environment. This requires the ability to recognize, understand, and lead both one’s own and others’ emotions, which constantly arise in the workplace. Emotional intelligence has become a cornerstone of modern leadership.

Emotionally intelligent leadership is the skill of making people feel seen, valued, and motivated. It is the ability to build a community that supports the growth of both the individual and the entire organization. It is not merely an innate trait – it is a measurable and developable capability. It is possible to assess both individual and team emotional intelligence across different dimensions – such as self-awareness, empathy, communication skills, and impulse control – and to build individual or group-specific development programs based on these insights.

Developing emotional intelligence can happen through:

• One-on-one coaching

• Leadership and management training

• Larger leadership development programs tied to the organization’s strategic goals and culture

From an executive search perspective, I’ve found that culture fit becomes visible very early in the recruitment process – often in the very first conversations with a candidate. We map the hiring company’s culture in detail at the very start of the process, so we can identify the best possible candidates from both a skills and cultural alignment perspective.

We’ve noticed that our forward-thinking clients regularly pause to reflect on questions like:

• What kind of culture do we have – and how does it create tangible competitive advantage for us?

• How do we ensure that our culture supports our strategic goals rather than pulling us away from them?

• Are we able to recognize and develop emotional intelligence in leadership – and do we support our key people in doing so?

• How do coaching and cultural leadership support show up in our day-to-day work?

• How do we build an emotional climate where top talent can thrive?

Culture cannot be outsourced to HR, communications, or leadership alone – but leading it requires intentionality, systematic effort, and above all, emotional intelligence. Emotional climate is not a coincidence; it is something that can and must be led.

So, how do you measure, develop, and support emotional intelligence in leadership – and what kind of culture is being built as a result?

Kirpi Salonen |Associate Partner| kirpi.salonen@chief.fi | +358 40 512 0257