Dr. Cara compares emotions to phone notifications: they signal something about your inner state. Leaders typically either ignore them or react impulsively. The better move is to notice the feeling, pause to understand what it means, then choose your response.
I want you to think about your phone for a second. When you get a text message notification, what do you do? You look at it. You don't ignore it. You don't throw the phone across the room. You check to see what's actually there. Now, here's what I want you to sit with. Our emotions work the exact same way. Frustration after that Tuesday meeting, that's a notification. The anxiety that shows up when your name is left off an email chain, Notification. The tightness in your chest when a conversation goes sideways. Notification. Your inner world is sending you a message that something needs your attention. And the mistake that most leaders make is one of two things. They either ignore the notification entirely, pushing through, which means the feeling goes unprocessed and shows up later as a reaction they didn't choose, or they open the notification immediately and forward it to everyone in the building. Connected leadership is a third option. You receive the notification, you pause before you respond to it, and then you decide what that actually means and what to do with it.
