The Weight of Leadership: Let's Talk About Carrying It With Empathy and Strength

If we are just being honest for a second? Leadership? It’s heavy, isn’t it? It's not just the strategic stuff, the decisions, the budgets. There's a weight that settles on your shoulders, a human weight. The weight of knowing your choices impact people's lives, their livelihoods, and their hopes. The weight of uncertainty, the weight of carrying the anxieties of your team, the pressure to have it all figured out when sometimes… you really don’t. This weight can both be cognitive and emotional and leaders experience it.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by that weight, to feel isolated on the deck, like you have to carry it all alone. And there’s a part of us that’s been told, subtly or not so subtly, that showing any of that, showing the struggle, showing the very human part of leadership… that’s a weakness. That you have to be a rock, an emotionless machine, to lead effectively.

But I've learned, deeply, that the opposite is true. Navigating this weight isn't about denying it; it's about learning to carry it and to help others carry it, with both strength and heart.

In my book, Captain, Set Sail, I talk about this - Empathy? It's not a soft skill, it's deep and internal. It's not a kind of awareness that is good to have, it's an absolute essential. It's the ability to genuinely connect with the people around you, to see them, to hear them, to understand what they're going through. When you choose to lead with empathy, you build trust. You're the kind of leader who creates a space where your team feels safe to be what I will describe as just being human, to share their concerns, and to bring their whole selves to work. That connection? That human touch, it's your strongest power in the storm. It's the foundation of resilience, which can elevate your leadership and in turn, empower your team to deal with the roughest storms.

And finding your own emotional steadiness? Let me state it very clearly, it's not about shutting off your feelings. Instead, it's about befriending them. In more descriptive words, it's about understanding your own inner landscape, your own triggers, and your own vulnerabilities, and learning to navigate them with awareness and intention. It's about finding your own calm centre, that inner anchor that allows you to remain present and focused, even when the seas are rough.

Leading with heart and steel isn't about being perfect; it's about being authentically human. It's about recognising that vulnerability can be a source of strength, that empathy is a powerful form of intelligence, and that emotional steadiness is cultivated, not just born. It's about choosing to lead with your whole self, your whole heart, and inviting your team to do the same. When you share the weight and navigate together, you become stronger, more resilient, and capable of weathering any storm, not just surviving but thriving.

*Ready to explore how leading with empathy and emotional steadiness can lighten the weight of leadership and build truly resilient teams? Let's talk about leading with both heart and strength on my website. - davechauhan.com

By Dave Chauhan, leadership strategist, speaker and author of Captain, Set Sail and co-founder of Purple Spark Advisory

Photo Credits - Canva