Emotion-related constructs, such as affect and emotion regulation, have been identified as being critical to effective leadership. Prior research in both of these areas has tended to examine the role of these constructs in terms of their impact on follower outcomes and leadership styles. However, as affect and emotion regulation are likely to play an integral role in cognition, the present study investigated the role of individual differences in affect, affect intensity, and emotion regulation on problem solving performance in leadership domains. Additionally, the study examined the relationship between these emotion-related constructs. Findings suggest that positive and negative affect are differentially related to problem solving performance. Further, cognitive-focused emotion regulation strategies appear to be more beneficial to leader problem solving than emotion-avoidant strategies. Finally, as differences in affect are associated with differences in use of emotion regulation strategies, mediation analyses were conducted examining their relationship with leader outcomes. Implications and future directions are also discussed.