607 | The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Small Business Leadership

Introduction (00:00:00)

In today's episode, we're diving into a critical topic for any leader and that is emotional intelligence.

Now, if you've been following along for a while, you know, we've tackled elements of this in different ways, but today I'm focusing on why emotional intelligence is essential for small business leadership. So stay tuned.

Welcome to the Chris LoCurto show where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are.

Welcome back to the show, folks. I hope you're having a fabulous day wherever you are. Today I want to discuss how being a great leader isn't just about strategies.

It's not just about KPIs or hitting the, you know, your revenue goals. It's about being a leader of people. And guess what? People aren't robots. I think you already know that.

They have emotions, they have struggles, they have needs that go well beyond their job description.

Now, as I say this, I know a lot of business owners and probably a decent number of leaders like, oh my gosh, I did not get into business so that I could babysit people. I get it.

I understand. Believe me, I understand. I've been teaching this for decades. But here's the thing you need to know. If you want people to be successful, then you've got to understand people.

You've got to understand what motivates them, what drives them, what holds them back. So in order for you to lead effectively, you've got to start with understanding you.

You have to understand how you manage emotions. You have to understand how you respond to things.

The more you understand you crazy enough, it will help you to empathize and understand your team. It will help you to expand your awareness of your team.

The more that you do that, believe it or not, the more you can lead them to their own awareness of their emotional intelligence or lack thereof, depending upon where they are.

Start with Yourself: Self-Awareness and Growth (00:02:19)

So we're going to hit some key points today and the first thing that we are going to start with is you starting with your self awareness, starting with your own personal growth. Like I just said, you can't lead other people.

Well, if you don't know yourself now this, you would think this would be an obvious thing. I think a lot of us get into leadership and business.

I mean, I'm having to go back 30 plus years and think about what it was like for me to step into a leadership role. And I don't, I think immediately I wasn't self aware. Now I'm somebody who tends to be incredibly self aware.

I think that's why I'm able to learn this stuff, implement this, teach it, train it. All that kind of fun stuff is I'm decently self. Aware. But I think when you step into that role, that's not your thought.

You know, when you step into a leadership role, you don't think, let me think all about myself. Let me be completely aware of my emotional intelligence. Gosh, 30 some years ago, we weren't even using a phrase like that.

We weren't even thinking about that, right? What we were thinking about is how do we prove that we're successful, how do we help show that we can do this and we can make this stuff happen?

You know, as I became a business owner for the first time of many businesses, my thought wasn't, you know, hey, how am I dealing with my emotions? My thought was, I have to make this work.

I have to build this and grow this, and I know how to do that. So let's focus on that. But as I continue to lead people, that tends to be the place that I do always focus.

And a lot of people don't. A lot of people don't think about the emotional intelligence aspect of their life, of their leadership, right? Of their family. They don't tend to be that self aware.

I've seen leaders, you know, who, without realizing it, can be leading team members responding, you know, reacting super sharply when they're under stress can be, you know, the type of people that might bite people's heads off.

They might be great people. And then when stress is on, they may respond in a way that just causes people to recoil. You know, that causes people even to the point.

I've seen, gosh, man, I hate it. But I've seen leaders lose loyalty of team members because of the way that they responded, because the way that they acted. You know, they could be a great leader.

And then financial, you know, situations affect them and the next thing you know, they're all over certain team members or maybe all the team members. It just kind of depends.

And the way that they respond, you know, before this, before the stressor, when things were going well, they had people that were loyal, they had people that thought that this was a great leader.

They had people that wanted to follow the mission and, you know, everything. And then the moment stress hits, what happens is you see the real person, right?

I don't remember who made that saying, but if you want to see a person's true stripes, put them in leadership and put them under stress. I totally just destroyed whatever saying that. Let's say that's not even a saying. Chris LoCurto. There you go.

That's my saying right there. If you do want to see what somebody truly is like, put them in a leadership role and then put them under stress and you'll see, you know, those who actually care about leading people to success.

What do we teach you all the time? If you lead the people properly, if you lead them correctly, if you lead them right, then they will solve most of the problems and issues.

