In this issue: A compilation of research articles of four core identity challenges for emerging leaders: difficult role transitions, gaps in emotional intelligence capabilities, heightened burnout risks (especially among founders and women), and cultural constraints around vulnerability and acceptable leadership behavior.
1. Role Transition and Leader Identity
Transitioning from individual contributor to leader is not a simple promotion but a multi‑year psychological and social process.
A recent systematic review of 136 studies shows that leader role transition involves three intertwined processes: adjustment to new tasks and demands, transformation of one’s identity into ‘being a leader’, and gaining social validation from others as a legitimate leader (Xuting Jiang et al. 2025). This process is dynamic and often oscillatory, marked by tensions between continuity and change, ‘knowing and not knowing’, and ‘hope / excitement and despair’. First time managers repeatedly question who they are and how they should relate to others (Bolander et al. 2019).
These experiences are accompanied by intense identity work. Longitudinal research with first‑time managers shows they oscillate between feeling like a ‘real manager’ and feeling like an impostor, as they test new behaviors, renegotiate relationships with former peers, and integrate leadership into their self‑concept (Bolander, et. al 2019).
Role ambiguity is a common feeling among emerging leaders who are unsure of how to handle this change, what are the new expected behaviors, experience a tension between managing leadership duties along with their deliverables. They are expected to rapidly learn time management, people management, be open and accepting to scrutiny with most of them experiencing a lack of structured self preparation, loneliness, and the need for clearer institutional alignment.
2. Emotional Intelligence: an often overlooked tool for leadership success
Across contemporary leadership research, emotional intelligence (EI) emerges as a central differentiator of leadership success. Emotional Intelligence (EI) includes self‑awareness, self‑regulation, empathy, and social skills. Recent researches highlight that these skills are highly critical in leadership success. (Nesu et.a; 2024). Reviews link higher EI in leaders to better communication, conflict resolution, team cohesion, and team satisfaction, particularly in multigenerational workplaces with differing expectations and values (Bazmi et. al 2025)
Although there is strong consensus that EI can be developed, there remains uncertainty and inconsistency about how organizations actually cultivate it. Conceptual and empirical work recommends structured development via coaching, feedback, reflection, and practice, especially for current and aspiring leaders (Bazmi et. al 2025)
For combining EI‑focused practices (self‑awareness, reframing, mindfulness) with mentoring and cognitive restructuring helps interrupt cycles of self‑doubt and supports more resilient leadership identities (Raina, N. 2025) The implication is that many new leaders are promoted without a clear roadmap for how to access and apply emotional intelligence in real leadership situations, reinforcing the sense of being unprepared.
3. Burnout and Well Being: Leaders at Risk
Research consistently highlights high stress and burnout risks in startup founders and emerging women leaders.
Qualitative interviews with technology start up founders across Europe reveal three central challenges: managing rapid venture growth, maintaining mental and physical health, and preserving work‑life balance. Founders operate in high‑demand, resource‑constrained environments, with blurred boundaries between work and life. These conditions generate chronic stress. Tailored support systems including mentorship, confidential mental‑health resources, and work‑life strategies are the most effective strategies to overcome this challenges (Ziemiański, P. 2025)
Survey research on young start up entrepreneurs similarly finds that 66% work more than 40 hours per week, with high stress and limited time for relationships, confirming systematic work–life imbalance. High stress and burnout correlate with poor time‑management skills and lack of team/mentoring support, signaling the importance of building support structures rather than relying on heroic individual overwork (Ziemiański, P. et. al 2025)
Related work on start up contexts shows that burnout is a central risk factor undermining both employee well‑being and venture performance, and that leadership behavior and organizational culture are key levers for prevention (Brownwell, 2025)
Among women, burnout and ambivalence about leadership are pronounced.
In a cohort of over 1000 female physicians, a women’s leadership development program led to reduced emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, improved sense of personal accomplishment, and increased leadership aspiration over two years. (Sears, D. et. al 2025).
Other studies suggest that some leadership styles are depleting for leaders themselves, with gendered patterns. Both laissez‑faire and self‑sacrificial leadership styles are associated with higher leader burnout; laissez‑faire leadership is particularly linked to burnout among female leaders. This underlines that how leaders lead, the expectations placed on them, and the level of organizational support all shape burnout trajectories (Lundmark, R., et. al 2023)
4. Gender, Vulnerability, and Acceptable Leadership
Leadership emergence and experience remain deeply gendered. A large meta‑analysis confirms that although the gender gap in leadership emergence has narrowed over time, men still tend to emerge as leaders more often than women (Badura, K., et. al. 2018). The gap is largely explained by agentic traits (assertiveness, dominance) that are socially associated with men, combined with behavioral participation in group discussions, which in turn drives who is perceived as a leader (Shen, W., et. al. 2023) Communal traits, more associated with women, can even work against leader emergence in some contexts. This structural bias shapes who gets tapped, supported, and recognized as a leader in the first place (Badura, K., et. al. 2018)
At the same time, dominant leadership norms equate good management with control, strength, and invulnerability. Managers often hide vulnerability and engage in defensive identity work to protect a strong, in‑control image, which can close down learning and deepen isolation (Satama, S., et. al. 2023). Empirical studies conceptualize vulnerability as relational and developmental, i.e. learning to recognize and claim vulnerability, share it with trusted others, and experiment with alternative ways of being a manager. All these approaches can foster identity growth and more humane workplaces.
