GUEST COLUMN
has proven to be the hardest, because it asks the most. I often describe life’s critical inflexion points as being akin to reaching into a bag of gummy bears. While some choices are bold (the green bears), others are quieter (the yellow ones). However, what’s important is that the factors determining which bear you reach for should not be driven by external expectation or anxiety. Your choice should be rooted in honest self- knowledge, with consideration given to what you value, what you genuinely fear and what you are truly willing to lose. I have sat in many meetings where the real conversation – about risks, values and what was not working – remained unspoken. On the occasions when I have had the courage to surface it, something shifted. Not always comfortably, but always meaningfully. Emotional honesty is not about being blunt or confessional. It is the willingness to name the thing in the room and invite discomfort in pursuit of something truer and deeper. For example, early in my career as a startup CEO, I lacked this emotional
readiness when I had to fire our first employee. As the difficult conversations had remained unspoken, the firing became a sudden, painful rupture. Decades later, when a similar mismatch occurred with a new hire, I took a different path. By leaning into emotional honesty, proactively coaching her and having candid conversations about what wasn’t working, we were able to part ways with mutual respect, humility and humanity. Organisations, like people, carry shadows, hidden fears and unspoken tensions that accumulate when leaders prioritise performance over truth-telling. Emotional honesty clears the air. THE GROUNDED LEADER Travel teaches you that the world is larger than your assumptions and mental models. Spirituality teaches you that you are larger than your thoughts and emotions. Emotional honesty teaches you that your greatest leadership asset is not your brain power or your confidence; it is your willingness
to know yourself and speak from that place. The leaders I have most admired throughout my career were not those who were the most polished or most certain, but those who were the most real. In a world of increasing complexity and noise, presence and honesty might just be the most important leadership traits of all. And unlike most skills, they cannot be learned in a classroom; they must be developed through lived experience.
Johan Depraetere is a leadership expert, business advisor and the author of Pick Your Gummy Bear . His prior experience includes senior roles at McKinsey, Samsung and Morgan Stanley. He holds an executive master’s in change from INSEAD and an MBA from Harvard Business School
Business Impact • ISSUE 3 • 2026
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