Christian Business Concepts
Christian Business Concepts
Unlock Leadership Strength By Developing Emotional Intelligence
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with your host, harold Milby. Christian Business Concepts is dedicated to guiding companies and business owners in becoming effective, efficient and successful through God's Word and godly principles. Now, here's your host, harold Milby.
Speaker 2:Thank you, kelly, and welcome everyone to this week's Christian Business Concepts weekly podcast. You know this is Harold Milby, I'm your host and I'm so thankful and very humbled for you downloading and listening to this podcast and others. And you know, thousands have listened to CBC and in many countries around the world and here in the United States, and you know, every one of you represents CBC and the CBC community and I'm just so appreciative of you being a part and I just want to thank you as we try each week to help you apply biblical principles, you know, to different business topics that will help you find true godly success. So our goal here is to reach over 1 million businesses and organizational leaders and I'm asking for your help in doing that by sharing this podcast with four or five others and sharing the link to this podcast and each week's podcast on your Facebook and your LinkedIn pages and to try to encourage others to listen. Now, before we get into today's topic, I'd like to give a big shout out to Frankfurt, germany, for downloading so many downloads. Thank you, germany, and thanks to all of you all over the world, including the United States, for being a part of this awesome community. I appreciate you all you know, as Christian business leaders, our encompasses the spiritual and the emotional well-being of ourselves and of other people that we serve and that we lead. And in order to do that, it takes something called emotional intelligence, and we can call it EI for short. But emotional intelligence is a critical, critical component of being an effective leader, particularly for those that are seeking to model Christ-like behavior.
Speaker 2:And today I want to take a kind of a deeper dive. You know I've talked about emotional intelligence before, but I really want to take a deeper dive into emotional intelligence in order to help us to understand its importance and its possible effects. So let me kind of give you a little bit of history so we can talk about where this whole concept came from. So back in the early 20s is kind of where this root of emotional intelligence can be traced to, and it goes back to a man by the name of Edward Thorndyke and he was an American psychologist and he introduced this concept of social intelligence in the 1920s and he defined it as the ability to understand and manage men and women, boys and girls to act wisely in human relations. Now you fast forward to 1983, and you have a man by the name of Howard Gardner and he was a developmental psychologist and he expanded the understanding of this EI in his book, and the book was called Frames of Mind. And in his book he explains the theory of these multiple intelligences and he proposed that intelligence is not a single entity but it includes other things like interpersonal intelligence, which is the understanding of others, and interpersonal intelligence, that's understanding oneself, and these things align closely with the components of emotional intelligence.
Speaker 2:You know, the term emotional intelligence was first formally introduced by a man by the name of Peter Solovey, and he later became the president of Yale University. It was him and a guy named John Meyer, a psychologist him and a guy named John Meyer, a psychologist that they put together an academic paper in 1990 called Emotional Intelligence, and they defined it as the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions. And then, in 1995, there was a bestseller that was written, also by a psychologist and also journalist, by the name of Daniel Goleman. He wrote a book called Emotional Intelligence why it Can Matter More Than IQ, and Goleman just took and expanded on Salovey and Mayer's work, framing emotional intelligence as a critical skill. He was the one that said this is a critical skill for success in leadership and in business and he identified five key components of emotional intelligence, which are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills In his book really kind of got the ball rolling. It really sparked a widespread interest in applying emotional intelligence to leadership, to corporate culture, to professional development, and so that was kind of the book that kind of set it out. But the great thing about it is that this isn't anything new according to the Word of God and we'll get into some of that, but this is just something that's based really a lot on the Word of God and we'll get into some of that, but this is just something that's based really a lot on the Word of God.
Speaker 2:You know, the integration of this into leadership theory and into practice really began to take hold in the early 2000s. It was considered a soft skill that most leaders needed to learn. There was research that was done by organizations like Harvard Business Review and they talked about showing leaders how important it was to have emotional intelligence and how that in some of these research it showed that the people with high emotional intelligence consistently outperformed those with lower emotional intelligence. So then there became training programs and executive coaching took place with EI and you know there was a lot of assessments that were done to help leaders improve and to improve their decision making and their conflict resolution, their communication. And so today here we are, in the 21st century, you know, and emotional intelligence remains a really important component of leadership. I don't think it's ever going to go away. Maine's a really important component of leadership. I don't think it's ever going to go away. And especially when we talk about navigating through challenges like remote work teams and global teams and diversity, you know rapid change and uncertainty. You know where you have to be really adaptable, and tools like EQ 2.0, that's emotional quotient inventory they're used for measuring and developing emotional intelligence and leaders today.
