Herzreflexive Leadership (Leading with Heart): Emotional Reflexivity as a Key Driver of Innovation in Education

This chapter introduces the conceptual framework of ‘Herzreflexive leadership’. Unlike traditional transformational or transformative leadership models, which often underemphasize the emotional complexities of educators, Herzreflexive leadership stresses continuous, deep engagement with the emotions of both leaders and followers. Drawing on Franz Brentano’s concept of intentionality and Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach, this chapter positions emotions as essential ethical guides rather than barriers in effective leadership. It argues that emotional reflexivity is fundamental to a mistake-friendly environment that effectively encourages creativity and supports innovation within leadership and followership. Herzreflexive Leadership reframes innovation as a relational practice where leaders rely on emotional insight to create environments that nurture teacher well-being, sustainable resilience, and capacity. To explore the possibilities of this emotionally grounded leadership, the chapter draws on stories that reflect teachers’ followership. The cases are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Greece, and France. The narrative inquiry will illustrate how attending to teachers’ emotional lives and value orientations enables innovation, supports professional sustainability, and enhances collective engagement in schools. It calls on policymakers and education leaders to critically examine the role of emotions in leadership and integrate emotional reflexivity into leadership practices for meaningful and context-sensitive innovation.