Podcasts

In this Episode:

Emotional inclusion is distinct from emotional intelligence: it’s about integration and practice, not just awareness.

The average person spends 81,396 hours working throughout their lifetime — making sleep, the one thing we do more than work. Workplaces must make those hours meaningful and human.

Neuroscience shows that we emote before we even reason; emotions are biological facts, not weaknesses.

Burnout and disconnection are at alarming levels:

• 80% of people will experience a diagnosable mental health condition.
• 60% of employees report being emotionally detached; 19% are outright miserable.
• 48% of workers and 53% of managers report being burned out.

Five key actions to engineer emotional inclusion:

• Prioritize mental health support.
• Build action-oriented platforms for wellness.
• Educate teams on naming and regulating emotions.
• Leaders go first in modeling vulnerability.
• Challenge false assumptions and create psychological safety.

Investing in emotional inclusion leads to stronger performance, innovation, retention, and trust.

Personal wellbeing habits such as sleep, movement, meditation, and micro-moments of pause fuel sustainable performance.

Important Quotes:

"Emotional intelligence is the knowing. Emotional inclusion is the doing."

"81,396 — that’s how many hours the average person spends working. Shouldn’t those hours be positive, meaningful, and human?"

"Emotions are not soft. They’re biological facts."

"There is no such thing as splitting our home self from our work self — that’s a false dichotomy."

"When leaders open up, they give others permission to do the same."

"If you’re not making a difference in people’s lives, you shouldn’t be in business." – Richard Branson

"Workplaces with greater psychological safety and emotional inclusion will make it possible for everyone to contribute and thrive." – Amy Edmondson

"Let’s not just build bridges and technologies. Let’s build cultures of compassion, resilience, and humanity."