Leadership Must Include Cultural Education

Data science & management students concluded: Leadership excellence hinges less on strategy alone but more on emotion management and communicative style.

Managing emotional reactions is the most difficult part, say Mario and Klaus.

In my reading class with data science & management students, we explored the topic of inspirational leadership. And a somewhat unexpected insight emerged: Even seasoned leaders often overlook that language is one of the most powerful tools for emotion management and excellent team culture.

My students bring a work experience of 3 to 15 years to class, and they agreed that empathy, active listening, trust-building, and vision-sharing all fundamentally depend on a leader's communicative style.

Language Shapes Culture and Engagement

Another striking observation was that there is a rather big gap between junior members and senior professionals within a company or organization. My students reported that new hires in their companies often lacked familiarity with basic professional norms, such as politeness, respect, and constructive interaction. Leadership today therefore must extend beyond direction-setting to include cultural education. Through consistent, respectful, and empathetic language, they can shape not just outcomes and performance, but the values and behaviors of their teams.

Leading with Emotional Intelligence and Strategic Language

Recommendations were clear: Leaders who intentionally use language and gamification elements to recognize their team's contributions, highlight their strengths, coach rather than criticize, and communicate vision with clarity, can build resilient, motivated teams. They can foster environments where people thrive, not just perform.

Leadership is measured not only by achievements, but by the words that inspire team members.

I would like to extend a big thank you to experts who supported my lesson design with their valuable insights and contributions: Serafin Talisayon; Patrick Lambe who pointed me to an interesting article on Leadership Education and Crisis Management; Kendra S. Albright who pointed me to Emotion and Decision Making; Ajoy Datta; John Antill through his personal anecdotes and expertise; and Veronique Sikora.