Leadership is fundamentally about facilitating high performance, thereby motivating others to do things effectively and efficiently. Emotional intelligence is a key attribute that helps leaders achieve this function. There is a wealth of literature detailing the impact emotion has on individuals’ performance. This research has shown, for example, that people perform their best at work when they feel involved in purposeful work that develops who they are, and when they feel valued, cared for, consulted, respected, informed and understood. This research has also shown that people often perform their worst when they feel unproductive feelings, such as feeling overly worried, frustrated, concerned, stressed, inadequate and fearful.