Leadership feels exhilarating when it’s working. When the team is winning, recognition is flowing, and momentum is on your side, it feels like flight. Dopamine. Progress. You feel alive.

But what about now?

Across industries, leaders face unprecedented challenges. Teams are fatigued, resources are stretched, and the path forward is uncertain. In these moments, the true test of leadership emerges—not in the highs of success, but in the lows of adversity.

The Unseen Strength of Emotional Intelligence

During challenges, emotional intelligence becomes essential. It’s the ability to manage your emotions while understanding others’. Research shows it accounts for 58% of job performance, and 90% of top performers score high in emotional intelligence.

Emotionally intelligent leaders don’t just react—they respond with intention. They read the room, recognize what’s unsaid, and meet it with presence. That builds trust, fuels resilience, and anchors the team to something deeper.

Navigating the Storm with Purpose

Consider a leader in a manufacturing facility facing massive restructuring. The environment is tense. While some leaders retreat, this one chooses a different path.

He stays. Present. Calm. He acknowledges fear but doesn’t get consumed by it. He communicates clearly. He listens deeply. He validates. He reinforces the mission.

I’m fortunate to coach this extraordinary man. His brilliance isn’t in avoiding conflict—it’s in walking straight through it. Through dissonance. Through pressure. He holds space for clarity to emerge. He sculpts meaning from resistance.

His leadership reflects the core of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. He maintains his balance—and guides his team through the storm.

This is legacy work. It won’t make headlines, but it reshapes people. And that’s leadership worth honoring.

Embracing the Challenge

Leadership in tough times isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about showing up with courage, clarity, and a commitment to what matters. It’s about staying grounded in values—and helping others do the same.

As you lead, consider where emotional intelligence lives in you. How are you responding to pressure? How are you helping others rise?

Ground for Resilience: The Boulder Context

Here in Boulder, that vision matters. This town—alive with potential and heart—demands leaders who stay in it when it gets hard. We need leaders rooted in integrity, navigating complexity with clarity and grit.

Boulder itself is practice ground for resilience. The weather turns in an instant. A perfect May day becomes a flash flood. Desert air. Unforgiving trails. This land demands presence—and so does business.

Leading here requires self-trust. Not the soft kind. The hard kind—earned through trial, failure, and choosing presence over panic again and again.

And that is exactly what this man lives.

When others wanted to bail, he stayed. When they looked for rescue, he offered something better—responsibility, truth, and a return to purpose. He holds vision not because it’s easy—but because it matters. His legacy is already alive in those he leads.

This is the kind of leadership Boulder needs now. And the kind that will shape what’s next.

Strong. Steady. Awake. Brilliantly led.

If you’re inspired by what it takes to lead with grit, check out how CU Boulder’s Business Administration grads are stepping into leadership across Colorado and beyond: CU Boulder Business Admin Grads in Action. The future is being shaped—are you in?

Kate Galt Primal Leadership Business Coaching

Kate Galt coaches and challenges leaders at all levels— from entrepreneurs to seasoned executives— to sharpen their vision, articulate key messages so they connect and inspire, and make decisive, strategic moves that drive real business growth. Based in Boulder, Colorado, she works with individuals and teams to strengthen leadership, improve team dynamics, and achieve measurable results.

Her coaching is rooted in Primal Leadership—because the strongest leaders move with instinct, command presence without force, and create unshakable trust through raw, real connection.

Like any driven person, Kate is always figuring out how to do it all—running a business, raising two kids with her equally involved husband, and still making time for the adventure that brought her to Colorado in 1998. Whether it’s snowboarding, mountain biking, or chasing an ultimate frisbee, she knows the best leadership isn’t just learned—it’s lived.

The bottom line? Kate makes good leaders great.

Curious about what makes her coaching style so impactful? Book a call and experience it for yourself at CoachTheLeaders.com.