MAJOR TAKEAWAYS

1. Emotion Is Human. Judgment Is the Standard.

Men and women both make emotional decisions. The real leadership question shouldn’t be whether someone has emotions. It should be whether they can manage those emotions without allowing them to override sound judgment.

2. Women, Especially Black Women, Face a Different Emotional Standard.

Research has documented that women can face penalties for emotional displays that may be interpreted differently when displayed by men. Black women can face an additional layer of stereotyping around anger, assertiveness and authority.

3. Representation Matters, But Competence Matters More.

Black America should demand greater representation in leadership while still demanding character, competence, accountability, emotional intelligence and sound judgment. Getting someone into the room is important. What they do once they’re there is what ultimately matters.

OP ED: Should Women Be in Leadership If We Say Emotion Clouds Their Judgment?

The Lindsay Clancy case forces us to have a conversation America usually avoids, and Black America needs to have it too.

By Urban City Podcast: Thomas Cooley

Let’s ask the question that will probably piss somebody TF off:

Should women be in positions of leadership if we believe emotions can interfere with sound decision making?

There. I said it.

Now before somebody reaches for the keyboard and starts typing in all caps, let’s establish something: This is not an argument that women are incapable of leadership. History has already destroyed that argument. Women have led corporations, cities, universities, military organizations, hospitals, movements and nations.

In 2026, a record 55 women are leading Fortune 500 companies, about 11% of the list. That’s progress, although it also means roughly 89% are still led by men.

So the question isn’t whether women can lead.

The question is whether we have been intellectually honest about emotion, judgment and leadership, and whether we apply the same standard to men that we apply to women.

And that’s where the Lindsay Clancy case enters the conversation.

Lindsay Clancy Isn’t Proof That Women Shouldn’t Lead

Let’s be crystal clear.

Lindsay Clancy is accused of murdering her three children in 2023. She has never denied killing them. Her defense argued that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis and therefore should not be held criminally responsible. Prosecutors argued that she knew what she was doing.

On September 4, 2026, after seven days of deliberation, a Massachusetts jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict, and the judge declared a mistrial. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to retry her.

This is a horrific case involving children, mental illness, motherhood and criminal responsibility.

It would be intellectually irresponsible to say, “See? This is why women shouldn’t lead.” No.

One woman’s alleged actions, particularly in a case involving a disputed psychiatric condition, cannot be used to indict half the population.

But the case does force us to confront something uncomfortable:

How do we distinguish emotion from emotional instability, and compassion from impaired judgment?

Because those are not the same thing.

And frankly, America has never been particularly good at making that distinction.

Men Make Emotional Decisions Too

Here’s where the argument gets interesting.

We’ve spent generations hearing that women are “emotional” while men are supposedly rational.

Really?

Have you ever watched a man make a decision after his ego got bruised?

Men have started wars, destroyed businesses, wrecked marriages, gotten into fistfights, blown fortunes gambling, bought cars they couldn’t afford and walked away from perfectly good relationships because their pride was hurt.

But somehow, when a man makes an emotional decision, we often call it passion, conviction, instinct, aggression, determination or leadership.

When a woman does it?

She’s emotional.

That’s not merely an opinion. Researchers have documented gender differences in how emotional displays are interpreted in professional environments.

A 2008 study published in Psychological Science found that angry male professionals were often granted more status, while angry female professionals received lower status. Researchers also found that people’s interpretations differed: women’s anger was more likely to be attributed to their personality, while men’s anger was more likely to be attributed to the circumstances around them.

Think about that.

Same emotion. Different interpretation.

But Here’s Where Women Have a Legitimate Problem

There is another side to this argument that men need to acknowledge.

Women aren’t simply imagining the double standard.

Research published in The Leadership Quarterly found that female leaders face what researchers describe as an emotional minefield.

If a woman shows too much emotion, she can be judged as unstable.

If she shows too little emotion, she can be judged as cold. If she’s compassionate, some may question whether she’s tough enough. If she’s aggressive, she’s difficult. If she’s decisive, she’s bossy. If she’s assertive, she’s intimidating And if she’s angry? Well, now we’re really in trouble. The research specifically concludes that women can be penalized both for displaying too much emotion and for failing to display the emotions people expect from women. That’s not leadership evaluation. That’s moving the goalposts.

Now Add Black Women to the Equation

This is where the conversation becomes particularly important for Black America.

