Do Good To Lead Well with Craig Dowden

In this week’s episode of the Do Good to Lead Well podcast, I speak with Vanessa Druskat, a globally recognized expert in team performance and author of "The Emotionally Intelligent Team." Vanessa shares the inspiration behind her research, highlighting the gap between anecdotal advice and evidence-based practices for building successful teams. She discusses the importance of cultivating esprit de corps—meaning a sense of belonging, value, and psychological safety—within teams, and emphasizes that this must come from both leaders and team members.

Our conversation explores practical norms and routines that emotionally intelligent teams use, dispelling myths around individual emotional intelligence versus collective TeamEI. Vanessa provides actionable examples, such as brief check-ins, team charters, and structured feedback mechanisms, underscoring the need for leaders to be intentional, especially in remote or hybrid environments. Questions from the live audience explored topics such as the role of team charters, overcoming ineffective norms, and the courage required to embrace feedback and conflict constructively. The episode is packed with research-backed insights and practical strategies to help leaders create high-performing, emotionally intelligent teams.

What You’ll Learn
- Great teams do things differently… and intentionally.
- The importance of assessing your team’s norms (anonymous surveys work wonders!).
- Develop a charter and revisit it regularly.
- Make feedback part of your culture rather than a once-a-year event
- How to lead remote/hybrid teams effectively.
- Why you want to finish meetings with a Plus/Delta.

Podcast Timestamps
(00:00) – Welcome to the Podcast
(10:25) - Defining Team Emotional Intelligence vs Individual EQ
(19:56) - Common Team Norms: Good, Bad, and Misunderstood
(24:32) - Creating and Using Team Charters
(27:12) - Activities to Build Understanding and Belonging
(32:11) - Best Practices for Team Assessment
(36:54) - Feedback and Accountability in Emotionally Intelligent Teams
(41:20) - Constructive Conflict and Avoiding Sidebar Conversations
(49:33) - Emotional Intelligence in Remote and Hybrid Teams
(54:33) - Final Reflections

KEYWORDS
Positive Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Team Emotional Intelligence, Team Norms, Self-awareness, Psychological Safety, Feedback Culture, Team Rituals, Team-Building, High-Performing Teams, Team Assessment, Team Charter, Remote Teams, Hybrid Teams, Collaboration, Accountability, Sense of Belonging, Respect, Onboarding, Team Effectiveness, CEO Success

It seems that uncertainty is the rule rather than the exception, and this trend only appears to be intensifying with each passing day. In this environment, making high-quality decisions is of paramount importance. For this solo episode of the Do Good to Lead Well podcast, I reference groundbreaking research published in MIT Sloane Management Review to identify five traits for effective decision-making, which were derived from a global study of business leaders.
The common thread that runs through these five qualities is that they are learnable. Another key element is that our mindset plays a critical role in influencing our effectiveness, a theme we have discussed multiple times before.
Tune in to learn how you can become a highly skilled decision maker by avoiding common traps that can undermine our effectiveness.

KEYWORDS
Positive Leadership, Personal growth, Decision-Making, Managing Stress, Navigating Uncertainly, mastering our Mindset, Growth Mindset, Focus on the Positive, CEO Success

Source:Five Traits of Leaders Who Excel at Decision-Making

In this episode of Do Good to Lead Well, I welcome Dr. Jacqueline Sperling, a clinical psychologist, assistant professor in psychology at Harvard Medical School, and the co-founder and co-program director of the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program at McLean Hospital to discuss her latest book, “Find Your Fierce: How to Put Social Anxiety in Its Place.”

Motivated by long waitlists at treatment centers and the slow path many face toward accessing help for social anxiety, Jacqueline Sperling shares her mission: to offer practical, evidence-based tools that anyone can use, regardless of clinical diagnosis or age. She grounds her message in empowerment, emphasizing that anxiety is a universal emotion—sometimes adaptive, sometimes disruptive—but always manageable with the right approach.

Major themes include:
• Understanding Anxiety: Dr. Sperling defines anxiety as a forward-looking form of fear and reframes it as a resource that can help us prepare for life’s challenges, provided we don’t let it dominate our decision-making.
• The Thoughts-Feelings-Behaviors Model: Our discussion breaks down how our internal dialogue, emotions, and actions interconnect. Techniques like “stop, drop, and roll” and identification of unhelpful thought categories (catastrophizing, shoulds, overgeneralizing) are brought to life through questions from the live audience.
• Leadership and Team Dynamics: We explore how leaders can compassionately address anxiety in their teams, foster psychological safety, and model healthy boundaries, which are especially during disruptive times and organizational uncertainty.

Check out this episode for an honest, caring invitation for how we can create lasting mental health hygiene: a daily, mindful practice to care for ourselves, as we pursue meaningful work and lead with compassion.

What You’ll Learn
- How to flip the script when you always expect the worst.
- How leaders can compassionately support team members stuck in negative thought cycles.
- Strategies for dealing with imposter syndrome and perfectionism.
- Practical tips for receiving feedback without defensiveness.
- Ways to maintain resilience in uncertain, disruptive times.
- The power of mental health hygiene.

