Research: How Anxiety Shapes Men’s and Women’s Leadership Differently

Research has shown that anxiety and hope are the two main emotions experienced in the face of uncertainty and are often seen as two opposite responses to a volatile environment. We examined leaders’ experiences of anxiety and hope as well as their subsequent leadership behaviors during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic — a time of high uncertainty. Critically, anxiety and hope relate to people’s perceptions of controllability in one’s environment; those experiencing anxiety perceive very little controllability, whereas those experiencing hope are more apt to believe they still have some control over their environment.