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SUPPLEMENT

HAVE A HEART, BOSSES

Managers need to hone their emotional skills
as well as their professional know-how
if they want to survive at the highest level,
writes Margaret Coles

Emotional resilience must be developed by all those who rise to senior levels, to enable
them to take difficult decisions and feel comfortable in any situation.

This is the view of Harriet Karsh, a psychologist and personal development consultant.

Karsh, who spoke at the recent Women in Management conference, says of her Heart of
Leadership programme: ”I help people to deal with difficult situations where they have to do things

that go against their own code of values.
“I help people to understand their values, how they want the world to be and how they want

to be in that world, and compare that with their business approach, to find an integrity between what
they believe in and what they do. Leaders who lack integration between a thought and deed lose the

confidence of colleagues and subordinates.

If you understand what is happening inside you, physically, mentally, emotionally and
spiritually, you are facing a dilemma that needs some resolution.

Those who ignore it find it comes out in different ways – illness or breakdown. I help them

to check their choices against their values and see the consequences for the business and
themselves. You might find a better way of doing what you must do, or you must find the courage

to go against it.
“We support people when they work through choices. We help them to take responsibility

for decisions they make and for the outcomes of their actions”.
“People in leadership roles begin to understand better what they need to do to live up to their

highest aspiration”.

Susan Young, managing director of a big company, first worked with Karsh two-and –a-half
years ago. “I’d just been recruited and wanted to strengthen my team of directors. Harriet helped us

to understand what strengths each of us contributed and think about areas where there might be
conflict. It encouraged us to rely on one another. She also helped me to recruit a very strong

management team”.
“We’re also changing the culture of job so that people solve problems on their own and

constantly seek to improve the way they do things, rather than just follow a set of procedures.”