The topic of emotional intelligence has garnered much attention from professionals in the business field as a crucial skill for employees to differentiate themselves in an increasingly automated environment. The ability to demonstrate leadership skills and collaborate effectively with others is essential, especially for new professionals. However, assessments by managers of recent college graduates who enter the workforce have shown they exhibit lower EI and leadership capacities than their predecessors. The existing studies about this topic often focus on measuring the participants' EI ability through assessment instruments, but the quantitative scores of these instruments do not assess the value students place on this skill. This phenomenological study aims to contribute to the knowledge of undergraduate business student leaders' perceptions of the intersection of leadership development and emotional intelligence. The significance of this study is to provide the narrative from the student leaders about how they apply EI skills such as empathy, team dynamics, conflict management, and emotional self-awareness into their leadership skills. The research questions that guided this study are what is the perception among undergraduate business student leaders of emotional intelligence and the value they place on this competency, and how do student leaders perceive the development of their ability to demonstrate leadership and emotional skills at the conclusion of their role as student leaders? This phenomenological study consisted of semi-structured interviews with business student leaders across five undergraduate business schools who serve as presidents of their pre-professional student organizations on campus. As a result of the in vivo coding of the student narratives, four themes emerged across the participants' narratives that highlighted the benefits and challenges of leading with empathy and other EI skills. The implications for practice for leadership educators in higher education include increasing exposure to EI skill-building opportunities to improve career readiness post-graduation. These interventions through education programming should begin early and be available widely to all students regardless of their roles on campus. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]