Emotionally Charged - How to Lead in the New World of Work

In Emotionally Charged, Dina Denham Smith and Alicia A. Grandey offer an easier and more effective way for leaders to manage the heightened pressures and emotionally charged landscape they face at work: emotional upskilling. Anchored in the science of emotions, emotional upskilling allows for the development of more advanced emotional capabilities to successfully navigate and perform in the new age of work. Denham Smith and Grandey not only replace misconceptions with facts, but they equip leaders to handle the many emotionally loaded events at work. This book will help leaders navigate today's workplace more smoothly, achieving high performance and fulfillment without compromising their well-being.

List of contents

• Acknowledgments


• 1. Introduction: From a Simmer to a Boil


• How work and leadership has changed


• Part I: Correcting the Record


• 2. An Introduction to Emotions


• What all leaders should know


• 3. The Fine Art of Managing Beachballs


• Why advanced emotional skills are essential




• 4. Emotions: Separating Fact from Fiction


• New truths about emotions at work




• 5. Emotions: Become the Architect of Your Own Emotions


• Why increasing your vocabulary helps


• Part II: From Surviving to Thriving


• 6. Keep Your Emotional Engine Running Smoothly


• To be an effective leader, you have to take care of yourself




• 7. Anticipate the Curves in the Road


• How to prepare for an emotionally charged event (before it's too late)




• 8. Become a Brave Leader


• How to stay cool in the heat of the moment




• 9. Make an Emotional Pitstop


• How to recover from emotionally charged events


• Part III: Doing Hard Things Well


• 10. Navigating the Necessary Evils of Leadership


• What to do when doing your job makes people feel bad




• 11. When Leaders Become Emotional Handlers


• You're not your employees' therapist




• 12. The Emotional Dynamics of Diversity


• Leading through conflict and building inclusive teams




• 13. Leading with Humanity in the Digital Age


• How to navigate the potential--and tensions--of technology




• 14. Conclusion: Onward and Upward


• Continuing the journey to advanced emotional capabilities


• References


• Index

About the author

Dina Denham Smith is an executive coach to senior leaders and teams at premier brands such as Adobe, PwC, Gilead, Sephora, Goldman Sachs, Google, and Netflix, and numerous high-growth companies. She coaches, speaks, and delivers high-impact workshops internationally. Prior to coaching, she was a management consultant and held executive roles in private equity and the marketing technology sector. Denham Smith has written over 60 articles for the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes on leadership and career success and is frequently featured in international media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Newsweek, and the BBC She holds an MS in Organizational Psychology and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Alicia A. Grandey is a distinguished professor of industrial organizational psychology at Pennsylvania State University. An internationally recognized expert on emotional labor and diversity, she has published a book on

emotional labor and over 60 scientific articles that are ranked in the top 1% for impact among business and management scholars. She is an award-winning researcher and teacher who shares her expertise with leaders and their employees in workshops and broadly via media outlets such as WorkLife with Adam Grant, The New Yorker, National Public Radio, The Guardian, Newsweek, CNN, ABC, and BBC, and in articles for The Conversation and Harvard Business Review. She holds a PhD in psychology from Colorado State University and is a Fellow of the Association of Psychological Science.

Summary

A captivating blend of cutting-edge scientific evidence and real-world stories providing leaders and managers with proven and practical strategies and tools for navigating today's emotionally taxing workplace.

Broad changes have dramatically disrupted our workplaces and increased the emotional demands on leaders everywhere. Leaders now must support their teams' mental health and burnout (while managing their own), build trust with and motivate a remote and diverse workforce, allay employee fears of obsolescence while driving the integration of new technologies like AI, and demonstrate bottomless sensitivity and compassion while still delivering results at a relentless pace. No wonder leaders are burning out. Emotional labor is a daily unrecognized burden leaders carry and can have significant costs for their health and performance over time.

However, achieving high performance and fulfillment without compromising your well-being is possible, and Emotionally Charged shows you how. Dina Denham Smith and Alicia A. Grandey debunk myths and equip you to handle emotionally loaded work events, from preparing for high-stakes scenarios to managing curveballs and conflicts, supporting distressed employees, and recovering effectively after being drained at work.

Blending real-world cases from leaders and evidence-based insights, Emotionally Charged will help all leaders--from front-line managers to C-Suite execs--manage the new work landscape. Anchored in the science of emotions, Emotionally Charged will equip you with practical strategies and tools to lead successfully and thrive in the new age of work.

Additional text

Like many leaders, I used to think that emotions were a distraction from accomplishing the 'mission.' Over 31 years of service with multiple deployments, I learned that emotions are central to building team trust and successfully leading high-risk, high-demand missions. This amazing book offers a quicker way to learn these emotional skills—it should be required reading for every leader in the military.

Product details

• Authors: Dina Denham Smith, Dina (Founder and Ceo Denham Smith, Alicia A. Grandey
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 04.04.2025
• EAN: 9780197750155
• ISBN: 978-0-19-775015-5
• No. of pages: 272
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership, PSYCHOLOGY / Industrial & Organizational Psychology, PSYCHOLOGY / Social Psychology, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Management, Social, group or collective psychology, Management: leadership & motivation, Management: leadership and motivation, Occupational and industrial psychology, Occupational & industrial psychology