If you freak out and you start chopping off heads and you know, you're treating people horridly, then what you're going to find is you're going to end up with way more issues and you're not even going to know about it.

Because when you start treating people horribly, what you find is they will clam up. Nobody wants to put their neck on the chopping block for somebody who's a jerk, for somebody who treats them badly, right?

So we have to understand ourselves first. We have to take time to reflect on us. Where do we struggle?

There's something that, you know, over the last, I don't know, 15 plus years I've discovered, and that is I cannot stand being taken advantage of. I will give you the shirt off of my back. I will help you. I will do whatever it takes.

You know, I have had phenomenal clients over the years. I mean, just amazing clients. I love helping out. I've had some that I have helped out and they have actually absolutely taken advantage of me. I mean, just became horrible people.

I mean, just terrible. Right, and, and those are the ones that you're always looking out for. For me, I have to know that about myself, that I don't like being taken advantage of. And so I might have.

And by the way, as I say this, I'm speaking to the extreme. I get taken advantage of all the time. So do you, right? People that, that just happens all the time. That's not what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about is, you know, entitlement of taking from somebody, entitlement of I deserve something that I don't deserve. You know, this type of thing.

You know, like I say, if I've helped somebody with their personal life or their business or whatever, and then they just keep coming back to take, take, take, take, take.

I'm pretty long suffering. But at some point I'm going to, I'm going to put an end to it, I'm going to stop it, right? My goal is, can I help? Can I help? Can I help? Can I help? Can I help?

And eventually I'm like, I'm being taken advantage of. Oh, this person is just super selfish and self centered. They don't really give a rip about me. They just want to keep taking from me.

Okay, it's time to stop this. And I know the couple aspects there about myself. One, I tend to be somebody who allows people to take advantage of him for a period of time because my hope is, is that I'm helping a person.

I'm, I'm very trusting in those ways right now. Over the years, I've become also very aware of when this is happening.

The reason why I've had to become very aware of somebody's motives and what they're doing is, is because of how many times I've been taken advantage of and how many times it's, you know, bit me in the butt, right?

So that became a response, an emotional, intelligent response. I'm responding in too trusting of a way with certain people, not most of them, not the bulk of them.

Our clients are freaking phenomenal. I love the people that we work with, but every now and then one makes it through that their goal is how can I use up this person or take advantage of this person as much as possible.

I'm sure you've experienced this yourself, right? And so I've had to get to this place of being able to spot that and put in very healthy boundaries, put it into it, right?

Those are things I have to know about me. But my team is also aware, my team is also aware, especially my leaders, that I tend to be somebody who wants to save the lost puppy, right? I'm somebody who wants to go in and help to the nth degree.

I'm somebody who wants to go in and, and try and get people on their feet and try and get people to making quality decisions. That is who I am. And you know what, praise God, I'm glad that I want to do that for people.

They have helped me to recognize that I do this a lot, or at least I used to, and, and that I need to, not that I need to take care of who I can take care of and then move on. Right.

So the key is, and this is one of the things we teach heavily in Next-Level Life, is not to become emotionally attached.

I have to understand when this is something we've taught for, gosh, over a decade, don't become emotionally attached to this situation, to this person. Right? Because in my early days I would, and it would bite me in the butt.

So instead I had to learn that. I had to be very aware of it. And then I had to become very aware of what it looked like to not be that person, to not be the person who becomes emotionally attached or emotionally handcuffed to a situation or a person. Right?

Because if I do, then I can't make quality decisions. How many times do you make desperate decisions because you're emotionally handcuffed to some situation?

How many times do you make bad decisions because your emotional intelligence led you to a place?

Or, you know, maybe, like I said, it could be, maybe you get angry, you get, you know, you bite people's heads off or, you know, something like that or whatever, or you aren't able to put in healthy boundaries and you allow something to go on for way too long.

How often does that happen? How often does that affect your leadership? Your leadership team. Your team, your business? Right?

This is the thing that we have to understand. We have to take time to reflect. Where do we struggle? Where do we get defensive? Where do we get impatient? Where do we withdraw from others?

