In this rapid‑fire “6 questions in 7 minutes” interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Annalisa, known as “The Untherapist,” an emotional‑literacy educator and author of the book The Untherapist. Annalisa explains her mission to help people understand their own emotions and those of others, describing the transformative “aha” moments she witnesses when clients grasp emotional dynamics in difficult business relationships. She argues that the most critical chapter for any company is one on Emotional Literacy, emphasizing the need for a robust personality model to manage triggers and improve communication. When asked for advice beyond generic platitudes, she stresses that leaders should align their work with their passion—if you have to be told to work harder, you’re likely in the wrong role. She also shares a personal anecdote about her first job milking cows on her uncle’s dairy farm in Minnesota, illustrating early hard‑work experiences. The episode closes with a plug for her website TheUntherapist.com and her newly released book, available on Amazon.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
I am Annalisa, the Untherapist. I am an emotional literacy educator. That's always a mouthful to say. And I teach people how to understand themselves and others better.
Annalisa, it's so great to have you on the show. Question number 2, what is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
Well, I guess my industry is kind of self-help with help. And I would say what makes me smile is when people people get it, they have that learning epiphany where maybe they were in a really difficult business partnership with someone and I help them understand how that partner ticks and what they can do to communicate better. And all of a sudden it goes from impossible to completely understandable. And that moment makes me so happy and gives me chills. I get chills right now just talking about it. And it gets me up in the morning and makes me wanna do more.
Oh, I love hearing that. And the passion in your voice is so contagious. Love it. Question number 3, I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
They should jump straight to the chapter called Emotional Literacy. Because if you don't know how to read and understand your own emotions and the emotions of others, you are going to be a bad employer sometimes. You are going to be a bad, you're gonna get bad at customer service. You're going to trigger and not know what to do with it. Your employees or your clients are gonna trigger and you're not gonna understand what happened. So skip straight to the emotional literacy chapter, find a robust personality model that you can kind of learn all these different ways to understand and interact with people and figure out how to deal with your emotional triggers.
Mm, love it. That's very insightful. Thank you. Question number 4: other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice would you give to other business leaders?
The first thing I would say is I wouldn't give any of that advice to business leaders, because I think that if you have to be told to work harder as an owner or a leader in business, you're probably doing the wrong job. You're probably in the wrong business. I think that those of us who have found a match between our passion and how we can make money, we don't have to be told to work harder. We just do work hard. And I think even a lot of people who are doing what they don't like already work hard enough. And I think the attitude comes with loving what you do. And I think, what was the other thing? An attitude and taking good care of your customers. Again, if you love what you're doing, that is naturally going to happen. You're going to want to take care of them. So I think the advice I would give instead of those would be make sure that you love what you're doing. We get one life. And it's so very critical to spend that life meaningfully. And because we spend so much of our time at work and generating money in these various ways, find a way to get paid for what you love to do.
I love that. It's so, so critical as well because, you know, if you're doing what you love to do, it doesn't feel like work. Am I right?
Absolutely.
I love it, love it. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
I do have a really close friend who's an HR professional and she's really good at what she does. I'd have to talk to her first, but I think she might be a really good fit for your podcast.
Perfect. I'll wait to hear from you about that.
And excellent.
Our final question, question number 6: Please tell me about your first job.
I milked cows. That was the job. It was my uncle's dairy farm up in Minnesota. I lived in Texas and every summer I get to escape my family and go work on my uncle's dairy farm. It was up at 5, asleep by midnight, and it was such hard work, but I got to be away from all of the hard work of being at home. And I honestly kind of loved it.
Well, I got to tell you that that was the first milking cow, first job that I've had. So you're, you on there and I end up on your LinkedIn profile. Surprising.
I should have put that on there. I know that really makes— that puts me above the competition, I'm sure.
I'm sure. Well, at least it'll make you stand out.
That's right.
That's right. Oh, so Annalisa, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
TheUntherapist.com is the best way. I also just released a book about a month ago by the same name, The Untherapist, and that's on Amazon. Um, so that's the fastest way to reach me.
Well, and congratulations on the new book, and this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
