After a series of sessions with a leadership group from one of the world’s largest multi-national corporations, I followed up with a list of their key learning outcomes. I wanted to share these with all of our clients as they reflect some of the broader brush strokes of our approach.
Transformational Change: An EQ Success Story
John Gardner, Systems Engineering Manager at Medrad, a medical devices company, was recognized as someone with a high degree of technical skills and an ability to “get things done.” But at what cost?
According to John, “Although senior management liked that I got things done, they were frustrated with my methods of dealing with people. Essentially, management was saying, “John, we love you, but we want to shoot you!”
John focused only on the outcomes of the work, believing that task completion was much more important than people’s feelings. “On the one hand, I was receiving performance reviews at the top of the performer range. Then I got a letter saying that if I didn’t change my style, I might be fired.” John couldn’t believe that he was being knocked for his interpersonal style when he was delivering such amazing results!
Does EQ Make You Want to Hit Someone?! A conversation with Ronnie Lot
I had the pleasure of presenting with Ronnie Lott – the hall of fame defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers – at the Avaya Sales conference this past Sunday. We had a conversation beforehand that included a discussion of EQ. When he got on stage he said “I was talking to Bill about Emotional Intelligence, and it got me really jacked up – now I want to hit someone!” That’s the first time a discussion on EQ has had that affect on someone.
The Power of Your Story
A few weeks ago a friend of mine and I were in Toronto checking out this really cool spoken word event. As we were sitting there, listening to these passionate people share their stories and talent with us, we began talking about what it means to have a story and to share it with others.
It reminded me of when I was first offered the opportunity to be a youth speaker. One of the first things I thought to myself was “I’m pretty average…what could I possibly share with young people to help them?”
Goals Are Over Rated, Unless…
I learned an important lesson from my attempt to ride the Etape du Tour. When I told my sister that I didn’t finish the ride, she said “that’s ok, goals are overrated anyway”. I agree with that, but I want to amend it to “goals are overrated, unless you don’t have them”. What do I mean by that? Having a big goal like riding a stage of the Tour de France provided me with incredible motivation and focus to do things I would not have done otherwise. I would not have done all the training I did, I would not have ridden mountains in Las Vegas, California, Tuscon, I would not have had the incredible rides in the Pyrenees of France, and I would not have rediscovered my passion for cycling. Finally I would not have lost 25 pounds and gotten into better shape. At work we always say that going through a solid process of training will result in a powerful and lasting learning experience. That’s what I got out of this.
Bill’s Training for l’etape du tour continues!
“January and February have been a test of my “emotional intelligence” – it’s too cold to ride outside, so I’ve been cycling on my trainer in the basement. On the weekends, my coach – Steve – has me doing 2-3 hours rides in order to start building up my endurance and performance. This is hard as it gets boring riding in one place for that length of time. I do have my music, I watch some movies and sports, but most of all, I am keeping the end goal in mind. I know that the time I put in on the trainer now will have huge benefit to my overall performance once I am training outdoors and when the actual ride comes in July.
Test your EQ lately?
What sets great leaders apart from average leaders is not their IQs, technical skills or even their industry experience. It is their emotional intelligence — their ability to manage their own emotions and those of others. In fact, according to a study by the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC (www.ccl.org), the two main derailers of a great career have nothing to do with raw intelligence, but with a person’s inability to manage relationships and to deal effectively with change.
