Transforming Toxic Leaders (2009) reveals how a troubled authoritarian CEO’s suppression of employees’ emotions negatively affects performance and wreaks companywide havoc. It is not unusual in the 2020s to observe excessively logical and analytically driven leaders who trivialize the softer, interpersonal side of employee behavior, aka emotional intelligence (EI). In the extreme, a leader disallows expressions of emotions in the workplace. In stark contrast to over three decades of industry and academic study and celebration of EI, such corporate leaders reject the touchy-feely side of employee behavior. At stake is a behind-the-scenes corporate conflict for the 2020s and beyond—prioritizing versus the demise of emotional intelligence in the workplace.

Case studies and experience reveal that the wholesale rejection and outlawing of EI may result in a toxic organizational culture characterized by formal workplace grievances, employee and team conflict, escalating turnover, damage to the brand, and HR dilemmas. This is exemplified in the emotionally unintelligent leadership of Ferdinand Jacobson, CEO, of a Fortune 500-based institution headquartered in Manhattan, New York.

Jacobson mandated that his employees function in an emotion-free workplace. (Note: Client anonymity requires altering names and some facts of the case.)

The CEO’s emotion-free workplace morphed into what HR labeled an “emotionally unintelligent” leader and workplace. In addition to social media threats to the brand, Ferdinand’s agenda created dissonance and conflict resulting in grievances filed by two middle managers. During........

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