This post is here to offer you some conscious and intentional communications training to help build your EQ muscles. Try this exercise to help you prepare for and lean into your next difficult conversation with a goal of mutual understanding and connection.

If you find yourself struggling to inspire and motivate your employees, and keep them feeling supported so that they can do their best work, I’ll tell you what I tell my clients—it’s not your fault, it’s human nature.

Your work is no longer about believing you have to have all the answers, all the time, and telling others what to do, instead it becomes seeking input from the team around you and empowering them to get the job done.

Have you ever wondered how I made the shift from Wall Street to Operations, to Executive Coaching? Last week I sat down with Dr. Chad Prevost and Dr. Shelley Prevost from The Big Self Podcast and Big Self School to talk about my journey from Leadership roles in finance and healthcare to coaching today’s leaders how to have more impact and less stress at the office and at home.

Stressed, Yelling, and Overwhelmed? Struggling to consciously choose how you want to respond? Want to push performance boundaries, show up as your best, and maintain the necessary focus and resilience to achieve your goals, I’ll tell you what I tell my clients--it all begins with a deep breath.

Being able to stay calm, open-minded, and quickly adapt to shifting circumstances in this wild new world, is and will continue to be a competitive advantage in the workplace. Great leaders are able to navigate the changing winds of their teams' emotions and chart the course ahead. Learn to set the tone of your organization, while managing your team's big personalities and strong emotions.

“Stay patient, or take the next best offer?” he kept asking himself. After all, these were crucial decisions, at a critical juncture in his career, and he needed to make the next several years count, he kept telling himself. He was a successful start-up executive with two impressive stints at well-known, venture-backed companies over the last decade plus. Yet, he found himself in unfamiliar territory. An uncertain space. What to do. Where to go next.