Joshua M Freedman, Expert on Emotional Intelligence for Leadership

EQ Research on Growing Our Capacity to Grow

What does it mean to “grow” as a person, and what’s the role of EQ? New research findings on global emotional intelligence show us what’s supporting and inhibiting growth.

Back to School with Hope and Maybe Something More?

Heading back to school, mixed with hope & fear. How can we help students (anyone) feel belonging and acceptance as they are — while also supporting them to keep growing?

Better Decisions – Emotional Intelligence & Long-Term Thriving

Decisions descisions… how do we make them, and can we make better decisions? Contrary to common belief, emotions may just be the key.

Want Less Conflict with Your Kids? Try Empathy

You’ve told your kid “a million times” and frustration is rising. What if there was another way to see the situation? Here’s a 90-second tip for parents to use empathy to diffuse conflict and frustration.

How to Improve Emotional Intelligence: Tips to Practice Awareness (updated)

Want to know how to improve emotional intelligence? Here’s how to tune in to start, with downloadable resources + power tips from our certified practitioners all around the world on increasing self-awareness

First Nations Youth Finding Wellbeing with Emotion, Spirit, Body & Mind

For teens struggling with a brutal addiction to solvents, hope and healing seem far away. Traditional culture & the Medicine Wheel combine with emotional intelligence to support a path forward for the children, and their counselors.

Daniel Goleman on Emotions, Wellbeing & Mindfulness

“Ultimate wellbeing has nothing to do with what’s outside us,” says Daniel Goleman. What would happen if we could fully take charge of our own wellbeing… and what’s the neuroscience that will help make it so?

Three Key Strategies from Stephen MR Covey to Build Trust & Create Wellbeing

Trust is essential to wellbeing, but trust is declining. Stephen MR Covey, bestselling author of Speed of Trust, offers three powerful strategies for leaders, and everyone, to reverse this trend.

New research: 22x more likely to be high performing

What happens when organizations prioritize emotional intelligence development? New research shows a remarkable effect.

3 Tips to Turn Turbulent Emotions into Resources

A deluge of violence and trauma in our headlines leaves me feeling… a thunderstorm. How can emotions fuel wellbeing in the face of this onslaught?

The Trust Revolution: 4 Powerful Strategies from Neuroeconomist Paul Zak

As trust in social institutions spirals down and people feel more isolated, is the social contract battered beyond repair? Neuroeconomist Paul Zak on the latest trust data and the implications for leaders.

Case: Doubling Down on EQ Culture at ServRx

It’s “the classic problem” of a successful startup: The company was growing, but the culture was not. Here’s how they used EQ to double their employee engagement and increase net profit by 110%.

Emotional WHAT? Definitions and History of EQ (updated)

From interviews the originators of the science of emotional intelligence including Peter Salovey, Daniel Goleman, & Reuven Bar-On, here’s a simple and lively history of this breakthrough science.

Emotional Intelligence and Coaching – Infographic

What makes coaching so effective, and does emotional intelligence help? How? Here’s an infographic + free report with insights from 1138 coaches and coaching clients from 88 countries.

How to Understand People: Ask, Listen, and Get Real

Do you want to know how to understand people more easily? A starting point is a wide-spread lie we tell others — and ourselves. Here’s how to connect on a deeper level.

How to Teach Children Emotional Intelligence for a Better World

When feelings run hot, how can we use emotional intelligence to fuel our commitment for positive change… and support children to create a better world?

How to Make Stressful Change Sticky: Focus & Reflection

Want to be successful in stressful change? Don’t lose focus, use stress to connect people & lock reflection into the process.

How to Vitalize Hiring with Emotional Intelligence

Best practices for hiring with emotional intelligence – attract, select, and onboard talent with EQ. There is now a range of practical EQ tools for hiring.

How Do I Control Emotions Better?

It’s one of the most frequent questions in emotional intelligence workshops worldwide. How can I get better at controlling my feelings? The language of this question reveals a bias that there are bad emotions requiring control – which means exerting power to subdue. Here’s a simply radical shift in perspective: How can I get better at harnessing […]

Daniel Goleman on the Dalai Lama’s Vision for Good

“Real change will take place when individuals transform themselves guided by the values that lie at the core of all human ethical systems, scientific findings, and common sense.” –the Dalai Lama If you could encourage people to make just one small change to transform the world, what would you ask them to do? Daniel Goleman […]

The 4 Cs of Trust and How to Make Them More Visible

Want to increase your level of trust with someone? The first step to earning trust is to make sure that you are fully trustworthy – and also perceived that way. Check yourself against the 4Cs of trust.

The EQ and IQ Debate: Which Is Better? Honestly, It’s the Wrong Question.