Podcast Timestamps

02:15 Dr. Jacqueline Sperling's background
04:07 Origin story of "Find Your Fierce" book
05:48 Understanding anxiety vs. fear
07:49 The three-component model (thoughts, feelings, behaviors)
10:04 Stop, drop, and roll technique
14:23 Managing catastrophizing in team members
18:54 Addressing imposter syndrome
23:01 Overcoming fear of speaking up in meetings
28:08 Values-based anxiety management
31:53 The "shoulds" and "musts" trap
33:51 Receiving feedback effectively
38:03 Managing team anxiety during disruption
40:06 Addressing perfectionism
44:40 Delegation and leadership anxiety
48:33 Overgeneralizing dangers
52:07 Mental health hygiene practices

KEYWORDS
Positive Leadership, Managing Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Thought-Feeling-Behavior Model, Catastrophizing, Mindfulness, Imposter Syndrome, Perfectionism, Exposure Therapy, Behavioral Experiments, Self-insight, Mental Health Hygiene, Resilience, Stress Management, Reframing, Team Dynamics, Sleep Hygiene, Self-care, CEO Success

How do you know whether your company’s culture is happening by accident or being intentionally designed? That’s the challenge we explore in this episode of Do Good to Lead Well, as I sit down with culture architects James D. White and Krista White, co-authors of the USA Today bestseller “Culture Design.”

James and Krista share why now, more than ever, leaders can’t afford to leave culture to chance. Their advice springs from decades of practical experience: culture isn’t a poster on the wall—it’s what people do when no one is looking.

In a thought-provoking and engaging conversation, they answer timely questions from the audience including: How do you diagnose the real health of your culture? Can values become more than just “word salad?” What about the unique pressures of remote work, generational differences, or legacy cultures stuck in old patterns?

Through stories and concrete examples, James and Krista reveal what organizations can actually do. They talk about running “archaeological digs” through interviews and surveys, turning employee feedback into actionable strategy, and the power of empathy. They explain how and why leaders should “listen with heart,” make time for micro-moments of connection, and value small steps over perfection.

Perhaps the most powerful takeaway is that designing culture is ongoing work. It’s about ensuring that how you operate matches what you say you value and having the courage to change, with empathy, when your organization needs it most.

What You’ll Learn
- Culture is always there – whether you design it or not.
- The importance of closing the “say-do” gap.
- Empathy is a leadership superpower.
- How to design your culture for both stability and change.
- Why you want your values to be actionable and personal.
- The key role of middle managers in fostering culture.
- Honor the past, but don’t cling to it.

Podcast Timestamps
(00:00) - The Inspiration and Meaning Behind "Culture Design"
(05:47) - Intentional Culture: Design vs. Default
(07:17) - Diagnosing Organizational Culture
(16:00) - The Future Back Approach in Leadership
(18:37) - Values: From Performative to Impactful
(22:21) - Organizational vs. Individual Resilience
(25:47) - Empathy as a Leadership Foundation
(33:00) - Generational and Hybrid Workforce Dynamics
(43:37) - Measuring, Supporting, and Sustaining Culture Change

KEYWORDS
Positive Leadership, Culture Design, Organizational Culture, Empathy, Resilience, Values, Change Management, Transformational Leadership, Inclusion, Organizational Stability, Leading with Integrity, Rituals, Future-back Methodology, Cross-generational Workforce, Remote Work, Hybrid work, Employee Engagement, AI adoption, Feedback Loops, Legacy Culture, CEO Success

What if silence in your team meetings isn’t just about shyness or lack of ideas, but something everyone’s been taught—often unconsciously—to protect themselves or others? In this episode, I sit down with Elaine Lin Hering, a top facilitator, global educator, and author of “Unlearning Silence,” to dig into the roots of silence and how leaders can transform it into true engagement.

As the conversation kicks off, we tackle a fundamental leadership dilemma: despite constant encouragement to “speak up,” people often hold back. Why? Elaine reveals it’s not just about courage or confidence. Silence is a learned survival strategy, which is often shaped by culture, hierarchy, and even unconscious organizational habits. Her own story, growing up as the youngest daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, shows how silence sneaks in early and sticks.

Throughout the episode, we explore questions relating to real-world challenges such as how can you create a safe space for candor when your “resting face” or demeanour sets the wrong tone? Or, why do team members only give feedback after a decision is finalized. Elaine offers evidence-informed and practical answers to these situations.

The takeaway is clear: Strong leadership means recognizing that silence is not always golden—and that by unlearning it, we unlock deeper connection, better decisions, and a future not bound by the past.

What You’ll Learn
- Silence is learned… and it’s often unintentional.
- Unlearning silence is an ongoing process.
- Explicit clarity is critical for leaders.
- How to reframe your view of your voice.
- The mode and medium of communication matter.
- What is obvious to you may be the insight someone else is looking for.

Podcast Timestamps
(00:03) - The Origins of Unlearning Silence
(05:46) - The Process of Unlearning Silence
(09:10) - Agency and the Value of Voice
(15:59) - The RACI Framework
(19:16) - How Communication Mode and Process Influence Voice
(24:10) - Surfacing Feedback and Pre-Empting Silence
(32:08) - Imposter Syndrome or Imposter Treatment?
(41:47) - When Is Silence Golden?
(46:52) - Explicitly Creating Psychological Safety

KEYWORDS
Positive Leadership, Self-Awareness, Feedback, Personal Growth, Leading with Intention, Unlearning silence, Employee Voice, Power Dynamics, Decision-Making Frameworks, RACI Model, Team Communication, Self-Silencing, Imposter Syndrome, Psychological Safety, Personal Growth, CEO Success