Building Emotionally Intelligent Teams with Dr. Vanessa Druskat
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
Release Date: 11/19/2025
Leading in the Project Economy with Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
What if projects weren’t just part of work but how work gets done in your organization? In this episode, Kevin is joined by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez to discuss the project economy and why treating projects as "side work" is no longer an option for leaders. Antonio challenges traditional hierarchies and operational mindsets, making the case that today's value creation, innovation, and transformation happen primarily through projects. He also explains why mindset matters more than tools and why project leaders must think like entrepreneurs who own outcomes, fight for value, and bring problems...
info_outline
Are You Delegating Work or Developing People? - Thoughts from Kevin
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
Most leaders are told, “You need to delegate.” And that’s true — if you delegate correctly. But here’s the real question I want you to consider: Are you delegating work… or developing people? In this episode of Remarkable TV and the Remarkable Leadership Podcast, I challenge the common view of delegation as simply a time-management tactic. Done poorly, delegation is just handing off tasks. Done well, it becomes one of the most powerful tools you have to develop others. In this episode, I’ll walk you through: The critical difference between delegating work and developing people ...
info_outline
Better Hybrid Habits (in 20 Minutes or Less)
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
How can leaders build better workplace culture by rethinking hybrid work? In this fourth episode of the culture mini-series, Kevin and Jennifer Moss look at how hybrid work habits are quietly shaping workplace culture in ways that undermine both people and performance, often without leaders realizing it. They argue that treating in-office and remote days identically is a missed opportunity and that leaders should design distinct expectations for each work context. They discuss why many employees feel frustrated by return-to-office mandates when the work itself hasn’t changed, and how this...
info_outline
Surrender to Lead with Jessica Kriegel
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
What if the secret to effective leadership isn't control, but surrender? In this episode, Kevin speaks with Jessica Kriegel, who redefines surrender as a courageous choice: releasing the illusion of control and focusing on what leaders can influence: the experiences they create for their teams. Their conversation explores the delusion of control in hierarchical organizations, the pitfalls of over-management, and why leadership driven by fear and micromanagement is both unsustainable and self-limiting. Jessica also shares her S.H.I.F.T. framework, a practical model for transforming leadership...
info_outline
Is Coasting Costing You? - Thoughts from Kevin
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
Is coasting costing you? In this episode of Remarkable TV, I want to explore a simple but important question—when does coasting help us, and when does it quietly start holding us back? Coasting can absolutely be useful. It can save energy. It can give us needed rest. But if we aren’t paying attention, coasting can also cause us to lose momentum, give up control, and drift away from intentional leadership. In this episode, I share: When coasting is helpful—and when it isn’t Why coasting often leads to a loss of intentionality How resting too long can stall progress Why progress...
info_outline
Close the Generational Gap (in 20 Minutes or Less)
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
How can leaders bridge the growing generational divide in today’s workplace? In this third episode of our special five-part series, Changing Your Culture in Twenty Minutes or Less, Kevin and workplace culture expert Jennifer Moss discuss the realities of generational stereotypes. With five generations now working together for the first time in history, misunderstandings and miscommunications are inevitable. Jennifer and Kevin challenge the lazy labels and instead encourage leaders to embrace explicit communication, check their biases, and reimagine onboarding and development with clarity and...
info_outline
Love as a Change Strategy with Mohammad Anwar
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
What if the most effective strategy for leading change isn’t fear-based urgency, but love? In this episode, Kevin sits down with Mohammad Anwar to explore a rethinking of how leaders can approach change by centering people, building trust, and creating psychological safety. Together, Kevin and Mohammad discuss why traditional change management approaches fail, how fear activates resistance, and why prioritizing emotional intelligence and human connection leads to sustainable transformation. They dive into six behavioral principles that underpin “love as a change strategy,” including...
info_outline
Are You Cynical? - Thoughts from Kevin
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
When are you cynical? It’s a simple question—but an important one. Because cynicism doesn’t just affect how you see the world. It affects what you learn, what you notice, and how you lead. In this episode of Remarkable TV, I explore what really happens when we become cynical—and why cynicism is less a personality trait and more a mental habit and choice. When we’re cynical, we stop being curious, we stop learning, and our attitude (and the attitudes of those around us) suffers. The good news? Any habit can be changed. I’ll share a simple but powerful replacement strategy that can...
