“You Get What You Give” — Leadership Energy When the World Is on Fire

“You’ve got the music in you. Don’t let go…” — New Radicals (1998)

If you lived in the 90s, you must have come across this one-hit wonder. The New Radicals only released one album, but this track became a global anthem — blasting out of car radios, club speakers, and MTV countdowns. It was raw, messy, a little defiant. And it carried a line that has never been more relevant for leadership: You only get what you give.

So let me ask you: what are you giving your people right now? Energy, clarity, hope? Or exhaustion, confusion, fear?

Because here’s the thing: in a world where wars rage, economies wobble, and trust in institutions fractures by the week, your leadership is someone’s last amplifier (BBC News, 2025; Financial Times, 2025; Edelman, 2025). They don’t need more slogans. They need your signal.

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The Energy Exchange of Leadership

Every leader broadcasts — whether they intend to or not. Think about the last time you walked into a room: did people lean in, or did the air deflate? Neuroscience calls this emotional contagion (Barsade, 2002) — the transfer of mood and energy between people. But in leadership, it’s amplified. Your team doesn’t just absorb your words; they absorb your state.

So ask yourself: when the pressure rises, do you project steadiness, or do you leak stress? When you’re exhausted, do you spread resilience, or do you spread depletion?

And the hard truth is this: you can’t fake this. People have radar for inauthenticity. Leaders who try to manufacture positivity without addressing reality create what psychologists call toxic positivity (Coyne & Tennen, 2010) — the kind of empty optimism that fuels distrust rather than hope.

This is where the SAT model comes in.

• Simplify the noise — so people know what matters.
• Align your signal — so your words and actions don’t contradict.
• Transform through behavior — because what you model becomes what they mirror. (taken from my upcoming book, to be published late 2025)

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Why It Matters Now

Look around. Ukraine is still burning. Washington power plays dominate headlines. Economies across Europe and Asia are stuttering. Every signal screams volatility (BBC News, 2025; Financial Times, 2025).

So what do people hold onto? Not policy statements. Not quarterly updates. They hold onto behavior. The look on your face in a crisis meeting. The way you respond when challenged. The consistency (or inconsistency) between what you promised last week and how you show up today.

Research from Gallup (2024) shows that 70% of employee engagement variance is driven by the manager alone. That’s not a statistic — that’s a mirror. It means your presence, your energy, your behavior are not background noise. They are the culture.

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You Only Get What You Give

The New Radicals sang it with defiance, but the lyric lands with precision in leadership: You only get what you give.

• If you give ambiguity, expect confusion.
• If you give cynicism, expect disengagement.
• If you give clarity, expect focus.
• If you give belief, expect resilience.

So — what are you giving right now?

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Three Questions to Sit With

1. What’s your dominant signal this week — stress, steadiness, or silence?
2. Would you want to be led by you right now? Be brutally honest.
3. What energy do you want your team to mirror in three months’ time? Because that’s what you’re planting today.

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Final Note

The New Radicals burned fast and disappeared. But their anthem lingers — because it tapped into something visceral: the exchange of energy.

Leadership works the same way. Your legacy is not the strategy decks you leave behind. It’s the energy you infused — or drained — from the people who trusted you.

So when the world feels like it’s on fire, remember: you only get what you give.

What are you giving today?

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The Author

Ilja Rijnen MSc is VP HR APAC at GEA Group, a global HR transformation leader, executive coach, and the founder of Talent Transformer. With over 20 years of experience across EMEA, APAC, and North America, Ilja specializes in culture renovation, leadership behavior, and strategic learning. He is the author of Design for Reality: How Behavior Beats Strategy (Every Time), and creator of the SAT model: Simplify. Align. Transform.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are my own and do not represent the views of any current or former employer. All case examples are anonymized or composited unless otherwise stated, and sources are publicly available.

References

• Barsade, S. G. (2002). The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and Its Influence on Group Behavior. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47(4), 644–675.
• BBC News. (2025). Ukraine war — latest updates. BBC.
• Coyne, J. C., & Tennen, H. (2010). Positive Psychology in Cancer Care: Bad Science, Exaggerated Claims, and Unproven Medicine. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 39(1), 16–26.
• Edelman. (2025). Trust Barometer 2025. Edelman Research.
• Financial Times. (2025). Global markets under pressure as uncertainty deepens. FT.
• Gallup. (2024). State of the Global Workplace Report 2024. Gallup Inc.
• New Radicals. (1998). You Get What You Give. On Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too [Album]. MCA/Universal.
• Rijnen, I. (in my upcoming book to be published late 2025). Design for Reality: How Behavior Beats Strategy (Every Time). Talent Transformer Press (forthcoming).