Hi!  I'm Brent, and I lead the EQmethod.

That quote from Zig Ziglar is the North Star of this program.  We believe that every conversation and interaction is an opportunity to be a contribution to another person, and, perhaps, to be a catalyst for them too.  We believe this posture, this work, is the best way to earn the fulfillment, and impact, and outcomes that we seek.

At least it has worked for us!

Our programs focus on practical application, from years of working with leaders and teams all around the world.

We've built our foundation on the body of research around emotional intelligence, and the impact it can have on our work and lives.

While we certainly hope you'll consider taking our public masterclass or bringing a private program to your team, here are some resources to get you started while you're deciding:  

Emotional Intelligence was first coined by two Yale researchers, Salvoey and Mayer, but Daniel Goleman's 1997 book Emotional Intelligence, Why It Can Matter More Than IQ brought the idea to the world. We love a classic, and also find his book Primal Leadership an even more practical application for our purposes.

He described five pillars of emotional intelligence, and they're a great place to start:  Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Empathy, Social Skills.

We reset the order in our program...believing that applying our EQ requires starting with empathy.  And Empathy...is...hard!  Start with this definition from Brene Brown, then Seek Sonder, thanks to John Koenig's made up word.  When you're ready to go on an empathy adventure, there's no better guide than Shannon Weber.  While on that adventure, consider what questions you might ask, and Brandon Stanton can help.

Practicing empathy for others can be hard, but practicing empathy for ourselves can be even harder.  Self-Awareness is all about engaging with the voice in our head.  Steve Pressfied calls it the Resistance.  Seth Godin calls it the Lizard Brain.  Peter Shepherd calls it the Imposter.  For me, it shows up as the inner-critic.  I know one person who calls it Brad, another who calls it Mrs. Wilson, and another who calls it mom.  The goal is not to get rid of the voice, but to engage, understand, and even befriend it.  Steven Pressfield shows how he does that in his followup book.

Social Skills, the next pillar, we reframe as likeability.  There's lots there, but you can certainly start with Dale Carnegie.  Hint: we like people who are interested in us.  Oh, and we like people who are curious, not judgemental.  Thanks Coach Lasso.

Self-Regulation feels inherently stifling for our work, so that's another reframe: intentionality.  As you probably expect, it goes hand in hand with self-awareness.  Ethan Cross calls the conversation in our heads Chatter, and we're perhaps playing an Inner-Game of Tennis (which is only sort of about Tennis).  

Finally, Motivation.  Our programs center here, connecting the dots from empathy to inspired action.  We come back to Ziglar, and it's also worth reading about what drives us, according to Daniel Pink, and there's plenty more once you get through those.

Oh, and if you've read this far, here's a 'secret' link to our emotional response wheel.  My thank you for reading my rambling.   

All done reading?  We stand on the shoulders of giants, who have shown up (and continue to show up) with curiosity and intention.  Inspired by (and stealing like an artist) from John Doerr, email me three recommendations that have impacted you, and I'll send you three more that have impacted me.

Cheers,

Brent

brent@eqmethod.com