The Leader’s Energy: How Founder Behavior Fuels Team Chaos, According to Christine Carrillo

In a recent LinkedIn post, Christine Carrillo discusses the often-overlooked impact of a leader’s personal energy and reactions on their team’s overall productivity and sense of order. Carrillo argues that a leader’s behavior directly mirrors their team’s, suggesting that chaos within an organization frequently stems from the top.

Carrillo highlights the critical role leaders play in setting the emotional tone for their entire organization. She states:

“Your team mirrors you. Every reaction. Every panic. Every time you spiral instead of decide.”

The insights shared by Carrillo emphasize that leaders are not just responsible for setting a vision, but also for managing the collective “nervous system” of the company. This perspective challenges the common tendency to blame teams for disorganization, instead urging leaders to self-reflect on their own contributions to workplace dynamics.

The Leader as a Mirror

Christine Carrillo’s central thesis is that a team’s operational rhythm is a direct reflection of its leader’s demeanor. If a leader consistently exhibits calmness and focus, the team is likely to operate efficiently. Conversely, if a leader reacts with panic to every setback, the team will adopt a similar reactive and anxious approach.

Carrillo provides an anecdote about a founder she coached who was struggling with team productivity. After speaking with the team members, Carrillo discovered a pervasive issue:

“they couldn’t tell what mattered because everything was an emergency.”

This situation, according to Carrillo, arose not from a lack of strategy or team capability, but from the founder’s own reactive energy. The founder was inadvertently creating new problems by responding to existing ones with panic, rather than with measured decision-making.

Shifting the Founder’s Energy

The turning point for the founder in Carrillo’s example came not from changing the team or the strategy, but from altering their own energy and approach. Carrillo points out:

“Not the team. Not the strategy. Just the founder’s energy in the room. That was enough.”

This suggests that a leader’s internal state and how they project it can be the most powerful lever for change within an organization. Carrillo encourages leaders to take responsibility for the atmosphere they create, moving away from blaming external factors or team members for perceived chaos.

Leadership Beyond Vision Setting

Carrillo expands on the idea that leadership responsibilities extend far beyond defining strategic goals. She asserts that leaders are fundamentally responsible for the emotional and psychological environment of their workplace.

According to Carrillo, leaders must consciously manage their reactions and cultivate a calm, decisive presence. This mindful approach, she argues, can prevent the “protocol” of panic from taking root within a team.

“Stop blaming your team for the chaos. Start looking at what you’re bringing into every room.”

This call to action is directed at founders and leaders, urging them to conduct an honest assessment of their own behavior and its ripple effects. Carrillo’s post serves as a reminder that effective leadership requires not only strategic thinking but also significant emotional intelligence and self-awareness.