An important skill that corporate leaders and business owners need to possess in order to make high-stakes decisions, is emotional readiness. Emotional readiness ensures that leaders have the capacity to make important decisions with clarity, confidence, and resilience. However, there are systemic disparities in the workplace that prevent leaders from being empowered with the support to make bold decisions.
One of these systemic disparities lies in the lack of recognition many professionals experience for their achievements. A 2022 Gallup report found that Black and Hispanic employees were less likely to perceive their recognition as equitable compared to white employees. While 28% of white employees strongly agree they receive equitable recognition, this report shows that only 19% of Black employees and 21% of Hispanic employees feel the same. From this research, it can be inferred that the lack of recognition Black and Hispanic professionals experience can further impair their emotional readiness for high-stakes decisions.
Competence-based microaggressions are another barrier that can erode a leader’s confidence when making high-stakes decisions. These microaggressions are insults targeting individuals of diverse identities that invalidate their knowledge and expertise.
According to the 2024 Women in the Workplace report by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, 38% of women report having their judgment questioned in their area of expertise, compared to 26% of men. For women of color, this research indicates that this number rises to 35%, which further illustrates the challenges they face in leadership roles. The presence of these microaggressions in the workplace doesn’t just impact a leader’s emotional readiness but also highlights the need for strategies to manage these issues with confidence.
These findings underscore the importance of leaders mastering three emotional shifts to develop the emotional intelligence needed for high-stakes decision-making. The systemic inequities affecting underrepresented groups in the workplace make it imperative for leaders to develop skills that strengthen confidence in their expertise while protecting their well-being.
This article will explore three emotional shifts that help leaders develop the emotional readiness needed for critical decision-making. These shifts are grounded in emotional intelligence and mindfulness practices.
Focus on Your Growth, Not Your Past Mistakes
Your past mistakes are not proof that you’re incapable of making good decisions. Instead, they’re evidence of times when you were courageous enough to try. Using those mistakes to justify your inability to achieve the desired outcomes undermines your self-confidence and fuels self-doubt.
This mindset keeps you trapped in old stories about yourself, which prevents you from integrating the knowledge and insights you gained to make informed decisions in the present. The lessons from your past mistakes are what empower you to make better decisions moving forward.
Trust Your Lived Experience
Leaders in underrepresented groups often face situations where their competence is questioned and their contributions are unrecognized. These experiences can trigger feelings of uncertainty when making high-stakes decisions, especially if your expertise hasn’t been consistently relied on. The emotional shift here is to trust your lived experience, comprised of the knowledge and expertise you’ve gathered over the years that prepared you for your role.
You’ve earned your place through resilience and hard work, and so it’s important that you anchor yourself in the truth of what you’ve accomplished. By owning every part of your journey, you’ll cultivate the clarity and conviction to make bold decisions, even when your credibility is challenged.
The Right Decision Doesn’t Always Feel Good
For leaders who have often felt that their knowledge was invalidated, the discomfort with making hard decisions is often more apparent. Many professionals mistakenly believe that if a decision comes with emotional friction, it’s a sign that they’re on the wrong path. However, the truth is that the right decision doesn’t always feel good, and discomfort isn’t always an indication that the choice is wrong.
Your feelings aren’t always the facts. Decisions grounded in emotional intelligence will combine the necessary facts with the emotional awareness of how the choice impacts everyone involved. The emotional shift is to acknowledge that even though a decision feels challenging, it doesn’t make it the wrong one.
Now that you understand the critical emotional shifts that will support you in making high-stakes decisions, here’s what you’ll need to do next. The next time you face a challenging decision, choose which of these three emotional shifts to adopt. Each one is designed to help you build the emotional readiness and confidence needed to lead with conviction.