“Empathy is not being soft,” says Jevon Wooden, CEO of BrightMind Consulting Group and today’s guest on The Leadership Growth Podcast.

Jevon is a sought-after keynote speaker, coach, and consultant specializing in empathetic leadership. His proven strategies have been featured in major publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc. Magazine.

In this episode, Daniel, Peter, and Jevon discuss in detail the role of empathy in leadership–and why, as Jevon says, empathy is key to managing any situation.

Tune in to learn:

• The difference between being empathetic and having empathy
• The role of humility in being an empathetic leader
• How people leaders can better understand technical leaders

Bring empathy to your leadership with Jevon’s insights and tips, and watch engagement and results improve.

In this episode:

1:21 – Introduction: Jevon Wooden

9:22 – Empathy as a Skill

17:40 – Improving Business Results and People Results with Empathy

24:52 – Misusing Empathy?

30:15 – Lightning Round

BrightMind Consulting Group

Stewart Leadership Insights and Resources:

• 4 Ways to Prime Your Brain to Receive Feedback
• Five Behaviors to Help Develop Your Emotional Intelligence
• 6 Ways to Regulate Your Emotions for Leadership Effectiveness
• 10 Questions to Help You Manage Up
• 5 Executive Presence “Superpowers” of Quiet Leaders
• 6 Keys to Working Well With Your Employees

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

When it comes to accountability, the traditional approach has put leaders in charge of holding others accountable. Often this approach translates into a fear-based, command-and-control, “I have the authority, and I’m going to tell you what to do” approach to accountability.

But does this approach work in the modern workplace? (And, we might ask, did it ever work?)

In this episode, Daniel and Peter dive into the myth of accountability–the idea that leaders must hold their people accountable. This myth often leads to micromanaging, conflict, and a kind of “parent-child” approach to leadership.

Daniel and Peter suggest a better path–one that encourages a culture of self-accountability where teams work together in a partnership to deliver results.

Tune in to learn:

• What the CMC model of accountability is–and why it works
• How to encourage self-accountability as a leader
• What to do if your team resists an approach of self-accountability

Plus, some thoughts on Artificial Intelligence, including a big announcement! And remembering leadership lessons on VHS (that’s “Video Home System” for those of you under 40).

In this episode:

1:30 – Insight of the Week: Artificial Intelligence

8:52 – Memory Lane: Leadership Lessons on Video–Before YouTube!

14:20 – Topic: The Myth of Accountability

33:46 – Lightning Round

Stewart Leadership Insights and Resources:

• Ask a Coach: How do I hold others accountable? (Video)
• Leadership Lesson: Employees are Like Turtles
• The Accountability Scale
• Four Keys to Creating Accountability
• 4 Ways to Create Layers of Accountability in a Virtual Environment
• How to Delegate Like a Pro
• Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Our Brains on Feedback
• Matching Managerial Oversight to Employee Competence
• 3 Ways to Avoid Being a Micromanager

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Are you “all that and a bag of chips”?

We all need an ego. As Peter says, ego serves a function.

But too much ego might translate into steamrolling over others. And too little ego can mean withdrawing and allowing others to steamroll over you.

There’s a good balance between being secure in your own voice without stomping out the voice of others. Good ego management is really intentional humility.

In this episode, Peter and Daniel take a deep dive into ego management–why it’s important, how to bounce back from hits to our egos, and why too little ego can be just as much a problem as too much.

Tune in to learn:

• The “antidote” to ego
• The one thing to keep in mind for ego management
• The value of “safe places” in managing ego

Plus, how feedback has changed–and how it hasn’t–through the decades, and the balance between glory and work.

In this episode:

2:42 – Memory Lane: Feedback Tools Through the Generations

5:58 – Insight of the Week

13:18 – Topic: Ego Management

32:47 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Freakonomics Podcast Episode 592: How to Make the Coolest Show on Broadway

Gallup Q12 Engagement Survey

Stewart Leadership Insights and Resources:

• Lobsters and Egos
• The Lobster and the Ego (Video)
• Big Bear, Little Ego
• You Do Need an Ego! But How Much?
• Leadership: It’s Not About You Anymore

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.