What is empathy? It’s a question I frequently ask when working with leaders at varying levels of organizations, all around the United States.  It’s amazing the answers I get.  More often than not people say empathy is “caring” or “being compassionate”.   Empathy is the ability to understand other people’s thoughts and emotions; even being able to feel

Self-management is how you control and manage yourself, your emotions, and your abilities.  This includes one’s ability to manage impulses and focus on more important priorities and goals.  In short, a person who’s strong in self-management is not easily knocked off track by adversity, tense situations, or stressful times.   “Self-management is the emotional intelligence component that

Your emotional state sets the tone for everyone around you.  Your team and others around you will take on the same tone and tenor as yours, as their leader.  The leader’s emotional state will set the tone for the entire team’s emotional state.   “Emotional self-awareness is the building block of the next fundamental emotional intelligence:  being

Self-Mastery. When they were about to open Disneyland for the first time, back in July of 1955, some executives asked Walt, “Hey Walt, don’t you want to get some better trees to line Main Street USA?  The trees we have are a little bare, with very few leaves.  They’re not fully grown in yet.” Walt responded, telling

Three key digital communication platforms we can leverage to further connect with our teams: Email, Text, and Social Media It’s true that email may be overused, text may seem too forward or aggressive, and social media may seem too personal.  However, connection is connection, and the goal is to create emotional connections with people, so they feel

Meetings take up a great deal of our time at work.  So, it’s important that we make them as efficient as possible.  The best leaders, on any level, in any industry know how to create and execute impactful, productive, and efficient meetings.  It’s apparent whether or not the leader of the team or of the meeting

What’s the most important thing for leaders to remember when it comes to having one on ones? Be more interested than interesting.  Ask great questions! I often reference and give credit to my favorite author, and in many ways, my own personal inspiration for becoming an author myself, Mark Sanborn.  In his book, The Fred Factor, he

When people genuinely feel welcome on our teams and in our organizations, here’s what happens: They relax and begin to feel safe, which allows them to be themselves.  They begin to have an open mind, which sparks their creativity for new, fresh ideas.They have less anxiety and fear, fewer doubts, and more energy, passion, and commitment.They begin

Conventional wisdom tells us, if we want to influence, inspire, or motivate others to take action, all we need to do is show them facts, charts, graphs, and statistics.  However, as we can see, science suggests differently.  It’s actually emotion and feelings which provide the energy and ultimate inspiration to take action, change directions, and

The stories guests and customers tell aren’t because of the nightly fireworks, Cinderella’s castle, lakes of dreams, chandelier bars, state-of-the-art workout equipment, or the dazzling presentations to Wall Street.  Instead, guests vote with their feet, their wallets, and their Instagram accounts because of the emotional connections sparked and reignited.  It’s all about how people made them feel.