Influence Through State

The Field Effect of Energy, Emotion, and Influence

I have been in many meetings were leaders are saying the right things but everyone is understanding that there is something else. A guy asks a challenging question and instead of taking on board his perspective, he is shut down. At that moment the vibe in the room changes, things grow dark even if the room is full of artificial light. It is not what we say that matters but what we radiate.

The Hidden Psychology of Leadership

Every meeting, decision and conversation unfolds inside an invisible field. Many people call it vibe, energy, atmosphere or tone. It is this vibe that determines whether people feel safe to think, speak, imagine and challenge. You enact all the policies you want, but if the vibe does not create trust and recognition, people will not feel psychologically safe.

In toxic workplaces, people try to bottle things up. However what happens inside you doesn’t stay inside you. Each of us is a broadcasting system. Our hearts and brains generate electromagnetic fields that are measurable several feet from the body (McCraty et al., 2009). When we’re anxious, that signal carries contraction. When we’re coherent, it carries calm.

The Science Behind Influence

This is done through mirror neurons (Rizzolatti & Sinigaglia, 2010) in our brain that fire when we observe someone’s emotion or movement. Our brains don’t just interpret other’s states but it replicates them inside. This is what is referred to as emotional contagion (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1993): moods that move faster than memos.

The reason why leaders have such an impact in an organisation is because they establish a rhythm for what vibe there is in a team. A fearful mind creates defensive teams. A calm presence invites creativity. The “field” is simply the the leader's state that synchronises the sum of nervous systems within the organisation.

Navigating The Field.

Think of the mind as a frequency dial. When tuned to fear, the field tightens. Meetings feel heavy, ideas shrink. When tuned to fatigue, energy scatters, accountability dissolves. But when tuned to coherence, that calm alertness where breath and attention align, the atmosphere opens. A leader in a coherent state sends a physiological message: You’re safe. You can think again

People begin to mirror steadiness, and trust quietly takes root. You’ve felt it before: one person’s groundedness can regulate an entire group. That’s not charisma; that’s biology.

Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory (2011) explains it well, the human nervous system is always scanning for safety. Tone of voice, facial softness, even micro-movements tell others whether the environment is secure. .

The Science of Influence Through State

Coherence is not a mystical mood but a measurable rhythm. Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects how well our system shifts between action and recovery. Higher HRV correlates with emotional regulation, intuitive accuracy, and decision clarity. When leaders practise HRV-based breathing, roughly six slow breaths per minute, the heart and brain fall into synchrony, producing a stable electromagnetic field.

In teams, this physiological coherence spreads like resonance between instruments. Neuroscientist Daniel Siegel (2012) calls this interpersonal attunement — the foundation of trust, empathy, and shared insight. In other words: coherence is culture, embodied. Leadership begins before the meeting. It begins in the state you carry into it.

1. Breathe into Coherence: Inhale for five seconds, exhale for five. Do this for two minutes before key conversations. You’re not calming yourself; you’re tuning the field.

2. Pause Before Entering: Before opening the boardroom door, feel your feet. Let your attention drop from your head to your chest. Leadership enters through the body, not the slide deck.

3. Body Check-in: During the day, ask: “What am I broadcasting?” Jaw tight? Shoulders up? The body tells the truth long before the mouth does.

4. Energetic Feedback: Invite a trusted colleague to tell you how your presence feels, not just what you do. Presence is measurable in their nervous system.

Bringing Fields of Oneness into the World

Something remarkable happens when a leader sustains coherence long enough: the sense of self begins to soften. Decisions no longer feel like solo acts of intellect but responses to a larger rhythm moving through the system. This is field consciousness, the recognition that mind is not contained in the skull but distributed across relationships. Thi

Have you noticed why Chinese performers can synchronise to perfection across large numbers. They access a swarm intelligence where every thought, every breath and every heartbeat starts synchronising with each other.

When a leader chooses coherence, they become a stabilising frequency in the collective nervous system. The effect extends far beyond the meeting room but into families, communities, even cultures. State is the true strategy. Every meeting begins long before it starts in the mind of the one who walks in first. To lead well, then, is to tend the inner weather. Because when the inner sky clears, the outer world starts to align.

References

• Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Rapson, R. L. (1993). Emotional Contagion. Cambridge University Press.

• McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., & Bradley, R. T. (2009). Electrophysiological evidence of intuition: Part 2. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 15(2), 143–157.

• Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. W.W. Norton.

• Rizzolatti, G., & Sinigaglia, C. (2010). The Mirror Mechanism: A Basic Principle of Brain Function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(4), 264–274.

• Siegel, D. J. (2012). Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology. W.W. Norton