Speaker 2:So what I want to do is I want to give you some examples briefly here for people who have emotional intelligence. So Satya Nadella she's the CEO of Microsoft and she's a good example of self-awareness, which is part of this emotional intelligence. When Nadella became CEO, he acknowledged Microsoft's need to move away from a culture of kind of internal competition to more of one, that's, one of collaboration. You know. He really recognized the company's flaws. He set forth a real clear vision for this cultural transformation, if you will. He also exemplified empathy and it was very evident, I think, in the efforts that he did to make Microsoft a more inclusive workspace or workplace. You know his personal experience of raising a child with special needs. It really kind of gave him a greater, more deeper understanding of this diversity and he inspired a lot of company policies that supported employees that had maybe some unique challenges like they did.
Speaker 2:And then you have Howard Schultz. He was the founder and former CEO of Starbucks, and Schultz prioritized employee well-being by introducing a lot of health insurance for part-time employees and stock options. You know he had this ability to connect with the workforce and this really fostered this strong sense of trust and loyalty. So he was able to have empathy for the employees. But he also had resilience and motivation, because Schultz's commitment to Starbucks' mission of creating this welcoming atmosphere really helped the company recover from financial difficulties during the 2008 recession.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, another good example is Oprah Winfrey. You know her self-awareness and empathy is shown through. You know her ability really to connect really deeply with her audience. You know she often shares of her own personal struggles. You know she was very vulnerable, but you know, because of that, she was able to build trust and she had really great social skills, her ability to really build these strong relationships, and she fostered collaboration. It's really been the cornerstone of her brand, if I can say it that way, and it resulted in some really good partnerships and opportunities that really amplify her influence.
Speaker 2:And then you have Elon Musk, who's the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and X, and you know he really showed a lot of motivation and resilience. You know Musk. He's critiqued a lot of times for his intensity and his relentless motivation and inspire. His teams, though, have led to some really groundbreaking innovation innovation in multiple industries. He tried and practiced self-regulation. He really showed growth in regulating his public communication over time, particularly after he faced a lot of backlash for some impulsive comments that he made on social media. So he's learned from that, and that's all we can ask.
Speaker 2:And then there's Mary Barra, who's the CEO of General Motors. She showed a lot of empathy during the transformation time with GM. She led them through these changes, including introducing electric vehicles and restructuring the company, including introducing electric vehicles and restructuring the company. She demonstrated this empathy by communicating very transparently with employees during the layoffs and ensuring that their concerns were going to be addressed and she was very approachable, very collaborative in her leadership style and again she fostered a lot of trust and created a lot of positive attitude. And again, she fostered a lot of trust and created a lot of positive attitude.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, lastly, there's Jeff Weiner, who's the former CEO of LinkedIn, very compassionate leader. He emphasized the importance of compassionate management. That was something that I think he coined the phrase of compassionate management and he prioritizes understanding the needs and the aspirations of his team members and empowers them in every way that he can to help them succeed. He was very self-aware, he had great social skills and he was very focused on active listening, which really helped people and helped him to create a very supportive and high-performing culture at LinkedIn. So these are some examples of people who had really high emotional intelligence.
Speaker 2:So what really is it? How can I define emotional intelligence? Well, it's the ability to recognize. It's the ability to recognize, understand, manage and influence emotions in yourself and others. David Caruso said Emotional intelligence is not the triumph of heart over head. It is the unique intersection of both, and that's what we've always missed in leadership, and it really has these five components that were talked about in some of the books that I mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2:It's got five key components self-awareness, which is understanding your own emotions, your own strengths, your own weaknesses, your own values and how that they impact other people. And then there's self-regulation that's the second one other people and then there's self-regulation that's the second one, and that's the ability to control, maybe, impulsive behaviors, to manage your emotions in a healthy way and to adapt to changing circumstances without getting out of control. And the third is motivation that's a deep drive. It's a really deep drive to pursue your goals with a lot of energy, a lot of resilience and a lot of purpose. And fourth is empathy, and this is really the capacity to really understand and share the feelings of others, and then you begin to foster these really meaningful connections. And then, lastly, number five is social skills Social skills, so having a proficiency in building relationships and communicating effectively and leading others towards a shared vision.