And as you begin to dig in and look at your emotional responses, there's 14 billion that you can focus on. As you begin to focus on those things, you can start to see, oh my gosh, this is how I respond in this situation.

This is how I respond in this one over here. Write down the last 10 big stressors that you've experienced and then ask yourself, how did you emotionally respond in all 10?

How did you emotionally respond to yourself? How did you emotionally respond? Now, hopefully, how did you emotionally respond with God? Did you go to God for help? Did you spend time in prayer?

What did you do? How did you respond to your spouse, your kids, family, friends, team members, clients, vendors?

Take a hard look and spend time reflecting on that so you can help yourself to be very aware. Be aware of how you respond.

Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event 2025 (00:12:42)

Now, one of the things I want to talk about is as a leader, as a business owner, many times, no matter how much you love your team, no matter how much you love your mission, many times it feels like the weight of the world is literally on your shoulders.

It feels like every single thing depends on you. And no matter what you have in place, the moment you step away from your team, your business, things absolutely start to slip.

Now, if that sounds like you, the Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event is exactly what you need. Listen, this isn't just another leadership event. It is a transformative three day experience that's happening April 2nd through the 4th.

And our goal is to equip you with practical, sustainable tools so you can confidently lead without feeling overwhelmed.

Let's face it, trying to lead your team, trying to grow your business and trying to stay fully present for your family and your personal life can absolutely feel impossible. And it's definitely exhausting. We know that.

But here's the thing. You're not alone. I work with leaders every single day who express the same exact frustrations you're experiencing. They want their business to run smoothly, but the thought of stepping away is overwhelming.

Leadership does not have to feel this way. It doesn't have to be a constant drain on your time and your energy. And at the Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event, I'm going to show you exactly how to break out of this cycle.

So why should you take the time to join us? Well, here's what you're going to gain from this experience. First. First, lead smarter, not harder. This entire event is built on strategies that help you lead smarter, not harder.

You don't have to be the busiest person in your business to achieve real growth. In fact, I see so many leaders burning out simply because they're over involved.

One of the best outcomes from the event that I get to hear from attendees is that they walk away empowered to let their team succeed without micromanaging.

Second, reclaim your life outside of work. Oh, here we don't just talk about work life balance, folks.

We're going to help you create it. So I want you to imagine a life where you're fully present at home and in your business. This is where you learn to lead without sacrificing your personal life.

I've been there. I've been. I did that for many, many years. And I will tell you and you young bucks out there that are doing it right now, and it feels super exciting.

It gets old when you're sacrificing your personal life. It gets old and it's not. You're going to find that it's not that important. Business is great. It's fantastic. It's what you do. It's just not who you are. It's not everything about you.

It's a piece of who you are now, making sure that you run a great business but also run a great personal life. That's our goal. Our goal is to help you to get there.

Third, join a community of leaders who understand the people that are going to show up at this event. They are not. It's not your cousin Frank who has never run a business, never led a team, but gives you all of the advice on the things that you need to do.

These are people that are facing the same challenges. This is a room full of leaders who understand exactly what you're going through.

This event fosters a genuine community where you're going to find engagement, fresh ideas, and possibly even lifelong friendships.

Fourth, actionable takeaways you can implement right away. So this isn't just an event where you walk away inspired and no clear steps. If you want that, go somewhere else.

There's many of events out there that, that will get you, you know, amped up and then you have no clear steps of what you're supposed to do.

But you're really excited for a few weeks at the Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event. You'll leave with practical, actionable steps you can start implementing on the day you return.

So turning insights into immediate progress. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking. Man, I'd love to go, but there's too much on my plate.

If I leave my business, well, my business might suffer. Folks, if we're being honest, running at the pace you're running at indefinitely is just not sustainable.

Trying to do everything yourself leads to burnout. And when that happens, it doesn't just affect a few days. It impacts your long term success and it really impacts your well being.

So you owe it to yourself and your business to invest in your leadership. Take this opportunity to break free from the constant stress and invest these three days with us and I promise you'll gain so much more than you'll ever miss.

