This chapter focuses on the idea that empathy and emotional intelligence are central to good leadership, a theme that re-occurred throughout the participant interviews. I overview the related concepts of emotional intelligence, empathy, authentic leadership, vulnerability, and spiritual leadership and use these concepts as a foundation for understanding the leadership experiences of my participants, as well as myself. I found that key to leadership success were careful listening, feelings of empathy and concern, encouraging fair teamwork, and recognizing the spiritual and cultural priorities of both leaders and followers. I discuss how research and scholarship have shown that horses possess emotional intelligences, such as recognizing faces of both humans and horses in real life and in two-dimensional photographs. Horses have also demonstrated long-term memory of their keepers, suggesting that relationships with important humans in their lives are internalized and maintained. We can learn from our human-animal relationships about the importance of emotional intelligence to the success of any leader-follower relationship, including handling moments of challenge or failure.