Because Black women don’t walk into leadership carrying only one identity.

They walk in as Black and female.

And research suggests those identities can interact in ways that affect how leadership behavior is interpreted.

A Journal of Applied Psychology study involving 555 participants examined the so called “angry Black woman” stereotype and found that expressions of anger by Black women could lead to worse evaluations of leadership capability.

Another study examining workplace emotion and race found that women who expressed anger received status penalties relative to men, even when competence was judged favorably.

That creates a hell of a leadership trap.

A Black woman can be expected to be strong.

But not too strong.

Confident.

But not intimidating.

Passionate.

But not angry.

Compassionate.

But not soft.

Decisive.

But not controlling.

And God forbid she raises her voice.

Now she’s “an angry Black woman.”

Meanwhile, a man can slam his fist on the table and somebody will say:

“That’s leadership.”

Come on.

We have to be honest.

But Black Women Can’t Hide Behind the Double Standard Either

Here’s the part some people won’t like.

Acknowledging discrimination doesn’t mean removing accountability.

If you’re in leadership, your responsibility is not merely to have emotions under control.

It’s to understand them.

Leadership requires judgment.

Sometimes that means making decisions that hurt people.

Sometimes it means firing someone you like.

Sometimes it means telling your friend “no.”

Sometimes it means rejecting a popular idea because the numbers don’t work.

Sometimes it means waiting until you’re calm before responding.

And sometimes it means admitting:

“I was wrong.”

That standard should apply to everybody.

Black men.

Black women.

White men.

White women.

Everybody.

The leadership question should never be:

“Is this person emotional?”

Human beings are emotional.

The better question is:

“Can this person manage emotion without allowing it to override judgment?”

That’s a completely different standard.

And That’s Where Lindsay Clancy Complicates the Conversation

The Clancy case is uncomfortable precisely because the facts presented at trial are so complicated.

Her defense presented evidence that she had experienced serious mental deterioration following childbirth, including paranoia, insomnia and suicidal thinking. A defense expert testified that she experienced hallucinations and believed she was not responsible for her actions.

Prosecutors presented experts who disagreed, including testimony that she had the capacity to understand right from wrong.

The jury couldn’t agree.

That’s important.

Because mental illness is not simply “emotion.”

Postpartum psychosis is a severe psychiatric condition, and experts cited during the case said it affects roughly 1 to 2 women per 1,000 births.

So let’s not turn a psychiatric crisis into some cheap argument about female leadership.

Instead, let’s ask the bigger question:

Should emotional and psychological stability matter when we select leaders?

Absolutely.

But again, that isn’t a women’s issue.

That’s a human issue.

Black America Should Demand Better Leadership, Not Just More Representation

This is where our community needs to have a grown up conversation.

Representation matters.

Absolutely.

Seeing Black women in positions of authority matters.

But representation by itself isn’t enough.

We should not support somebody simply because they’re Black.

We shouldn’t support somebody simply because they’re a woman.

And Black women shouldn’t have to prove their worth twice as much simply because they’re Black and female.

Competence has to matter.

Character has to matter.

Judgment has to matter.

Emotional intelligence has to matter.

And accountability has to matter.

The same standard should apply to Black men.

Because we’ve spent too much time arguing about who gets the seat and not enough time asking whether the person sitting in it knows what the hell they’re doing.

So, Should Women Lead?

My answer is yes.

But so should men.

And neither sex should receive a leadership position because society believes one gender is naturally more rational, more compassionate or more emotionally stable than the other.

Give the job to the person who can think.

The person who can listen.

The person who can make difficult decisions.

The person who can control their impulses.

The person who can handle pressure.

The person who can admit when they’re wrong.

And most importantly:

The person who can feel deeply without allowing those feelings to hijack their judgment.

Because if we’re going to disqualify people from leadership because they make emotional decisions, we might have to remove the entire human race from consideration.

And that would leave us with nobody to run the damn meeting.

The Lindsay Clancy case doesn’t prove that women shouldn’t lead.

But it does give us an opportunity to ask a question we probably should have been asking all along:

Are we really evaluating leaders by their judgment, or are we evaluating them by whether their emotions make us comfortable?

And for Black America, there’s an even harder question:

Are we fighting merely to get more Black people into positions of power, or are we demanding leaders, Black men and Black women, who are actually prepared to handle the power once they get there?

Because representation opens the door.

Character, competence and judgment determine what happens after you walk through it.