In this week’s episode of the Do Good to Lead Well podcast, I speak with Vanessa Druskat, a globally recognized expert in team performance and author of "The Emotionally Intelligent Team." Vanessa shares the inspiration behind her research, highlighting the gap between anecdotal advice and evidence-based practices for building successful teams. She discusses the importance of cultivating esprit de corps—meaning a sense of belonging, value, and psychological safety—within teams, and emphasizes that this must come from both leaders and team members.

Our conversation explores practical norms and routines that emotionally intelligent teams use, dispelling myths around individual emotional intelligence versus collective TeamEI. Vanessa provides actionable examples, such as brief check-ins, team charters, and structured feedback mechanisms, underscoring the need for leaders to be intentional, especially in remote or hybrid environments. Questions from the live audience explored topics such as the role of team charters, overcoming ineffective norms, and the courage required to embrace feedback and conflict constructively. The episode is packed with research-backed insights and practical strategies to help leaders create high-performing, emotionally intelligent teams.

What You’ll Learn

- Great teams do things differently… and intentionally.

- The importance of assessing your team’s norms (anonymous surveys work wonders!).

- Develop a charter and revisit it regularly.

- Make feedback part of your culture rather than a once-a-year event

- How to lead remote/hybrid teams effectively.

- Why you want to finish meetings with a Plus/Delta.

Podcast Timestamps

(00:00) – Welcome to the Podcast

(10:25) - Defining Team Emotional Intelligence vs Individual EQ

(19:56) - Common Team Norms: Good, Bad, and Misunderstood

(24:32) - Creating and Using Team Charters

(27:12) - Activities to Build Understanding and Belonging

(32:11) - Best Practices for Team Assessment

(36:54) - Feedback and Accountability in Emotionally Intelligent Teams

(41:20) - Constructive Conflict and Avoiding Sidebar Conversations

(49:33) - Emotional Intelligence in Remote and Hybrid Teams

(54:33) - Final Reflections

KEYWORDS

Positive Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Team Emotional Intelligence, Team Norms, Self-awareness, Psychological Safety, Feedback Culture, Team Rituals, Team-Building, High-Performing Teams, Team Assessment, Team Charter, Remote Teams, Hybrid Teams, Collaboration, Accountability, Sense of Belonging, Respect, Onboarding, Team Effectiveness, CEO Success

It seems that uncertainty is the rule rather than the exception, and this trend only appears to be intensifying with each passing day. In this environment, making high-quality decisions is of paramount importance. For this solo episode of the Do Good to Lead Well podcast, I reference groundbreaking research published in MIT Sloane Management Review to identify five traits for effective decision-making, which were derived from a global study of business leaders.

The common thread that runs through these five qualities is that they are learnable. Another key element is that our mindset plays a critical role in influencing our effectiveness, a theme we have discussed multiple times before.

Tune in to learn how you can become a highly skilled decision maker by avoiding common traps that can undermine our effectiveness.

KEYWORDS

Positive Leadership, Personal growth, Decision-Making, Managing Stress, Navigating Uncertainly, mastering our Mindset, Growth Mindset, Focus on the Positive, CEO Success

Source:Five Traits of Leaders Who Excel at Decision-Making

In this episode of Do Good to Lead Well, I welcome Dr. Jacqueline Sperling, a clinical psychologist, assistant professor in psychology at Harvard Medical School, and the co-founder and co-program director of the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program at McLean Hospital to discuss her latest book, “Find Your Fierce: How to Put Social Anxiety in Its Place.”

Motivated by long waitlists at treatment centers and the slow path many face toward accessing help for social anxiety, Jacqueline Sperling shares her mission: to offer practical, evidence-based tools that anyone can use, regardless of clinical diagnosis or age. She grounds her message in empowerment, emphasizing that anxiety is a universal emotion—sometimes adaptive, sometimes disruptive—but always manageable with the right approach.

Major themes include:

• Understanding Anxiety: Dr. Sperling defines anxiety as a forward-looking form of fear and reframes it as a resource that can help us prepare for life’s challenges, provided we don’t let it dominate our decision-making.

• The Thoughts-Feelings-Behaviors Model: Our discussion breaks down how our internal dialogue, emotions, and actions interconnect. Techniques like “stop, drop, and roll” and identification of unhelpful thought categories (catastrophizing, shoulds, overgeneralizing) are brought to life through questions from the live audience.

• Leadership and Team Dynamics: We explore how leaders can compassionately address anxiety in their teams, foster psychological safety, and model healthy boundaries, which are especially during disruptive times and organizational uncertainty.

Check out this episode for an honest, caring invitation for how we can create lasting mental health hygiene: a daily, mindful practice to care for ourselves, as we pursue meaningful work and lead with compassion.

What You’ll Learn

- How to flip the script when you always expect the worst.

- How leaders can compassionately support team members stuck in negative thought cycles.

- Strategies for dealing with imposter syndrome and perfectionism.

- Practical tips for receiving feedback without defensiveness.

- Ways to maintain resilience in uncertain, disruptive times.

- The power of mental health hygiene.

Podcast Timestamps

02:15 Dr. Jacqueline Sperling's background

04:07 Origin story of "Find Your Fierce" book

05:48 Understanding anxiety vs. fear

07:49 The three-component model (thoughts, feelings, behaviors)

10:04 Stop, drop, and roll technique

14:23 Managing catastrophizing in team members

18:54 Addressing imposter syndrome

23:01 Overcoming fear of speaking up in meetings

28:08 Values-based anxiety management

31:53 The "shoulds" and "musts" trap

33:51 Receiving feedback effectively

38:03 Managing team anxiety during disruption

40:06 Addressing perfectionism

44:40 Delegation and leadership anxiety

48:33 Overgeneralizing dangers

52:07 Mental health hygiene practices

KEYWORDS

Positive Leadership, Managing Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Thought-Feeling-Behavior Model, Catastrophizing, Mindfulness, Imposter Syndrome, Perfectionism, Exposure Therapy, Behavioral Experiments, Self-insight, Mental Health Hygiene, Resilience, Stress Management, Reframing, Team Dynamics, Sleep Hygiene, Self-care, CEO Success