Gustavo, thank you for the thought provoking article. I’d like to share a perspective on the comment below.

“Guilt can motivate us to do well and make decisions based on what’s better for the common good. Research shows that leaders who tend to feel guilty were rated as more compassionate and care — they pay attention to others’ needs.”

There is a “toxic” loop that connects guilt and compassion. Compassion literally means “to suffer with”, and when we suffer with others, we take on their stress as our responsibility to fix. As so often happens, when the other person does not take our advice or despite all our efforts they continue in their “tailspin”, we feel guilty. We believe we should have done more, even though it was the other person’s responsibility.

Having read the paper that you cited, I have a different perspective on leadership. Perhaps guilt-prone people may be more attentive to the needs of others, but this is a limited form of leadership. It is a higher level of engagement than just managing others, for sure. However, it does not foster true collaboration, nor is it intrinsically empowering. It can even be enabling. My 2 cents.