LinkedIn and other social media are flooded with comparisons of leaders versus managers, often depicting the latter in a negative light as someone focused on tasks, procedures, controls, and data. On the other hand, the leader is presented as an empathetic listener who understands what people think and need, using her heart to motivate them intuitively. 

So, should the true people leader focus on the music playing in their soul and avoid checking the hard facts? 

If you follow only your heart, you may fall into many traps when making decisions. From my observations as a people leader, I see that the most prominent mistakes are:

• Hearing the voice of only the loudest few and ignoring the needs of the silent minority, 
• Assuming you know what people need without asking them, 
• Making decisions based on anecdotal stories brought to the decision-making table 
• Not following up on the results of our previous choices. 

I firmly believe that to be a great leader, you need to combine your inner compass with the data and metrics to make the best decisions. Therefore, I decided to start my new blog, “Leading with heart and data”, to promote a holistic approach to leadership.

If you’d like to learn more or share your view on the topic, please visit my website at pozarzycki.pl and subscribe to my blog.

Wojciech Pozarzycki, May 2025