So join us for the Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event which is happening April 2nd through the 4th.

Registration is open right now, so secure your spot. You'll be learning from me, my team, and alongside other dedicated leaders who are ready to take things to the next level.

I've seen this event transform lives and businesses and I'm confident it can do the same for you. So don't wait until burnout forces you to make a change.

Head on over to chrislocurto.com/liveevents. That's chrislocurto.com/liveevents to learn more and secure your spots. I'm looking forward to seeing you there.

Recognize Emotions in Others (00:18:24)

All right, the next key point I want us to focus on is recognizing emotions in others. Now, leaders need to be in tune with their team's emotional states again.

I know that's the last thing you want to hear. It's not the thing. Oh, Chris, come on. I'm not a babysitter. I'm paying them to do a job. I get it, I understand.

But the thing you need to know is if you are not in tune with their emotional states, then they could be going through something horrible. And it's costing you a whole ton of money.

So let me speak to your pocketbook.

The more somebody is struggling in their personal life or even in the business and what they're doing in their, in their job, the more stress that they're experiencing, the more struggle that they're experiencing, the more money you're paying for them to do the job.

How so? Because their performance is tanking. So you need to go beyond just what they're doing performance wise and understand what they're experiencing.

You don't have to get all up in their personal life. You don't have to ask them all kinds of questions that are going to get you in trouble with HR.

What I'm saying is you do need to understand to some extent what this person is dealing with emotionally. Right?

Again, you don't have to dig into stuff that is none of your business.

But if you experience a team member, for example, if you experience a team member who might seem like disengaged in meetings and you know that that's not normal and that doesn't, you know something there.

This is somebody who's usually engaged, they're usually jumping in on brainstorming or they have ideas or whatever, whatever it is, instead of jumping to conclusions like, wow, this person has just become lazy or you know, maybe there's a big lack of interest now all of a sudden maybe they don't like their job.

Instead of jumping to a whole bunch of ideas that you don't know about, emotional intelligence helps you to consider what the person might be experiencing.

So for example, is the person overwhelmed? Are they struggling with their current workload? Are they struggling with team members?

Are they struggling with not getting a pat on the back in the last six months? Are they struggling with, I don't know, whatever. What about outside of work?

Are they struggling in their marriage? Are they struggling with debt? You know, are they overloaded with debt and they can't pay their bills? Are they struggling with maybe addictions and things?

Again, I'm not saying you got to get in there and pull out everything personal, but if you have a decent enough relationship with the person, you might be able to, you might be able to get to a place of at least finding out what are you struggling with.

So how do you do that? Well, ask open ended questions and listen. Hey, Frank, Joe, Janine. I've noticed lately that you've been quieter than usual. Is everything okay?

Now understand that when you ask those questions, a private person is going to be like, yeah, everything's fine, right? It's very possible this is why we continue to ask.

You know, we're trying to gain quality perspective here. So we continue to ask open ended questions.

So let's say you ask somebody, hey, I noticed you've been quieter than usual. I noticed you haven't been engaging. Is everything okay? And they go, yep, everything's fine.

Then you can ask, okay, can you help me to understand something? Again, I'm experiencing. You use the term I'm experiencing. Helps very well.

It's not, it means that you're not telling that you're not setting their reality. You are not engaging. They may actually think that they are.

Depends on what they're going through. I'm experiencing you as not engaging as much. Can you help me to understand why I'm experiencing that?

Now they don't have to go into their personal life or they don't have to go into anything. But it's now put a little bit of a responsibility on them to actually answer the question of why am I not engaging?

Right. What's going on? There's. Keep in mind this can go many ways. Usually what you'll get is some sort. Yeah, you know what, you're right. I haven't just been stressed out a little bit at home or, you know, I've just been, whatever.

And so I'll jump back in. I'll. I'm sorry, I will be engaging in the future. Or it can be my wife just left me, my husband just left me, I just lost my, my grandmother who raised me.

There's all kinds of things that can come from this that allows you to be a good listener. Let me say that again. Listener, not fixer. Don't be a fixer. Listen. Listen to what they're experiencing.