info_outline
Making One-on-Ones More Effective
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
Are your one-on-one meetings building your culture or just filling your calendar? In this second episode of our special five-part series, Changing Your Culture in Twenty Minutes or Less, Kevin is joined once again by workplace culture expert Jennifer Moss to explore the often-overlooked power of effective one-on-one meetings. Kevin shares a simple three-part framework to make your one-on-ones more engaging and efficient: talk about non-work, their list, and your list. This joint-ownership model transforms these meetings from a task into a tool for connection, clarity, and performance. Jennifer...
info_outline
Powerful Influence Through Speaking with Dr. Laura Sicola
The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
How can leaders ensure their message lands with clarity, confidence, and influence? In this episode, Kevin Eikenberry sits down with Dr. Laura Sicola to discuss how leaders can strengthen their influence by mastering their leadership voice. Laura introduces her “vocal executive presence” framework, built around the three Cs: Command the room, Connect with the audience, and Close the deal. Kevin and Laura break down the three communication channels every leader uses—verbal, vocal, and visual—and why alignment across all three is essential for credibility. They unpack common leadership...
info_outlineWhat does it take to build a team that consistently performs at a high level? In this episode, Kevin sits down with Dr. Vanessa Druskat to explore what emotionally intelligent teams look like and how leaders can foster them. Vanessa introduces the concept of "team emotional intelligence" and explains why team culture, not just individual skills or personalities, is often the key differentiator between average and high-performing teams. She shares her practical three-part model, based on nine team norms, that top teams use to create environments of trust, psychological safety, and accountability. Vanessa also discusses why emotionally intelligent teams are fundamentally about how people interact, not just how they feel. She reveals what leaders should do in the first meeting of a new team to set the tone for long-term performance, and why nonverbal behaviors and small habits matter more than you think.
Listen For
00:00 Introduction to emotional intelligence and teams
00:29 Welcome and how to join future live sessions
01:02 How to connect with the community
01:25 About the book Flexible Leadership
02:11 Introducing guest Vanessa Druskat
03:09 Vanessa’s early experiences with teams
04:09 Workplace realities that shaped her research
05:08 Growing up across cultures and learning to adapt
06:17 Discovering team cultures in organizations
07:20 What sets high performing teams apart
08:07 Exploring the model of team emotional intelligence
09:11 Understanding local team culture
10:04 The role leaders play in shaping micro culture
11:05 How teams can build their own culture
11:56 Why belonging and social needs matter
12:18 Teams as emotional systems
13:14 How emotions influence interactions
14:08 Creating cultures where disagreement is productive
15:17 The three clusters of team emotional intelligence
16:02 Helping individuals succeed
17:13 How great teams interact and improve
18:02 Reaching outside the team for ideas and resources
18:10 Where leaders should start with new teams
19:05 Setting norms intentionally
20:07 Why posted norms fail
21:00 Ownership and mutual understanding
21:21 Ensuring everyone has a voice
22:12 Assessing current norms
23:22 Impact of unintentional nonverbal signals
24:54 How small behaviors change team dynamics
25:53 Example of a team transformation
27:31 Importance of nonverbal cues and inclusion
28:07 Reaching outside the team and avoiding blinders
30:10 Leading in hybrid and remote environments
31:05 Belonging and psychological distance
32:03 Increasing intentional connection
32:50 Using check ins to strengthen relationships
34:04 Applying this in one-on-one conversations
34:27 What Vanessa does for fun
35:33 What Vanessa is reading
37:43 Where to find Vanessa and her resources
38:54 Closing challenge: What action will you take
40:05 Wrap up and invitation to subscribe
Vanessa's Story: Dr. Vanessa Druskat is the author of The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Building Collaborative Groups that Outperform the Rest. She is an award-winning researcher and leading expert on team leadership, advising leaders in some of the world’s top organizations. Her three decades of field research examining team cultures that inspire high-performing collaboration produced the Team Emotional Intelligence (Team EI) model. She and her colleagues have used the model globally to teach leaders how to build higher-performing teams. Vanessa is passionate about convincing leaders that under the right conditions, people are wired for collaborative teamwork. So, stop trying to fix people and start building emotionally intelligent team cultures that inspire teamwork. Also, an award-winning teacher, she serves on the faculty of the University of New Hampshire’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics.
This Episode is brought to you by...
Flexible Leadership is every leader’s guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos.