The Emotional Side of Leadership: Virtual Panel Discussion

It's great to see so many people who are joining us as participants for this webinar right now. Wait just a couple more seconds as the number of participants coming into the webinar ticks up. Want to make sure we don't miss anything. So thank you very much to those of you who have joined us right there at the top of the hour. Look forward to getting this great discussion going with our three panelists. All right, I see the numbers slowing down here, so let's go ahead and get started. Hi, everyone. I'm Kim. Kimberly Cain, president and CEO of Caine Communications Group. It is great to have all of you with us today over the lunch hour for a fantastic discussion. We'll be talking today about the role that emotions and emotional intelligence play in leadership. The COVID 19 pandemic, it is stretched on. It is challenged so many leaders to manage so much more than just our operations. Leaders today have needed to manage emotions on a scale like we've never imagined we had to before. When employees are dealing with fear, when they're dealing with anxiety and other emotions, how do you motivate them? How do you possibly deliver even more difficult news when they're already feeling so much? And what kind of emotional toll does this take on our leaders? Today's panelists are Beth Ridley, founder and CEO of the Brimful Life, Hector Colon, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, and Marty Brooks, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Center District. I have watched each of you lead with such a high degree of emotional intelligence and so much inspiration, even through difficult times. So I really look forward to this discussion about emotional intelligence. Thank you very much to all of you for being with us today.

Thank you for inviting us.

Thanks for having us.

Happy to be here.

Fabulous. So before we dive in, guys, I want to turn our attention to our audience and ask them a couple of questions. We have a chat button here as part of this webinar, and I want to encourage our audience to kind of chat in just a couple of things as we're getting started to get each of us thinking about what they're interested in. So, first question for our audience. Go ahead and tell us what industry you're in. We'd love to hear just a little bit about you. And the second question I would love for you guys to chime in on about is one thing that you are hoping to learn from our panelists today. So we'll keep this information top of mind as we walk through the questions. As you're chatting, those answers in I'd also like everyone to know that our next webinar is coming up next Friday, May 8, at the same time. And I kind of geek out about this one. As a former journalist, it's really interesting for me to watch how journalists are covering this pandemic. So we'll bring a team of former reporters who are now on my team at King Communications Group together to interview journalists who are with the Washington Post, wuwm, npr, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You can ask those reporters questions as well. And you can register for that webinar today on our website. So I see that we have quite a few people who are chiming in with questions here, folks who are interested in learning just a little bit about practical strategies to support some staff, also approaches from other industries and leaders, some folks who are interested in hearing about how you're handling things in the nonprofit sector. Hector so these are some of the different aspects that people are really interested in learning from us. So think about those as we get started. So let's go ahead and dig in. I shared with our panelists earlier that really my strategy to keep things organized and keep things moving is to talk with each one of our panelists for about five to seven minutes. We'll start with one question, we might get into one or two other questions, and then we'll get to the next panelist. This gives all of you as participants as well a chance to listen in and really hear what each panelist has to say and formulate some questions of your own that you can also chat to us throughout this webinar. Sarah Fresik, who's our VP of marketing strategy, you see her up here on the screen, is going to be monitoring those questions. And as we get to the end of our discussion with each panelist, we're going to turn to you and we'll pull some of those questions out and have a really thought provoking group discussion. So let's go ahead and begin with Beth. Beth, I'm going to put you on the spot right here at the stop at the start. I have been reading a lot about leadership throughout this pandemic, and I think if you watch the headlines, you see a lot of scrutiny or the spotlight is really put on leaders who are doing things well and leaders who are running into some challenges. New Zealand's prime minister may be a case study in what we're about to talk about today. Beth the headline in our recent Atlantic Monthly article reads, new Zealand's Prime Minister may be the most effective leader on the planet. Jacinda Ardern's leadership style focused on empathy isn't just resonating with her people. It is putting the country on track for success against coronavirus. So my question for you, Beth, is why is empathy, which is kind of a soft skill, it's an ability that has not traditionally been seen as critical for leadership. Why is it being recognized now as so critical for leaders?

Yeah. So thank you very much for having me, Kimberly. And empathy is really interesting. It is traditionally thought of as a soft skill. I actually think it's a critical skill and becoming even more critical during this pandemic. And you mentioned the vice, the president of New Zealand as an example of someone who's leading with empathy and leading with compassion with great success in terms of business outcomes. And I think if you see her, you can see why I've been tuning into some of her, like, Facebook Live sessions as the way of addressing the company. And she's talking about what she's going through through the stay at home order in her sweatshirt because she just finished putting her kids to bed and how challenging it is. So through being able to show that she can connect with people, what everyone is experiencing when they have to stay home, demonstrating that she's just like them and experiencing the same emotions creates a sense of connection, which leads to trust. And ultimately empathy leads to trust. And you need trust in order to move people to action, particularly if you're asking them to go outside of their comfort zone or do something that is uncomfortable or maybe asking them to lead your decision making that you don't necessarily have all the answers. And so that's why I think empathy is really so important, because sometimes you just need people to follow you. You don't have time to lay out the case and, you know, show all the data. And empathy is a great tool in terms of, you know, your whole suite of things around emotional intelligence. In order to be able to do that.

Let's dig in just a little bit more to emotional intelligence and emotions in general. I mean, what role do emotions have in. In the workplace?

Sort of an interesting question in terms of the role that emotions have in the workplace. They exist, I mean, because we're emotional people, so we bring them into the workplace whether we realize it or not. I think the question for a lot of people is how much of your emotions do you allow to come forward in the workplace? And I don't know if there's any real precise answer to that, but I would just say you have to ask yourself two questions. One is, what feels authentic to you and Then two, how's that working for you? And it may be that you have to be able to moderate how much emotion, what types of emotion that you carry forward into the workplace in order to be successful. And that really is emotional intelligence. Being able to gauge and have some type of management over your own emotions and how your emotions can affect the emotions of other people and the impact that that has.

And that's a level of self awareness, right, Is to be aware of how you're feeling and how your emotions are affecting other people. Yeah. One other question for you, Beth, is kind of turning the table on our leaders and really thinking about employees. Based on your experience, and I know you've worked with leaders around the world in your consulting practice. What is it that employees need from leaders?

Especially now, you know, especially now, employees really know, need to know that their leaders care about them, that they truly care about them. Because people are afraid. And there's a lot that's going on in their personal life that they're worried about their health, their family that is bleeding over into the workplace. And so again, in terms of, you know, people are being pushed beyond, outside of their comfort zone, they're being asked to do things, you know, and leaders don't necessarily know all the answers. And so, you know, for people to come along, they really need to know that you really care, that you're leading with a sense of compassion. And I think in these difficult, uncertain, challenging times when leaders don't know all the answers, sometimes the best thing that you can do is to be a sense of emotional support for other people. Sometimes listening and simply asking, how are you doing? Is really the most powerful thing that you can do when you definitely don't know all the answers going forward.

Those are some great insights, Beth. And let's go ahead and turn our attention to Hector Colon, who's the president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services here in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. And Hector, what Beth was saying about leading with compassion, I think really ties in to a leadership philosophy and framework that you have have been leading with at lss and that is servant leadership. Tell us a little bit more about servant leadership and what this philosophy is.

I think it really starts with a fundamental belief that you want to put your staff ahead of everything else and have a strong focus and attention on their health and well being. And there are several tenants to serve in leadership, but I'll focus on three, and they are listening, empathy and development. So it really starts off with listening. So as a CEO, you know, part of our job description is that we come in with a vision, with a direction and strategy, and then we get others to follow and help execute that. I think part of servant leadership is that you co create that with your staff and that you listen to the to you pose strategic questions and you listen to the answers and insights to those questions to develop that strategy and how you're going to move forward. So listening is a key component of servant leadership. And the second one is empathy. So always and part of a strong connection with empathy is listening. So understanding the needs and the concerns of your staff, both from a professional perspective as well as a personal perspective, because you're ultimately very concerned about their health and well being. The better they are personally, the better they're going to be professionally. And professionally you want to make sure that you understand what they need to be successful and really try to provide them with that and be very intentional about that. And the last thing is development. We want to make sure that we're developing our staff, providing them with leadership development opportunities and tools and resources to help them do their job the best they can. And some leaders sometimes feel, well, if I do this, they might stay for a couple of years and then leave and then I waste those resources where servant leaders believe it's just the right thing to do. And when you develop your staff, they're going to operate with excellence and do the best they can for your organization. So I would summarize those three tenets of servant leadership, again, with a really strong focus on making sure you put your staff. Number one.

Hector, how have you and your leadership team applied the tenets of servant leadership to this pandemic? This is a crisis that is lasting much longer than anybody imagined it would last. So how have you applied the tenets of servant leadership even as you've had to make diffic decisions, including furloughs and letting people go?

Yeah, that's a great question. And this is really unprecedented times. And I think that again, servant leadership really bodes well for this time in crisis. Really. Again, listening to the concerns that our staff have, as we're going through these challenging situations, some experience a little bit of more anxiety. Many are really worried about our clients. So really asking intentional questions to see how they're doing and then really trying to provide resources to help them be successful. A lot of open, transparent and frequent communication, soliciting a lot of feedback, allowing questions to come forth on a daily basis, and doing the best we can to answer those questions. In some cases we don't have an immediate response and we let them know we let them know that we'll have to get back to them. We will try to do that as quickly as possible. And through that process, we really develop trust because they know that we want to provide them with the right information. Not necessarily a quick response, but the right response. And through that process, we built a lot of trust.

Hector, purpose can sometimes get set aside during a crisis, but purpose is central to what you do as an organization. How are you using purpose to keep stakeholders connected and even inspired through this crisis?

So purpose is really about the why. And at lss, we have a beautiful why. You know, we serve so many in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Last year, we served 39,000 individuals in the state of Wisconsin and upper Michigan, 91% of which indicated that we improved their quality of life. So this is a huge impact, a huge why. You know, we serve that child in crisis that has nowhere to turn, that family in turmoil that might be facing eviction, that elderly person or that person with a disability that just needs that little bit of assistance from us to be independent and successful in the community, or that person that's fleeing from war and pure persecution. LSS has been the place to turn to for these individuals and more for over 138 years. 138 years. So this is really the why and when. We communicate that with purpose and passion that connects the boards, the leadership team, the staff, as well as our stakeholders.

Okay, Some great insights.

Thank you.

Hector, let's bring Marty Brooks up to the front here and ask you a couple of questions. Marty, you know, you've been at the helm of the Wisconsin Center District now for just about two years, maybe a little bit more. And just as COVID 19 became a threat in the Milwaukee area, you and your team were preparing for a celebration. I mean, you achieved an amazing milestone by getting the WCD board's approval of the expansion. Been working on this, I think, almost since day one, since you started at WCD. Talk about what's happened since April 2nd when the board approved the expansion.

Wow. We've had a team of people working on the expansion really for four years, years prior to me joining the organization. A real milestone hit for us last year when the state of Connecticut agreed to provide its moral obligation behind the bonds we want to issue for the expansion. In August, WCD board authorized me to move forward with funding for the pre construction or pre development aspect of the expansion, which would include hiring an owner's representative, putting out an RFQ for architects, selecting an architect, selecting a construction manager, designing the facility. Because while we Wanted to do an expansion. We had done some studies two, three years ago to get an idea of what the expansion needed to be, but didn't have a real handle on what it would cost to do it. We put the team together in almost record time by March of this year. Had a firm number in the expansion number to provide a facility with the necessary additional exhibition space, 24 more meeting rooms, 400 plus parking spaces, pre function space. A new ballroom came in at a price tag of $419 million. We were prepared. Well, we presented to the full board March 6th of this past year the designs and we're on track to go to the board April 2nd to get their approval to issue the bonds. Because at the March 6 board meeting, Covid really had just started to become an issue within the United States, but had not gotten to the level that we're experiencing now. Shortly after that meeting, March 6th is when the country really began to shut down. And while getting approval on a $419 million project is challenging in the best of circumstances now we had a bond market that was crashing. Board members who were dealing with their own interests in their full time jobs. Yet on April 2, we were able to get the board to rally behind the importance of doing the expansion. And while we haven't issued bonds yet, the key approval that we received was an authorization to move forward with the project once the bond market and the hospitality market rebound so that we can afford the debt service. I think one of the key messages that I shared with the board on March 6 and then again April 2 was the need to support this project. While it would be very easy, given the type of crisis or any crisis that we're in, to say, you know what, let's put everything on hold. And believe me, a number of board members felt very strongly that now was not the time to be looking at committing to a pretty significant commitment on behalf of the district. We looked at it from the opposite lens in that we have a project that is shovel ready and once the market can support our ability to fund this project. While we would have been a part of the resurgence of Milwaukee, this project has the real potential to be a catalyst to the recovery of Milwaukee. Because one of the aspects of this is that there's $100 million in local wages to support the construction of the project over two years. So the disappointing thing is that we're not ready to go to the bond market yet. But what has. It was terrific to get to go ahead April 2, and we continue to work almost daily with the financial Team checking out the market so that when the time comes, we are ready. We have a project that's designed and it's on the shelf ready to go.

Yeah. You know, and as this decision was being made, I think you were thinking, and I remember talking with you about what the celebration could look like. Right. A group of people, champagne. I mean, this was the milestone that to your point, you had been working for four years even before you joined the team. So the emotions were really on an upward tick. And then COVID 19 hit. And I think the decisions that leaders had to make right away to pull back from moving key initiatives like this forward, to put things on hold, it dealt a significant emotional blow. So, you know, you're talking about creating jobs and now all of a sudden you're in a position where you have to pull back and you're in a position where you have to furlough people, where you have to let people go. How do you deal with the emotions of that? And you know, how do you also deal with the kind of emotional toll of. You should call it survivor's guilt.

Right.

Because there are still people on your team who are, you know, leading Wisconsin center district.

Well, emotional question, emotional topic. I made the decision very deliberately not to make any immediate changes to our organization when Governor Ebers issued the Safer at home order. What I did implement is that I told everyone, regardless of their job function, work at home for now, I'll check back with you every two weeks. But we, the only thing we did, and I think it was a week or two after the, we realized what the impact was going to be to the, to the economy was across the board, all full time employees salaried in hourly took a 20% pay reduction. My feeling was then still is that if there's pain to be felt on behalf of the organization, it should be shared across the board. No one specific group should carry that burden. Unfortunately, the financial benefit or reduction in that the cost was not impactful enough. So as the Safer at Home order got extended, it became apparent that it was going to be a while before there was a return to business, return to the hospitality industry, and that we need to do more, which was the layoffs of half our staff. And it was very difficult. And I think what made it even more challenging is that when I've gone through a layoff situation before in other organizations, good or bad, it's been face to face with a person to go through this type of organizational change. And it's all done by phone and then email, it was very unsettling for everyone. And I think the last thing I want to share with you at this point is while I had gone over a list with human resources as far as positions that I felt could be laid off, I didn't make that decision in a vacuum. I reached out to each one of the department heads, did not share with them my list. I asked them, given the situation that we're in and the future as we see it, for the next several weeks, if not months, where can we make some accommodations? And to a person, I was consistent in my thoughts as the department heads because they were the ones that were going to be doing the layoff, conveying that information. And if they don't buy in, we have a bigger problem moving forward. And I think that's been one of the successes, if you want to say that you can have a success in a bad situation, is that the team has rallied behind these difficult decisions and while upsetting, have been supportive of them.

Yeah. And so you're working, Marty, to put yourself in the shoes of your audience, put yourself in the shoes of individuals who have to deliver that information, put yourself in the shoes of individuals who are receiving that information, and try to find ways to communicate in a really respectful and intelligent way. You know, I've had a chance, Marty, to see your leadership meetings, to see you in action. You know, when you're talking with employees as well. And I think authenticity is a word that I would use to describe you. I mean, you really put yourself out there and you're really very present when you're talking with your employees. Why do you think this kind of authenticity is important? And how, as a leader, do you get comfortable coming out from behind a wall of talking points where you're just talking about the business?

Well, in the hospitality business, and that's the business we're in, we own and operate the Wisconsin center, which is the convention center for Milwaukee Panther arena, which is a 10,000 seat multipurpose sports arena, and the Miller High Life Theater, a 4,100 seat Broadway style performing arts center. Our line staff have more interaction with our clients and have more touch points with them than any one of the senior staff. When I joined the organization, it was apparent that it was a me and I culture, not a we culture. And the organization, every department operated in a silo. There was no collaboration. And when you're in the event execution business, if you're not collaborating and sharing information and supporting one another, you can't succeed. We had issued an employee engagement survey eight months into my tenure because I needed to get a handle on and find the benchmark. What do the employees feel about the organization, about the management? What's the relationship? And the information that we got back was confirming our disappointment in that there was a real lack of trust, lack of communication, a lack of leadership in the organization. And we spent many, many months, as you know, trying to develop a vision that could be shared with the staff and enabled us to come up with three pillars, which are the three pillars of what I live with every day in running this business. And I told my lanyard, it's be bold, be proud, be experience obsessed. And everything that we do as an organization, every decision that we make, every meeting that we go into, those three pillars are with us in assessing and guiding us through a decision. And even whether it's the layoffs or reductions in pay, it comes back to how does that connect with be bold, be proud, be experience obsessed.

And an employee engagement survey like that can really put you out there, right? I mean, it really puts you in a vulnerable position where to your point, you're asking employees for candid feedback and you know it's going to be candid feedback, but then you're parroting back to them what you've heard and putting what you've heard into action, where you're connecting with them on that level of kind of inspiration and vision and where we're going together versus continuing to do business as usual. That's a risk for a leader.

I didn't view it as a risk. I saw it truly as an opportunity. And I think one of my biggest disappointments right now is that we had anticipated issuing the follow up a year later this past March that we could see from the benchmark of last of 2018. How have we improved? We've been very deliberate. We took the information from the employee survey and really have used that as a roadmap in engagement with the employees, providing information to them about our business before they read about it in the paper or hear about it on radio and television. We've had an instituted town hall meeting. So there's really been a into action.

Where you're connecting with them, you know, on that level of kind of inspiration.

Very active, thoughtful engagement with our employees, which I know we won't lose. And quite honestly, I think by doing what we did December of 18 and then reacting to that study puts us in a very strong position to come back as a stronger organization when, when this is behind us. Because I believe that the staff sees the metamorphosis that we've taken as an Organization and believe the direction that we're going, believe in the expansion, see that as a real opportunity for us to shine and showcase Milwaukee. I'm confident we're going to come back better as an organization because of taking the risk of doing the employee engagement survey.

That's fantastic. You know, I want to take a step back and actually bring all three of you together for a conversation. I've seen a number of questions pop up in the chat box. And Sarah, you've been monitoring these questions. I wonder if you can pick a question that may represent a theme that you're seeing, areas of interest from the group.

Sure, sure. Hi, everyone. It's been great listening to all of your insights so far. One question that we've gotten thus far, far is more about the. So we're dealing with these emotions today, but how do we reflect on what we've learned now and into the future? So the question that we've gotten, and we've gotten a few like this, when business returns to something closer to normal, what do you think it will take to make your employees feel comfortable again and able to trust leaders like you and your other leadership team members?

Beth, do you want to start us off?

Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I think while this crisis, no one wishes that it has happened, but it has. And it is in fact an opportunity, I think, to emerge stronger because people will remember how you made them feel during this time. And I think for the most part, colleagues, leaders are leading with more compassion, more empathy. They're supporting one another and coming together. So everyone in the organization is now bonded through the experience of having gone through this crisis. And I think that that can have some very positive, long lasting impact if you take the time to reflect on how did leaders, how did colleagues step up in really positive, compelling ways? So everyone in the organization is now bonded through the experience of having gone through this. That helped people informed a sense of strength and foundation going through this crisis. But what were those things and how do we keep doing them going forward? So it becomes sort of ingrained in the way that we operate to further strengthen the culture. So definitely a lot of learning through crisis, a lot of opportunity if we take the opportunity. And I do think that it takes pausing a little bit, reflecting on what actually worked well and how do we incorporate some of those things going forward?

Marty and Hector, do you want to weigh in on any of that? What do you think it will take to make your employees feel comfortable again and trust their leaders, even when you've had to deliver some difficult News to them.

Yeah, I would say that continuing the frequent communication with all of our staff, I think that one thing that has emerged as a result of this crisis is us really coming together. And so we meet daily with leaders all across the organization. And I see each of the leaders helping problem solve with issues that are not related to their direct divisions. And I see that daily. I see people really rising to help one another to be concerned about the clients that they respectively serve. And so I think that what we'd like to do is make sure that we continue the forum and the vehicle for those frequent communications to take place across the whole department. It has been humbling and really inspiring to see everybody come together through this difficult time. And so I think we want to continue to do that on a moving forward basis. Because the more frequent transparent communications you can have, answering the questions of our staff, that's what's going to make them feel comfortable. That's what's going to make them trust and provide them with information, like real information about our financials, about how we're doing as an organization, what we need to do in order to be successful. Because when the organization is successful, the staff will be successful, the individuals we.

Serve will be successful.

Yeah. Fantastic.

Marty.

As I was saying before about what we've been working on the past year and a half, I'm hopeful that there is confidence and trust in the staff and the leadership team that's in place. That's not to say we can't get better. We work every day to get better in our industry. Our success is going to be affected maybe more than most industries by public trust. We don't exist if people aren't coming to our facilities. We don't exist if people don't come to the hotels or go to the restaurants and bars. And one thing that we've been working on within Milwaukee is the various sports teams and other venues that you might look at as competitors are working collaboratively in developing protocols for pre opening activities and then back in business activities. And as much as it's important that we demonstrate to guests and attendees of the events in our buildings, we have to demonstrate the same thing to our staff so that when they come back to work, whether they're a food service person, usher, ticket taker, or even the administrative staff, they feel that the environment that they're coming into is safe and that we are working on their behalf to make sure that we're doing everything necessary to create a safe environment for them. And the worst thing we could do. And while everyone in the organization knows and is being hearing me talk about cost cutting and where can we save money, I will spend money until we have none on making sure that we've got the right cleaning materials, the right cleaning processes, the right equipment in building air filters so that anyone, whether they're an employee or staff member or attendee, feels comfortable. And we demonstrate to them all the time that we're looking out for their best interests.

Yeah, that is really putting them first. Sarah, I have one other quick question I want to jump into and then let's bring in another audience question. And that is really kind of about accountability. Right. So when you're a leader, you're accountable to a bottom line. When you're a leader, you're accountable to the sustainability of the organization. And I think some leaders have shied away from emotional intelligence or empathy for fear that it's going to be more difficult to achieve those objectives. So my question for all three of you and please, you know, feel free to weigh in and please, you know, feel free to chime in on what other folks have to say. But the question is, how do you balance accountability with empathy so that you can ultimately achieve what the business needs?

Well, I'll go first on that one. I don't know. I. What I do is I am reaching out every day, multiple times a day, to the people within the organization that I rely on. Whether it's the finance person, hr, booking, sales, they're all key components of our organization. I need their guidance, I need their support. I don't know that we're going to be able to come out of this and go, oh, everything's good financially. Based upon the research we're having done, we're looking at a U shaped recovery that's going to take us two to three years to get back to where we were prior to COVID 19. So I don't have the answer. I can tell you it's a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of coffee.

You are talking about transparency. And I think that's part of it is really being honest and upfront about, you know, we're all in this together and transparency may be maybe a part of that. Beth or Hector, how do you balance accountability? Go ahead.

Yeah. So you use the word balance. I don't know if I see it as so much of a balancing act. I think it is the job of the leader to lead with emotional intelligence. Empathy being a big piece of that for all the reasons that we talked about before. It builds.

Sure. Booking, sales, they're all key components of our organization. I need their guidance, I need their support. I don't know that we're going to be able to come out of this and go, oh, everything's good financially. Based upon the research we're having done, we're looking at a U shaped recovery trust.

And that is how you move people to action. If any business or organization is going to grow or achieve whatever goals that they have, you are asking people to give, to push outside of their comfort zone, Whether that's learn new skills, move into new jobs, follow you into a stretch strategy that has stretch assignments. People make decisions based on emotion and they will follow you if they have trust in you. And empathy, emotional intelligence is really the foundation for that. So I think when leaders start to think, well, how do I balance it? Is this the right amount of emphasis that I put in these more emotional qualities?

It's going to take us two to three years to get back to where we were prior to COVID 19. So I don't have the answer. I can tell you it's a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of.

I think they're probably thinking about it the wrong way. To me, it is integrated and it's integral and central to leadership. And I think some people naturally have a way of leading by putting people first or at least being able to consider the human element of that. But I would argue that the more senior you go, the more that becomes important. I think when you're first starting a.

Lot of coffee, you are talking about transparency. And I think that's part of it is really being honest and upfront about, you know, we're all in this together and transparency.

Maybe starting out in your career, the most important thing is to be really good at your job and probably to rely more on your technical skills. You're more of a subject matter expert. The higher up you go. Leadership, you're leading people, you're asking people to follow you. You have to ground that.

Beth or Hector, how do you balance accountability?

Go ahead in, you know, strategy, but also the connection with people. So to me, it's essential an effective leader if you're going to hold people accountable. And I wouldn't conf.

Yeah.

So you use the word balance. I don't know if I see it as so much of a balancing act. I think it is the job of the leader to lead. When you use empathy with kindness or niceness, you can be empathetic and hold people accountable. And that's how you get the best out of people. You, if they trust you, they're going to want to give more, they're going to want to push beyond their comfort zone to give more. They're going to feel safe to offer up their best ideas. If emotional intelligence, empathy being a big piece of that, for all the reasons that we talked about before, it builds to take risks. So I think it's not a balance. I think it's integral integration.

Great.

Yeah. I think that if you have empathy with your staff, you're going to achieve great results. And I don't think that they're in conflict. I think the more you care about your staff, the more you are concerned about their health and well being, the more you are attentive to address, to provide them with the tools and resources they need to be successful, the better the results are going to be. And again, I don't believe it's in conflict. So you can have accountability to results to make sure that we're moving the organization forward because if you don't, it might impact your co worker or it might impact the viability of the organization not only during this crisis or during this year, but for the years to come that ultimately can impact the health and well being of many within the organization. So I believe that empathy is really critical component to embed within the culture to achieve great results and I don't believe they're in conflict.

Sarah, do you want to weigh in with another couple of questions? I see a few more popping up.

Absolutely. There's one here that really relates to a lot of the comments that you've all made. We've seen people really step up during this crisis. We've seen creativity and people taking on tasks and that they're not normally responsible for. But have you ever found any staff members who are voluntarily stepping up during a time of change or crisis, but sometimes their efforts are either hazardous or impulsive and maybe not in the best interest of the business. How as leaders do you manage that energy and harness that without suppressing their optimism? Any Marty, I know your team's been pretty creative and you've got a leadership team full of energy. Have you had to redirect efforts? Any thoughts?

Probably not. Handled it as directly as I should have and might do under different circumstances. I've gotten a number of very interesting and creative opportunities that have been suggested. We follow. And I've not responded back as promptly as I should have, which is code for I haven't responded back at all because I've been focusing on other things. I want to make sure the last thing I want to do is impact someone so that they don't offer up a suggestion, you can't personalize it. And so I've had it happen. I haven't really handled it that well, put that in the needs to improve category.

But there's the authenticity in you, Marty. I mean, come on, you get points for that. Hector.

Yeah, I was going to say, Hector, you've talked about some of the creative things your team has come up with lately. Any thoughts?

I would say that one of the best things I can do is not speak a lot when creativity emerges and ideas, because really what happens is the rest of the team, they're going to disagree. Conflict is great, by the way. And so if there's disagreement or people enhance their ideas through another thought, and I think if I remain more quiet in those conversations, the better those ideas will emerge. And so really that's been my approach. Sometimes I give insights, but for the most part I see good dialogue happening, even conflict. And great things have been happening as a result of that.

I would just add maybe one way to mitigate it. Like you want people to take risks and offer creative ideas, but you don't want to squash their enthusiasm is just be very clear on the front end what the goal or the desired outcome is, or if there are any guardrails around how someone should operate. That way at least you're going in with alignment on the outcome and you don't have to micromanage how someone approaches to get there. But hopefully whatever they're thinking is sort of within the confines of the desired outcome. And try not to micromanage them along the way. But certainly be available for support, guidance and coaching so that enthusiasm can maybe be harnessed for good rather than to derail things.

Absolutely. You want to continue that energy, harness it for the future. One other question that we've gotten from audience member Chelsea asking about how are you seeing emotion and emotional acceptance changing during COVID 19? Have we seen any shifts in displays of emotion at a higher level? And are we more accepting of emotional displays during this time?

Can I if that Chelsea has a similar surname as I do.

Oh my gosh. I'm just noticing. Is that a family member?

I think it's a family member putting.

Dad on the spot perhaps. Huh.

Since we've mentioned my one daughter, I've got to mention Samantha's name also. Otherwise they'll be held to pay back home. Yeah, I think from. From what I'm experiencing is a real challenge in for me, someone who has never been a real fan of working remotely, especially by being in the hospitality Business where one on one connections are critical. All but four of us are working remotely right now. And it's a very emotional roller coaster not having that direct contact with people. And while zoom is terrific and conferences are terrific, the interplay and the person and the interaction with people in the hallway conversations creates tremendous stress, especially because you're going from your workplace, whether it's a room in your home or an office, back to your home where you're in essence trapped. So there's a lot of stimulation that we're used to getting that we're not getting. And I think that's weighing certainly on me and I would expect others as well.

You know, I would add, yes, I do think there's probably more of a display of emotion during crisis that is natural. And I think people are experiencing a whole lot of emotions and the stress on top of it, you know, really brings that forward. You know, what does that mean for the next normal? Again, I think the emotions that we display today will be remembered, good and bad. So the only thing I might suggest is leaders are really anyone be as thoughtful as possible as you can. Assume that others have best intentions so that you can sort of moderate your emotions and invest in a lot of self care so you can, you know, reduce your own stress and anxiety and lead with optimism as much as possible because people will remember the things that you say to them, how they're said well beyond, because this is such a memorable moment that we're all going through. So let's optimize this, the display of emotions for good. Let's air in the side of comfort, calm, compassion, and try to, as much as we can, invest in self care to keep stress, anxiety, anger at bay because it will be remembered.

Thank you.

Just the other day I asked my leadership team how, how are our staff doing? Back to the emotion question. And I received some responses that kind of surprised me and I'll share some with you. The layoff week was tough, but now we're getting back into the groove. The culture is strong and very positive. We've had more initiative than ever before. Upbeat and positive, very thankful, want to get back to work and meet our goals. Very appreciative of the frequent communication and one. So all that was very positive. One additional thing is that they're a little fearful that there may be additional layoffs because we did temporarily lay off 60 individuals and are not hiring an additional 60 individuals that were in our budget. But I thought that was very encouraging when I posed a question to hear lot of positive stuff there versus you know, I thought I would hear about anxiety and people just upset and those kinds of things. So it just shows that I believe that this team here is leading with a servant led heart and trying to do all the right things and articulating the why and bringing in the right information so that people understand. But it's not easy. This is very difficult. But this is what I just heard just the other day.

Yeah, that's fantastic. And so honest. You know, as we lean into the last 10 minutes of this webinar, I'd love to take a look at kind of how we're going to take what we're learning from you here today and lean into the future. So we're all learning a lot during this crisis. We're learning that we can work remotely or we have to work remotely in some cases, whether we like it or not. We're learning how to run webinars. We're lear, you know, how to be patient and how to be adaptable. But you know, from your perspective, when we look back on this crisis, how do you think emotional intelligence will have played a role in helping organizations become even stronger through this crisis? Beth, do you want to start with that one?

So I would say I feel like this crisis is making good leaders great and great leaders exceptional because of emotional intelligence and empathy that is really coming to the forefront. And I think for a lot of people it is just sort of the natural reaction because this is a crisis that has impacted everyone in some way. So in some regards we are all bonded through this experience. Experience. And so I think the learning and the emerging stronger is that leaders are realizing that empathy, emotional intelligence, emotional connection with others is really helpful and impactful in terms of business outcomes. And I think that they will continue to do that. I think leaders who have not been able to step up in this way, in this critical time when employees and team members need that the most probably won't fare too well going forward. So I think it'll sort of like, you know, maybe wash out the bad leaders. But I think good leaders have become great and great leaders are really becoming exceptional. And I think that will carry forward.

You know, I saw a survey real quickly, Marty and Hector, before you jump in, surveys and studies are just beginning to come out that demonstrate that people are watching brands very closely today and they're watching how we're responding through this COVID 19 pandemic health and safety and well being of customers and stakeholders, employees is really rating very high for the brands who are standing out well and those brands who are not standing out well are ones that are not demonstrating those characteristics. So I'm just wondering from your perspective, Marty and Hector as well, how you see emotional intelligence playing a role in the future of your organizations.

I think this has really brought out the best in us as leaders, as people within the organization. I think about emotional intelligence. I think a lot about self awareness. And when we are aware of our own challenges, our own anxieties, our own situations, as we go through these, through these challenging times to make sure we reflect on that and don't bring those anxieties, those worries to the workplace. So that's very important, that we reflect on our own situation and make sure we come to work ready, prepared and very energetic and enthusiastic. So I think self awareness and then also just self regulation. And so in the midst of these challenges, how do you respond to situations and being very thoughtful and, you know, think about things before you react to certain situations? Maybe you don't have to have an answer right away, maybe it could be tomorrow. And one thing I do personally every night is I do an examination of conscience. And I literally ask myself, you know, what did I do well today? And I cherish that. And I asked myself, how can I repeat that tomorrow? But then I also challenged myself, what didn't I do so well today? Or did I respond to a situation that I probably could have responded in a different way to yield a better result. But then I try to get into the root of that, like why did I do that? And really be reflective of that so I don't try to make the same mistake the next day. So I think this crisis has brought out empathy, awareness amongst a lot of us and I think it's going to make us better.

Certainly this situation has, has shown us all the stress that we all have in our day to day lives. And one of the things that came to me, this is a stupid analogy I thought of as Hector or Beth were talking and that's as a leader, you only lead cattle to slaughter one time. As a leader of an organization, you have to lead every day. And for me that means that the staff trusts me, they trust the decisions that we collaboratively are making, that we're not looking to harm anyone. And it's really building a team that shares a vision that then executes it. So, and part of that is tied to emotional intelligence. How have you reacted? Have you been emotional at the right times? I'm a very emotional, very passionate person. I have been known to fly off in a meeting when things have gone not the way I would want them to, but I never make it personal. It's dealing with the situation, and then what can we do better so that we don't repeat that mistake? And it's tied to the emotion of the moment and the person.

So we've learned a lot from each of you here today, and I'm a big believer, a big fan of continuous learning. So if you're thinking about continuous learning, I would love to know if there's one leader who's top of mind who stands out to you as a leader, who is led with emotional intelligence, and maybe what is one thing that that leader has done that you think stands out that folks should follow up on? Beth, is there someone that comes up? Oh, go ahead, Hector.

Well, yeah, so when you say, like, a leader who connects with others, I mean, honestly, the first person who comes to mind is Oprah, you know, and, I mean, I think she's Oprah because of that quality. I mean, she is able to bring up the best in others and connect. No matter if she's doing an interview, she can engage and read the audience and her authenticity, showing up without makeup. Yeah, I'm not doing that. So I think she's Oprah, and she connects with. She's like, everyone's Oprah. Like, everyone feels like they know Oprah. She's connected with every human in the world, almost because of these qualities that we were talking about. She has them in spade. So not a traditional leader in, like, the business. She owns a huge business, so I guess so. But yeah, that is just, like, literally the first person who comes to my mind.

She's captivated global audiences, so that's a good one. Hector, how about you?

You know, if it's one person, I'm gonna say Jesus Christ. He came not to be served, but to serve. And he sacrificed his life for many and had a huge following. Arguably one of the most influential individuals in the history of the world. And so you can learn a lot from him. And I really admire him very much. If I could, say, give a shout out to my executive team. Each and every one of them are just truly amazing. And I have personally learned so much from each and every one of them. And so I'm very thankful to be surrounded by them and also learn from them.

Fantastic, Marty.

I'm going to go a different route than Beth and Hector based upon the current issues that we're dealing with now. Even beforehand, I spend a lot of time watching CNN and watching the Cuomo brothers, Andrew and Chris. As governor of New York, I have been inspired by the way, he is communicating information. Oftentimes not necessarily a popular position. But I've really admired his, what I perceive to be what's in the best interest of his state first and being trust.

And that is how you move people to action. If any business or organization is going to grow or achieve whatever goals that they have. You are asking people to give, to push outside of their comfort zone. Whether that's learn new skills, move into new jobs, follow you into a stretch strategy that has stretch assignments. People make decisions based on emotion and they will follow you if they have trust in you. And empathy, emotional intelligence is really the foundation for that. So I think when leaders start to think, well, how do I balance it? Is this the right amount of emphasis that I put in these more emotional qualities? I think they're probably thinking about it the wrong way. To me, it is integrated and it's integral and central to leadership. And I think some people naturally have a way of leading by putting people first or at least being able to consider the human element of that. But I would argue that the more senior you go, the more that becomes important. I think when you're first starting out in your career, the most important thing is to be really good at your job and probably to rely more on your technical skills. You're more of a subject matter expert. The higher up you go leadership, you're leading people, you're asking people to follow you. You have to ground that in strategy, but also the connection with people. So to me, it's essential of an effective leader if you're going to hold people accountable. And I wouldn't confuse empathy with kindness or niceness. You can be empathetic and hold people accountable, and that's how you get the best out of people. If they trust you, they're gonna want to give more. They're gonna want to push beyond their comfort zone to give more. They're going to feel safe to offer up their best ideas and to take risks. So I think it's not a balance. I think it's integral integration.

Great.

Yeah. I think that, you know, if you have empathy with your staff, you're going to achieve great results. And I don't think that they're in conflict. I think the more you care about your staff, the more you are concerned about their health and well being, the more you are attentive to address, to provide them with the tools and resources they need to be successful, the better their results are going to be. And again, I don't believe it's in conflict. So you can have accountability to results to make sure that we're moving the organization forward. Because if you don't, it might impact your co worker or it might impact the viability of the organization, not only during this crisis or during this year, but for the years to come that ultimately can impact the health and well being of many within the organization. So I believe that empathy is really a critical component to embed within the culture to achieve great results. And I don't believe they're in conflict.

