MAHONEY’S MOMENTS
Jim has written regular leadership-related blog posts, along with other several other leaders, for Ohio University’s Voinovich Academy. On this page, you can read his monthly blog posts, Mahoney’s Moments. These moments are aimed at a variety of topics and the content is designed for the moment and intended to cause you to reflect, perhaps consider an approach, or entertain a new idea in your life or work. Enjoy!
August 2026: The Mood in the Mirror
Decades ago, when I served as an Army officer, there was an apocryphal story that often circulated among troops. The story was that an inspecting officer looked down on a soldier’s shoes that were expected to be shined properly and remarked cruelly, sarcastically, and loudly, “Soldier, your shoes look like shit!” The offending soldier replied with similar inflection, “Sir, it’s only the reflection.” That story was often told with great laughter among troops being trained.
What’s interesting to me today is that the sentiments of that story are largely true. There is lots of leadership evidence that one’s emotional style or mood drives the mood and behaviors of others. Emotional intelligence guru Dan Goleman and others’ research show that leaders with high levels of emotional intelligence create climates in which information sharing, trusting, and learning flourishes. They argue that a leader’s primal task is emotional leadership. The simple fact is that the leader’s mood affects the mood of others around them. It’s why a mother’s comforting mood can calm a crying baby or a leader’s measured response in the middle of a crisis can ensure a better outcome.
Even if you don’t speak, your mood can be expressed nonverbally too. This isn’t to suggest that you can simply put a happy face on everything and that alone will solve anything. We know that’s not true but an “upbeat mood” according to research studies from Goleman can have the greatest impact on others. This is resonance and it counts. Did you ever have a boss whom others told you that certain days were good or not good to ask for something? And you waited for the timing to be right? Of course you have. You were just validating the research of emotional intelligence.
I still use this silly but true demonstration with groups. I ask them to make a circle with their thumb and index finger. I demonstrate it to them and ask them to put the circle on their chin. As I say that, I place my circle on my cheek. Want to guess where everyone places their circle? Not on their chin. People still leave bad bosses in all industries…often those who ask you to behave or do things they would never do. Self-awareness (especially checking your mood) can go a long way for a leader. A person’s emotional leadership is a spark that can ignite engagement, encourage development, or burn one’s interest in taking initiative.
As a beginning principal when video cameras first came out, I had high school kids visit our school and film classes of teachers who wanted to see themselves teaching. There was no evaluation tied to it. It was one improvement effort I entitled “Would you want to have you as a teacher?” Fast forward to today and ask yourself—given you most common mood, behavior, and attitude, “would you want to have you as YOUR leader?”