Speaker 2:Now, if you look at these five components the self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills if you really look at them, what you find is you find all five of these things throughout the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. There's a lot that's talked about, even though it doesn't use the words that these things are. They don't use in the Bible self-awareness, motivation, empathy, social skills. It doesn't mention those exact words, but when we look at what they mean, you find in the Word of God in many, many, many passages, that each one of these things are addressed repeatedly because they're so important. They're so important to us as leaders, but they're important to us as individuals as well as well.
Speaker 2:So why does emotional intelligence matter for Christian leaders? Well, the Bible emphasizes the importance of wisdom and compassion and understanding in leadership. Proverbs 16.32 says Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one that can take a city. Emotional intelligence, as I said, it just really aligns with all of the virtues in the Word of God that mentions these five areas, and it enhances your ability. Ei enhances your ability to build trust and rapport with employees and with other leaders. It helps you to navigate conflict with grace and humility, which is important. It'll help you to inspire and motivate others through servant leadership, which we've talked about, and it'll help you to reflect Christ's love and compassion in daily interactions.
Speaker 2:So what do we need to do to develop emotional intelligence? How can we do that? Well, first of all, one of the first five components is self-awareness, which means you've got to know yourself. You know, know yourself, you know. Aristotle said one time knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom, so it's important. Proverbs 4.23 says keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life. Okay, it's important that we know ourself, that we are self-aware. Psalms 139, 23 through 24 says Search me, o God, and know my heart. Try me, know my thoughts and see if there have been any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting. Proverbs 4 and 7 says the beginning of wisdom is this get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight. It's important for you to know and be self-aware, and you do that by spending time in prayer.
Speaker 2:I'll encourage you to journal. Write things down that you feel like the Lord's sharing with you or you're discovering about yourself. But journal these things. Examine your emotions, examine your actionsamine your emotions, examine your actions, examine your motivations those are so important and then look for feedback. Encourage people in your circle that you really trust maybe mentors, close friends to give you honest feedback on your behavior and your leadership style. And then make sure that you know scriptures and you read scriptures and that you can regularly compare your actions and your attitudes to what you're reading in the Bible and see if they line up All right.
Speaker 2:The next thing is you've got to practice self-regulation, self-regulation, right. So Proverbs 16, 32 says whosoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. So that's important. It's important that we regulate ourselves, that we don't just go off half-cocked or we don't just allow ourselves to go off on the deep end or we don't control our thoughts, our anger. I mean. The Bible says be angry and sin not. So he understands that people can get angry. But that means you have to control yourself, control your actions.
Speaker 2:James 1, 19 and 20 says know this, my beloved brothers let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. And then in Galatians 5, 22, 23,. We all know this passage. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And so the fruit of the Spirit should be a part of every believer's life. So that's one thing you can compare yourself to on a regular basis. So you've got to practice self-regulation.
Speaker 2:The next thing empathy and understanding other people. So you've got to pray, spend time. Again, you can never pray more than you need to. Let me just say that you can always pray more. You can always spend more time with God. It's never going to hurt. What is that magic time that you should spend with God? There is none. That's something between you and Him, but you do need to spend time with Him.
Speaker 2:You know James 1.19 says you know we read just a minute ago. It says know this let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Again, it's just trying to understand other people and not lash out to them. You know the Bible says in Proverbs 20 and 27, the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. So it's important that you have empathy, you know, and to do this and understanding others. You know, part of that is you got to set some boundaries. Set some boundaries. You got to learn to say no sometimes to avoid, you know, overcommitment or maybe even avoid burnout. You've got to have healthy habits, you know. You've got to make sure you get plenty of rest, get exercise, have a balanced diet. You get plenty of rest, get exercise, have a balanced diet because that helps you to maintain your emotional stability.
Speaker 2:The next thing you need to do again that's needed is enhance your motivation. You know, be anchored in your purpose, really know your purpose and align your goals with your calling and God's plan for your life. You know, recognize and this thing of motivation. You got to be sure to recognize and celebrate little wins in your life, because what you want to try to do is you've got to maintain enthusiasm, you've got to maintain perseverance, and so when you celebrate the small wins, it helps you to do that, it helps you to stay motivated. And so when you celebrate the small wins, it helps you to do that. It helps you to stay motivated. You know you've got to stay positive. You need to memorize and meditate on scriptures that encourage you to be resilient. That encourages hope. You know, like Philippians 4.13, that says I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. What a great passage. There's times in my life where that is a passage that I read and I say to myself every single day, multiple times a day. So it's important.