Sarah, do you want to weigh in with another couple of questions? I see a few more popping up.

Absolutely. There's one here that really relates to a lot of the comments that you've all made. We've seen people really step up during this crisis. We've seen creativity and people taking on tasks that they're not normally responsible for. But have you ever found any staff members who are voluntarily stepping up during a time of change or crisis? But sometimes their efforts are either hazardous or impulsive and maybe not in the best interest of the business. How, as leaders, do you manage that energy and harness that without suppressing their optimism? Any Marty, I know your team's been pretty creative and you've got a leadership team full of energy. Have you had to redirect efforts? Any thoughts?

Probably not. Handled it as directly as I should have and might do under different circumstances. I've gotten a number of very interesting and creative opportunities that have been suggested. We follow, and I've not responded back as promptly as I should have, which is code for I haven't responded back at all because I've been focusing on other things. I want to make sure the last thing I want to do is impact someone so that they don't offer up a suggestion. You can't personalize it. So I've had it happen. I haven't really handled it that well. Put that in the needs to improve category.

But there's the authenticity in you, Marty. I mean, come on, you get points for that. Hector?

Yeah, I was going to say, Hector, you've talked about some of the creative things your team has come up with lately. Any thoughts?

I would say that one of the best things I can do is not speak a lot when creativity emerges and ideas, because really what happens is the rest of the team, they're going to disagree. Conflict is great, by the way. And so if there's disagreement or people enhance their ideas through another thought, and I think if I remain more quiet in those conversations, the better those ideas will emerge. And so really that's been my approach. Sometimes I Give insights. But for the most part, I see good dialogue happening, even conflict. And great things have been bullish when.

He needed to be, bullish and acknowledging and thanking when he needed to be. And then Chris Cuomo, who those of you who don't follow CNN know he came down with COVID 19 himself and continued to broadcast from his basement. And just being able to share through his eyes what he was experiencing was very insightful and happened as a result of that.

I would just add maybe one way to mitigate it. Like you want people to take risks and offer creative ideas, but you don't.

Want to help me get a connection to an issue that fortunately I have not experienced or anyone that I know firsthand have experienced. So that's at this moment, at this time, those would be the people I'm admiring the most.

Those are great responses leaders who all of them have led with resilience. They have taken risks, they've put themselves out there and they've asked to squash.

Their enthusiasm is just be very clear on the front end what the goal or the desired outcome is or if there any guardrails around.

Great questions. And clearly all of them are putting people first. So those are great responses to all of you. And everything you've shared with us has given us tools and ideas I think that we can apply to our own lives and maybe we can apply to our workplaces to help reshape the work environment so it can be more emotionally intelligent and more effective as we get back to work. So Marty Brooks, Hector Colon, Beth Ridley, thank you all so much for joining us for this webinar today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kimberly, thank you so much.

Pleasure being here with all of you.

Yeah. And thank you to everyone who has joined us, stayed with us, chatted in questions for all of us. We hope you'll join us again next Friday at noon.

How someone should operate that way. At least you're going in with alignment on the outcome and you don't have to micromanage how someone approaches to get there. But hopefully whatever they're thinking is sort of within the confines of when we'll be back here.

We'll be talking about reporters who are on the front lines of COVID once.

The desired outcome and try not to micromanage them along the way.

But story has dominated the headlines worldwide for months. So how are these journalists wading through mixed messages and deep divisions that are created by this pandemic? How are they finding other stories to report on today? So two other Caine team members will actually join me for that webinar. They're facing former journalists James Burnett and Steve Jagler. So we'll talk a little bit about how we see news coverage today and then we'll turn the tables. If you speak on those three journalists from the Washington Post, wuwm, NPR and the Journal Sentinel to get their stories of how their lives have changed.

Certainly be available for support, guidance and coaching so that enthusiasm can maybe be.

Harnessed for we're good since the pandemic began. You can register for that webinar on our website today.

Other than you know to do to derail things, Absolutely.

You want to continue.

So thank you again everyone for being with us today for a fantastic webinar and we hope you'll stay in touch.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Continue that energy, harness it for the future. One other question that we've gotten from audience member Chelsea asking about how are you seeing emotion and emotional acceptance changing during COVID 19? Have we seen any shifts in displays of emotion at a higher level? And are we more accepting of emotional displays during this time?

If that Chelsea has a similar surname as I do.

Oh my gosh. I'm just noticing. Is that a family member?

I think it's a family member putting.

Dad on the spot perhaps, huh?

Since we've mentioned my one daughter, I've got to mention Samantha's name also, otherwise they'll be hell to pay back home. I think from what I'm experiencing is a real challenge in for me, someone who has never been a real fan of working remotely, especially by being in the hospitality business where one on one connections are critical. All before of us are working remotely right now and it's a very emotional roller coaster not having that direct contact with people. And while zoom is terrific and conferences are terrific, the interplay and the person and the interaction with people in the hallway conversations creates tremendous stress, especially because you're going from your workplace, whether it's a room in your home or an office, back to your home where you're in essence trapped. So there's a lot of stimulation that we're used to getting that we're not getting a and I think that's weighing certainly on me and I would expect others as well.

You know, I would add, yes, I do think there's probably more of a display of emotion during crisis that is natural. And I think people are experiencing a whole lot of emotions and the stress on top of it, you know, really brings that forward. You know, what does.