Smiles Are Contagious — A Leader's Face Is a Corporate Asset

"If I am not smiling, no one around me will smile" — my conviction apparently has scientific backing. Psychology has long studied emotional contagion: people unconsciously mirror the expressions and vocal tones before them, and the mirrored expression moves their own emotions in turn.

The facial feedback effect — we don't only smile because we're happy; smiling can nudge happiness — has been studied for decades. Emotion, then, is not merely internal; it is a substance that flows between people. Organizations have an upstream and a downstream of emotion, and the top is upstream.

Under a sullen leader, meetings turn defensive, and defensive meetings produce no daring ideas. When the leader is genuinely excited, the state copies itself into executives, into the floor, finally into how customers are treated. The expression you last showed at work has already become someone else's.

What do you work for?