Speaker 2:The next thing is you've got to grow your empathy. Grow in empathy. So to do that, you need to practice active listening. You've got to focus on other people when they speak. Got to focus on other people when they speak, resist that urge to interrupt them and to respond, maybe with a response that really doesn't even address what they've been talking about. Got to make sure you ask questions, show really genuine interest and curiosity about that other person, maybe about their experiences or their experiences or their challenges or their perspectives. And then you've got to pray. Pray for compassion, ask God to soften your heart, deepen your understanding of other people's needs. So grow in empathy. And then next, you've got to strengthen your social skills. So you want to encourage people, affirm them, give them those words of encouragement regularly. You know 1 Thessalonians, 5 and 11 talks about that. Then, in conflict resolution, you've got to learn how to address these disagreements constructively, look for reconciliation, look for mutual understanding and then lead by example, demonstrate integrity and humility and demonstrate kindness in all of your interactions. I've known business leaders who are just plain nasty all the time. They treat their people horribly and it's the way they talk to them, it's the way they listen to them or like listening to them, and so you need to demonstrate that, demonstrate kindness in all your interactions.
Speaker 2:Next is wise communication. Stephen Covey said the biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply. So we're just listening so we can come up with a reply. We need to listen to understand that person. You know, proverbs 15.1 says a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. What a great example of communicating well.
Speaker 2:You know, ephesians 4.29 says let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as it fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Great passage, great passage, you know. Ambrose Bierce said one time said speak when you're angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. So be careful not to speak out of anger. Allow yourself first to calm yourself and to get a hold of it because, again, you want to communicate very wisely. You know, colossians 4, 6 says let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. So all of these things as I'm sharing with you, this whole emotional intelligence thing that supposedly just came on the scene, really hasn't. It's been in the Word of God from the beginning, and so hopefully these things are helping.
Speaker 2:The next thing is self-control, you know, and managing your emotions. Don't let your emotions overpower your intelligence. You know who said that? Morgan Freeman the actor. Do not let your emotions overpower your intelligence. Proverbs 25, 28,. A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
Speaker 2:We talked about Galatians 5 and 22, 23, about the fruits of the spirit. Second Timothy 1 and 7 says for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power, love and self-control. So we've got to learn to control things like anger and frustration. We just read in Proverbs where it says Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. It's important that we're slow to anger. In Ecclesiastes 7 and 9, it says Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the hearts of fools. So very, very important that we understand that.
Speaker 2:And then we need to rely, rely on God for your emotional strength. You know, isaiah 26 and 3 says you keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you, you know. So that's important Rely, you've got to rely on God. There are times that you can't do it in and of yourself. He wants you to depend on him. God wants you to depend on him. That's a desire he has. And then make sure you measure your progress. You know, evaluate your growth in emotional intelligence through maybe taking some self-assessments that are online, getting feedback from other people and praying and listening to the Lord.
Speaker 2:You know, emotional intelligence it's not just a tool for professional success. It's a reflection, really, of our commitment to trying to, I guess, embody Christ's love in every aspect of our lives and it's a cornerstone of really impactful and sustainable leadership. And when you intentionally develop emotional intelligence in your life, you can lead with wisdom and compassion and authenticity and you begin to create this real, lasting impact on your organization and the people that you serve and the people that you lead. Lord, we thank you today for helping us understand the importance and the impact of an emotional intelligence and, lord, we look to you, the author and finisher of our faith, to help us apply these principles in order to become better leaders in our businesses and organizations, in our homes and in our churches. Lord, we thank you for helping us have true success From your perspective, oh God.
Speaker 2:From your perspective. We want to be successful and, lord, we thank you for this in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Well, thank you for listening to today's podcast about emotional intelligence, and be sure to click on the link at the beginning of the description of this podcast and you can actually text me your thoughts if you have prayer needs or if you have things you'd like to see us cover and discuss. Well, that's all the time we have for today, but remember Jesus is Lord and he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian Business Concepts podcast. Go to christianbusinessconceptscom for more information and resources. Be sure to check out other podcasts that will help you take your business and your personal life to a whole new level of success.