155: Dina Denham Smith on The Essential Role of Emotional Awareness in Leadership

Overview

As leaders, we have to ask ourselves, how can we create more sustainability for ourselves and our teams?

Leaders in our modern workplace environments are facing unprecedented challenges that are creating more exhaustion and burnout. Among those challenges are the emotional demands that leaders bear, whether we want to acknowledge emotions in the workplace or not.

Today’s guest, Dina Denham Smith, joins me to dig into the myths and misperceptions around how emotions impact workplaces, why we can’t keep ignoring emotions at work, and how leaders can better navigate being there for their team members in a meaningful way.

More About Our Guest

Dina Denham Smith is an executive coach to senior leaders and teams at world-leading brands such as Adobe, Netflix, PwC, Gap, Gilead, Dropbox, Stripe, and numerous high-growth companies. A former business executive herself, she is the founder and CEO of Cognitas Coaching and helps leaders and their teams reach new heights of success. 

Dina has written over 60 articles for the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes on leadership and career success and is frequently featured in international media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Newsweek, and the BBC. She is the author of Emotionally Charged: How to Lead in the New World of Work.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

  • How pandemic-driven shifts in workplace culture and expectations have increased the emotional demands of leaders

  • Reframing emotions as data

  • The three major components of an emotional response 

  • How evolving expectations for leadership behavior generate emotional labor

  • Tools for building emotional self-awareness and replenish your internal resources

  • How leaders can be there for their teams while maintaining their own boundaries

Learn more about Dina Denham Smith:

Resources Mentioned

Thanks for Listening!

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156: Laura Vanderkam: How To Take Control of Your Time and Prioritize What Matters Most

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154: A Look Back: Reflections and Insights From The Last 50 Episodes