Listen to what they're going through. Listen to, you know, how they're struggling. What you may find. You know, I've said it a thousand times on the show. If somebody's going through a divorce, man, they are not.

Their, their productivity immediately cut in half. Maybe 75%, maybe even more. Right. They cannot think. Take the, the heavy duty stuff off of them. Right.

You need to be watching this and understanding this. But what you may discover is somebody who's not engaging and you're thinking they're lazy. You're thinking that they, maybe they're looking for a new job.

You come up with all these ridiculous ideas, this negative discussion inside of your head about what possibly is going on.

We call these things assumptions. And we know we should not do with assumptions. Why we shouldn't assume the sooner you kind of have some some understanding of what's going on.

You can lead them differently, right? You can help them, you can offer to jump in. You can offer help, you can offer discussions. Heck, you might even offer counseling.

I've had times in the past where I've taken somebody who's going through a really difficult time and I'm like, hey, I will pay for a couple of counseling sessions.

If you'll go, I'll do this thing over here. Now, we do the counseling nowadays, but, you know, that's the. One of the things that I've tried to offer is, and even if they won't do it with us, hey, can we send you to somebody?

Maybe you feel more comfortable outside, go to somebody else, right? So you've got to be very aware of what your team is experiencing, their, their emotional states.

And if you do that, then it can help you to solve to an extent. Obviously, our, our goal isn't to jump in and fix their immediate problem. The goal is to listen, to understand what they're going through, offer suggestions, offer advice.

But you can't be the one to fix it. They need to be able to fix their own stuff, right? I mean, unless the problem, you never know, the problem might be with you.

If it is great, fix that. So make sure that you understand what your team is going through.

Foster a Culture of Emotional Safety (00:25:30)

Number three, foster a culture of emotional safety. Oh my gosh, Chris. What, what are you talking now, now? Are you one of those snowflakes? If you know, that is not what I'm talking about.

That is not where we're going. I'm not saying put up, you know, safe rooms for your team members because they don't like what happened in the, the last election.

What I'm saying is emotional safety means kind of creating an environment where people feel valued, where they feel understood, where they feel that they're not, you know, judged inappropriately.

When you do this, it leads to better communication and better problem solving.

So for example, a business I once worked with had a leader that literally transformed their team dynamics by starting meetings with a quick personal check in. A lot of folks can't stand that idea.

Like, why would we do any, you know, it shouldn't be any chit chat when we, the meeting is at, you know, 9:00 am, at 9:01, we should be deep into information.

Well, what you will find, sometimes because of the personality styles that make up the room, it might be better for you to actually have a couple minutes, a couple minutes of chit chat asking people about maybe their personal wins, maybe even asking about their struggles.

Don't expect a lot of people to throw that out in the middle of a room with a bunch of other people. Right? That may not happen, but it might. Right.

Maybe there's a struggle that they're experiencing within the team, a client, a vendor, a leader. Doubt that they're going to share that in the room.

They could, but we don't necessarily want that in the open room. We want to take that in and have a one on one meeting and a discussion to find out what actually is going on.

But maybe there's some struggles that they're experiencing now. Maybe there's some things that they're experiencing personally. When you create an environment where people feel like they can actually share.

And again, we're not talking about big emotional dumps. We're not talking about being victims. We're not talking about any of that. We're just looking to see how people are doing.

Then what you find is, is that it actually builds a level of trust because people will feel like they're being treated with dignity.

Again, in no way, shape or form am I asking you to have a half hour conversation about how somebody is really upset, you know, because they got the wrong dog food for their dog and their dog got sick.

That is not what I'm talking about. Right. That's not what we're looking for. We are looking for things that allow them to feel safe and share certain aspects.

You know, something short, something that, you know, we can recognize and maybe empathize with.

And by doing so, what it creates is a place that, you know, it builds trust and encourages people to be, to be open. It encourages people to be, you know, vulnerable in the workspace.

Again, caveat number 497 on this one, this one, this one section. I do not want you to take this to an extreme. I don't want you to spend too much time on this.