Studies of top managers show that acknowledging ongoing insecurity and incompleteness can be used as a tool for professional development, challenging the ideal of the solitary, all‑knowing leader.
5. What Helps Emerging Leaders Thrive?
The above researches have identified several tools consistently mitigate the struggles of emerging leaders:
- Structured transition programs and mentoring reduce role ambiguity, support identity work, and build practical skills for new managers
- Leadership development with a strong relational and EI component reduces burnout and increases aspirations among early‑career women leaders.
- Intentional EI development through coaching, feedback, reflection, and practice is a high impact avenue to improve leader effectiveness and resilience.
- Supportive organizational environments (psychological safety, realistic workload, mentoring, access to mental‑health resources) protect founders and start up teams from burnout and help sustain performance.
- Reframing vulnerability as a resource for learning and connection rather than weakness allows emerging leaders to navigate uncertainty, seek support, and integrate a more authentic leadership identity.
Overall, the evidence paints a coherent picture: emerging leaders are navigating structurally demanding transitions in cultures that still prize invulnerability and heroic overwork. When organizations intentionally design developmental, emotionally intelligent, and relationally supportive ecosystems, both leaders’ well‑being and leadership effectiveness improve.
Read the related research: Analytical insights on Emotional Intelligence in Leadership.
References
- Badura, K. L., Grijalva, E. J., Newman, D. A., Yan, T., & Jeon, G. (2018). Gender and leadership emergence: A meta-analysis and explanatory model. Personnel Psychology.
- Raina, N. (2025). Psychological Strategies to Overcome Impostor Syndrome in Emerging Managers. International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research.
- Shen, W., Hentschel, T., & Hideg, I. (2023). Leading through the uncertainty of COVID‑19: The joint influence of leader emotions and gender. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.
- Corlett, S., Mavin, S., & Beech, N. (2019). Reconceptualising vulnerability and its value for managerial identity and learning. Management Learning.
- Ziemiański, P., Stankiewicz, K., Wyrwiński, J., Retowski, S., & Lipnicki, B. (2023). Beyond Finance: Enhancing Support for New Technology Start-Up Founders. IEEE Access.
- Zhang, R., Wang, T., Xing, Y., et al. (2025). Difficulties and needs of new nurse managers during role transition. International Nursing Review.
- Vătămănescu, E.-M., Barretta, R., Filice, L., & Weese, W. J. (2024). Developing Emotional Intelligence. Encyclopedia.
- Sears, D. M., Bejeck, A., Kilpatrick, L., et al. (2025). Leadership development as a novel strategy to mitigate burnout among female physicians. PLOS ONE.
- Bice, S. (2024). Burnout risk in start-ups and employee engagement as a protective factor. (Thesis).
- Jiang, X., Agolli, A., & Harold, C. M. (2025). Leader Role Transition: A Systematic Review and Agenda for Future Research. Journal of Organizational Behavior.
- Bazmi, F. D., Nirmala, K. V., Bathia, A., et al. (2025). Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness in Multigenerational Workplace. Lex localis – Journal of Local Self-Government.
- Lee, J. K., Tackett, S., Skarupski, K. A., et al. (2024). Inspiring and Preparing Our Future Leaders: Evaluating the Impact of the Early Career Women’s Leadership Program. Journal of Healthcare Leadership.
- Satama, S., Seeck, H., & Garcia-Lorenzo, L. (2023). Embracing relational vulnerabilities at the top: Managerial identity work amidst insecurities of the self. Culture and Organization.
- Brownell, K. M. (2025). Toxic or transformative? How lead founder Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy shape new venture team survival. Journal of Managerial Psychology.
- Bolander, P., Holmberg, I., & Fellbom, E. (2019). Learning to become manager: The identity work of first-time managers. Management Learning.
- Lundmark, R., Tafvelin, S., & Stenling, A. (2023). Depleting pathways of self-sacrificial and laissez-faire leadership. International Journal of Stress Management.
- Kalinowska, K., Wojtowicz, Ł., & Noworol-Luft, E. (2025). Work-Life Balance Challenges of Young Startup Entrepreneurs. European Research Studies Journal.
- Esquisábel-Soteras, B., Robert, G., Acilu-Fernández, A., et al. (2025). The Journey to First‑Line Nursing Management. Journal of Advanced Nursing.