The Case for Aesthetic Leadership: Why Your Gut Feeling Might Be Your Best Leadership Tool

What the Hell is Aesthetic Leadership Anyway?

Aesthetic leadership is about sensory knowledge and felt meaning - the gut feelings, the intuitive sense of whether someone's being genuine, the emotional responses that guide our decisions when spreadsheets fail us.​

Hansen puts it brilliantly: leadership has become "the great dumping ground for unexplained variance." When organisations succeed beyond rational explanation, we shrug and say "good leadership." But we've been so busy trying to quantify this magic that we've forgotten to actually understand what makes it work.

Why Everyone’s Already Using Aesthetic Judgement

Think about the last time you met someone and instantly knew they were being fake. You didn't run a statistical analysis - you felt it in your bones. That's aesthetic knowledge at work, and your followers are using it constantly to judge whether you're charismatic, authentic, or worth following.​ 

Hansen argues that followers rely on their aesthetic senses in making these judgements about leadership qualities. And no, I'm not talking about our ability to determine whether our avocado toast platter looks Instagram-worthy. Aesthetic senses are the immediate, embodied ways we process the world - knowledge that comes through our bodies, not just our rational minds. It's what we see in someone's micro-expressions, what we hear in their tone when they think no one's listening, what we feel in our gut when something's off. When someone talks about a leader having "presence" or being "inspiring," they're not describing measurable behaviours - they're describing the felt experience of being in that person's orbit. It's the difference between reading a transcript of Churchill's speeches and actually being in the room when he delivered them.

Now, before we get into why you should give a fuck about this mostly neglected leadership superpower lurking inside you, let's take a moment to break it down.

The Three Pillars of Aesthetic Leadership

Meghan Harris Kofoed breaks down how an aesthetic mindset brings value to leadership through three critical areas:

Creativity and Innovation: 

Aesthetic leaders don't just think outside the box - they question why the box exists in the first place. They're comfortable with ambiguity, open to exploration, and driven to engage in creative problem-solving. Research shows they're more likely to drive strategy development and help organisations stay relevant.

Emotional Intelligence: 

Aesthetic leaders tend to be more empathetic, better at reading emotional cues, and more interested in understanding diverse perspectives. In a world where 69% of people say their manager impacts their mental health as much as their romantic partner, this isn't fluffy HR speak - it's the difference between just surviving and actually wanting to show up to work.

Hansen’s team found that leaders scoring higher on aesthetic measures were rated by colleagues as more empathetic, more social, more curious about learning, and more altruistic - precisely the qualities that build trust and enable effective mentoring.​

Mental and Emotional Well-being: 

Here's where things get properly interesting. Aesthetic leaders recognise the value of arts and aesthetics in their own (and their team’s) performance and wellbeing, and science backs them up. Research from University College London shows that people who engage in artistic or cultural activities more than once a week had better mental functioning, higher life satisfaction, and improved quality of life. Leaders who engage in activities such as going on mindful walks in nature, attending art exhibitions, or trimming their bonsai at home are more likely to advocate for methods that increase their team's overall well-being (this is your permission slip to buy those theatre tickets). 

The Transformational Power of Felt Meaning

This team makes a compelling case that transformation isn't just about rational argument - it's about helping people feel what the future could be like. Visions work not because they're logically sound (they often aren't), but because they create emotional resonance. 

Think about it: when leaders talk about transformation, they're asking people to take a leap of faith into something that doesn't exist yet. That's not a rational decision - it's an aesthetic one, based on whether the vision feels right, whether it resonates with something deeper than quarterly targets.​

The Body Knows What the Mind Pretends It Doesn't

One of the most fascinating aspects of aesthetic leadership is its emphasis on embodied knowledge. Research points out that leadership research has suffered from "bodylessness" - treating people as "human resources" abstracted from their living, sensing bodies.​

But leaders are human beings with bodies that sense, experience, and react. That "gut feeling" you get about a decision? That discomfort when someone's being inauthentic? That's your body processing information that your rational mind hasn't caught up to yet.​

As I said before, people’s judgements about whether leaders are ‘being themselves’ aren't based on objective criteria - they're aesthetic assessments based on felt experience.​ This makes sense. We're remarkably good at sensing when someone's being fake, when their projected image doesn't match their authentic self. These aren't rational calculations; they're embodied responses to aesthetic cues we often can't articulate but nonetheless trust.​

Practical Implications for Real Leaders

What makes aesthetic leadership particularly refreshing is its resistance to corporate jargon and all that oversimplifying bullshit. It's not another framework with cute acronyms; it's an acknowledgment that human experience is complex, messy, and often defies categorisation, and that’s why we froth on aesthetic leadership at Habitus. 

So what does this mean for human-centred leaders? It means recognising that your intuition, your emotional responses, and your sensory experiences are legitimate sources of knowledge - not distractions from "real" decision-making.

It means paying attention to the felt experience of your organisational culture. How do people feel when they walk into your office? What's the emotional texture of your team meetings? These aren't frivolous concerns - they're fundamental to how people experience leadership, and the difference between a healthy, well-functioning team and one that makes you dread Mondays (find out which workplace culture type is yours here) 

Perhaps most importantly, aesthetic leadership acknowledges that much of what makes leadership effective can't be reduced to metrics or methods. There's something irreducibly human about the leadership experience - the inspiration, the trust, the willingness to follow someone into uncertainty. These emerge from felt meaning, not logical analysis.​

This doesn't mean abandoning rational thinking or data-driven decision making. It means recognising that humans are complex beings who process information through multiple channels, and that the aesthetic dimension of experience is just as valid - and often more powerful - than purely cognitive approaches.

The challenge for leaders is developing the courage to trust these aesthetic judgements while maintaining intellectual rigour. It's about creating space for both analytical thinking and intuitive wisdom, recognising that the best decisions often emerge from the integration of both approaches.

In a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence and algorithmic thinking, perhaps our most human qualities - our ability to sense, feel, and respond aesthetically to our environment - becomes one of our greatest leadership assets. The question isn't whether you're an aesthetic leader, but whether you're brave enough to acknowledge and develop this dimension of your leadership capacity.

So… What Now?

If something about aesthetic leadership struck a nerve, then maybe it’s time we had a proper conversation.

At Habitus, our facilitation training helps leaders tap into the felt sense of what’s going on, and more importantly, what’s possible. Whether you’re navigating change, levelling up your leadership team, or trying to understand why your staff are disengaged (even though HR says everything’s fine), we’re here to help you lead with guts, presence, and cultural humility.

Unsure where your organisation stands? Culture consulting might be for you. We do corporate anthropology tailored to your organisation. That means we get into the messy, deeply human layers of your team: the stories, the symbols, the awkward silences in team meetings, the rituals no one questions but everyone follows. That’s where your real culture lives. That’s where leadership actually happens.

If you're ready to stop ticking boxes and start leading in a way that actually resonates - give us a call. Let’s explore how aesthetic leadership can become your edge in a world that desperately needs more human-centred leadership.

Our services aren’t prescriptive, because your organisation isn’t generic. We tailor every piece of work to your context. 

It starts with a conversation. Book a time with our project coordinator here 

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