I don't want this to be something that, you know, it feels like people get to come in every day and dump and, you know, be victims and all that kind of crap, that is not what we're looking for.

If it goes that direction, you need to pull it in quickly, right? Or, you know, make sure that you give a good explanation of, you know, what you're looking for.

What type of discussion is it when you say, hey, are you struggling with anything? Are you, is there anything that you feel is a difficulty, any of that kind of stuff, but maybe put some parameters on it.

Hey, guys, I don't want this to be a dumping ground. I don't want this to be a place for victim mentality.

I just want this to be a place where people can feel like they can share some things and be open and vulnerable without it being, hey, we're going to dig into all of your personal life, Right? So that's number three.

Balance Task Orientation with People Orientation (00:29:38)

Number four, balance task orientation with people orientation. So some leaders are all about the task. Get it done, get it done, get it done.

Right? Meet the deadline. Did you get it done? If you did great, move on. If you haven't, what's the problem? Listen, tasks matter. They absolutely matter.

We've got to get things done. We shouldn't pass up the need to accomplish things. You just also have to understand the people doing the tasks matter as well.

So I had a leader I was coaching that was incredibly task driven. Nothing wrong with that. But the team felt burnt out because it was all about the task. They felt very unappreciated.

They felt like they weren't very valued. So as we talk through this, it became a, hey, how do you think the team is experienced? You guys are getting stuff done. That's great, that's fantastic. But you're leaving something out.

Do you think the team is encouraged by just run out their tasks? No appreciation, no nothing.

No celebration of wins, no nothing. How do you think they're experiencing this? And it was just like one of those, well, obviously, since you've asked the question, they're probably experiencing it pretty badly. Yep, you're right.

So what do we do about this? And what we talked there was just putting through little morale boosters. It doesn't have to be. Every single day I walk around to every person on the team and go, hey, how are you doing?

You're doing such a great job. I'm so proud to have you. But they need to be able to, at the bare minimum, celebrate the wins. They need a morale boost.

They need to understand that their performance is good, maybe great, it's valued, it's understood. Right?

So ask yourself, am I recognizing my team's emotional needs when it comes to their performance output, or am I just focused on their performance output? Right.

If at the end of the day all you are is somebody who's really glad that things got done, you're probably not doing a good job recognizing how well they've done the jobs, the tasks, the projects, whatever.

So you probably need to get your butt out there and spend some time, you know, giving high fives and recognition and helping people to understand that they're doing a great job and that you appreciate it.

Leverage Empathy for Better Decision-Making (00:32:10)

Number five, leverage empathy for better decision making. Now, empathy doesn't in any way shape or form mean avoiding hard decisions. Not at all. Not at all.

It means making those decisions while considering how it's impacting the team member, the team, the company as a whole. Right.

So what happens when, let's say you've got to implement maybe a tough policy change. I had a business owner that had to put something in place that was, it was tough.

It was going to, you know, they had allowed things to slack for a while that allowed things to, you know, people to get away with things for a while.

And so one of the things I shared with them is, hey, instead of just rolling this out, explain the reasons behind this, make sure that everybody understands why this is being put in place, and then maybe even acknowledge the challenges.

You know, invite opportunity for feedback. You know, hey, guys, we're doing this thing. No, we have not done this for a long time.

A lot, a lot of times. Out of StratPlan. What we will find is, is that we've allowed things to go on for so long and it's affected the productivity, it's affected morale, it's affected the bottom line.

And we need to put a couple of things in place, but instead of just throwing it in place, just wedging it in there, hey, this is stopping.

What we do is we discuss it. Hey, this is what we're doing. We've allowed this for too long.

We understand that it's affected you in a negative way, which some people, it may have affected a positive way because they got to get away with it, but, you know, it's affecting other people in a negative way.

And so this is something, this, here's a policy that we're putting in place. Here's a change that we're making. And we know that there's going to be some challenges with us.

And we hope that, you know, if you find this challenging, that you come and talk with us. Our goal is to fix whatever we possibly can. You know, our goal is to help you to transition as much as possible in this.