After 100 years of research, there’s little agreement on the definition of intelligence or how to measure IQ. Yet Adam Grant insists cognitive skill trumps all, and “Emotional Intelligence Is Overrated.” His critique is wrong, but important.

Talk About Great Leaders: Contexts for Performance

Research: What are the 3 key qualities that distinguish great leaders from good? What if you could “peek inside” the relationships of thousands of high performing leaders – what sets the best leaders apart?

Case Study: Emotional Intelligence for People-First Leadership at FedEx Express

What happens when new managers receive emotional intelligence training? The six-month program is delivering significant improvements in EQ skills — tied to dramatic increases in influence, quality of life, and decision making.

Don’t Settle for Happiness: Make Life Worth Living

How do you increase happiness, and is that a useful goal? What do we mean by happiness anyway? Using emotional intelligence we can go from ‘happy’ to ‘thriving.’

Solving the Biggest Problems: Daniel Shapiro on Emotional Intelligence and Negotiation

How to effectively resolve conflict? “Emotional intelligence is essential,” says Daniel Shapiro, Harvard International Negotiation Program.

Three Traps for Teaching EQ, Especially for Teens

Recently a student told me that she dreads the “SEL” class in her school because, “the teacher is so fake.” There are three key traps that lead to this kind of failure in social emotional learning, and some simple-but-challenging solutions to find a balance in inquiry, planning, and power.

The Way You Are

Is there a way to be unconditionally loving, and also to hold high expectations? As parents, can we love our kids “as they are” AND help them be better?

The Paradox of Giving Yourself

It may seem like a paradox, but people who focus on giving feel and do better… and so do businesses.

Feel the Power: Flexing EQ

The use of power is central to our interactions as leaders, coaches, parents, and change agents. To be more effective, emotional intelligence will help us understand and tune up our own use of power and the ways people react to that. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of different forms of power. All of these “work” in some sense. If they generate certain desired there are “benefits.” At the same time, each produces unwanted side effects, called “costs.” What are some of the forms of power that you have, and that you exercise? What happens when you exercise these different forms of power? What price do you pay for each such use?

Physiology of Emotion, Exercise, and Change

I was recently talking to a group about the fact that we can choose how we feel. “But didn’t you say emotions are an automatic biological response?” Yes, in fact, I did… but don’t we have choice about our biology? I remember years ago interviewing neurobiologist Debra Niehoff about the way some people seemed […]

Case Study: EQ in the Navy and Marine Corps

In an 18-month project to equip leaders with new insights and tools for the people-side of change, this initiative created a 43% increase in participants’ readiness to cope with the complexities of organizational transformation. Background: The US military continues to undergo significant change to address the changing global context. Just as many companies face the […]

Leadership & Emotional Intelligence in Middle East

How important is emotional intelligence in a hard-driving business environment of the UAE? A study with leaders at Dubai Knowledge Village says: EQ is essential.

Exercise or Die? Emotional Intelligence and Health

For the past 20 years, my most rigorous exercise has been carrying my laptop around the world. Still, when I went to the doctor for a checkup (finally), I was surprised and dismayed by my blood pressure. [This article was first published 12/21/2005 — the good news: I’ve come to like exercise!] Over the years […]

Right Speech by Eknath Easwaran

Karen McCown, Six Seconds’ Founder, handed this article to me several years ago. It’s stuck with me as a powerful set of guidelines for being impeccable with words. The children, Patty and I have discussed the “three gatekeepers” often over the last years; we started when the kids were 4 and 6 years old and […]

Leaders Worth Following

What makes a leader into someone worth following? Is it their title? Their actions? Or maybe something more — something that is both rational and emotional.

Assent, Dissent, Descent

Recently… I told Emma (8-year-old daughter) she needed to get dressed to go. Instant protest, heel-dragging, power struggle. Yet we were going to do something she wanted! I observed a new cross-functional team starting up. The person assigned to schedule the first meeting asserted, “Since no one else wants to, I will chair the team.” […]

Alone in the Parade

The drive to connect, to be accepted, is both glorious and brutal. It drives us to care and connect — and to engage in self-destructive behavior in a desperate bid to fit. The “thinness” of digital connection can’t actually be fixed by quantity — just as one can not get a healthy meal by eating a LOT of junk — but the thinness may drive people to want more.

Physics of Emotion: Candace Pert on Feeling Good

“Emotions are literally changing the chemistry of every cell of your body,” says Dr. Pert, “and affecting the world outside your body.”

Fight or Flow Part Two: “Water Is Stronger”

This second half of “Fight or Flow” explores the alternative to the kinds of “hitting back first” reactions discussed in part one. To constructively engage with emotions requires reframing the way we think — and feel — about feelings. It’s always amazed me that these heavy stones can move — float — on a cushion […]