Contributed to a Forbes Human Resources Council panel on why emotional intelligence and humility have become essential leadership skills.
The same message, delivered the same way, with the same good intentions, lands differently on different people. One employee hears investment. Another hears a warning. That gap — between what a leader intends and how they actually land — is where trust quietly erodes, usually in moments no one flags at the time.
The argument here: emotional intelligence is only half self-awareness. The other half is knowing how you’re being received, and being humble enough to check.