And then what I usually will say, you know, after we've gone through helping people know we're here to help them.

If they've got feedback, let's get the feedback. After all that, what I will usually say is, hey, guys, here's the deal though. This is something that's affected us in a negative way and we're not going this way anymore.

We are changing direction on this. So we hope you're on board. You know, if this, if it looks like you're not going to be able to be on board on this, then we understand, we get it.

You know, we, we understand that this might even keep you from being able to stay here. We hope that that's not true, but this is something we have to put in place.

And again, we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear, you know, your input on this and thoughts on this. And what you will find is your quality. People will tell you, yes, that's exactly what we want.

Yes, that's what's needed. Those that aren't so quality, they're probably going to be the ones that buck the system. So if possible, try and create the least amount of resistance possible.

Keep the team engaged on it, talk about it in a positive light. Don't go out there and just rip everybody. And you guys have sucked at this and this is why we have to do this.

Try and make it a positive thing, but also make sure that it is something that is going to happen and that they're completely aware of it.

So before making decisions, make sure that you stop, consider how they're going to receive what you're saying. You know, I'm somebody who spends a lot of time thinking through what did the personality styles in the room.

Just hear me say it's not uncommon to be at one of our events.

And I'll be teaching from stage and I'll say something and I'll go, here, let me say it this way, because I'll realize the way I said it, there could be one person in the room that just received it the wrong way because I know personality styles.

So let me, let me say it this way. I'll change it up and make sure that I cover everybody in the room. Right? That's just being empathetic. It's just understanding how people receive things.

So consider how it's going to affect people, how they're going to receive it. Is there, is there going to be a, a possibility of gossip afterwards?

Is there going to be a, you know, a strong, you know, show of force in a positive way towards this by your champions?

And then, you know, are you possibly going to lose some, some team members? That's another thing that we talk about, you know, in StratPlan.

Hey, you may lose a person or two because they don't want this accountability. You have to be ready and okay to go. Yep, it's time. It's time for me not to keep people. If they're not willing to do this stuff, we don't want them there.

Action Steps (00:36:52)

So here's some action items that I want for you to do, I want you to take these away and apply them as soon as possible.

Number one, reflect on your emotional intelligence.

Maybe journal, maybe talk with a trusted coach, maybe talk with a spouse, a longtime friend, but get to a place of self awareness for you.

Number two, practice empathy daily. So start with small actions. It doesn't have to be anything big, but maybe just some good active listening.

Maybe offer some encouragement, you know, try and see where somebody what they're experiencing and see if you can't help them in whatever it is. Right.

Number three, focus on creating a culture checkpoint. And by that what I mean is evaluate your company's culture.

You know, are you fostering emotional safety? Is your environment overly tasked? Is, are people being treated with dignity? All those types of things. Check your culture and see how things are going.

Number four, invest in growth for the love. Consider formal training or resources. Please consider training, consider getting resources on emotional intelligence.

You're going to see a difference in not just your leadership, but you're going to see it in your team's performance. I promise you.

Get quality leadership training and what you'll see is, is you're actually going to pass on a bunch of stuff to your team that's going to make them stronger and it's going to make them perform considerably better.

Next-Level Leadership LIVE Event. Great place to get this information, get to that event.

Additional Resources (00:38:27)

So additional resources. A great episode to listen to is episode 110 which is Emotional Intelligence Explained. You know, that's where we break down emotional intelligence.

We explore, you know, why it's so essential for personal growth, team growth, business growth, and we provide actionable tips to help you to development. So the thing to know is that emotional intelligence isn't just a nice to have thing, right?

It's a leadership must have. It impacts how you connect with your team, it impacts how you make decisions, it impacts ultimately how your business thrives.

So when you grow in emotional intelligence, you're not just leading your team, you're building a culture where people can flourish with their emotional intelligence as well.

Take this whole concept poured into your family. What does it look like with your spouse? What does it look like with your kids as well?

So you have the next steps in growing your emotional intelligence. So let's make it happen.

Well folks, that's all the time that we have for today. Today, as always, we want you to take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life and join us on the next episode.