In this episode of the Building Thinkers podcast, Tracy speaks with Gretchen Fox Palmer about one of her twelve favorite problems: “how might we increase flow and creativity to bring joy to work?”

Gretchen opens up about her personal path to self-awareness, including how she identified and dismantled her own hyper vigilance at work. From a self-described "toxic executive" to a champion of conscious leadership, she reveals how this process led to immediate positive changes in her team's culture, offering valuable lessons for leaders at all levels.

Now, Gretchen teaches performance-driven organizations, teams, and leaders through her EQ @ Work program, focusing on the five EQ skills that can rescue employees from burnout. Her approach to emotional regulation and resilience is what has taken her from merely surviving to truly thriving.

The conversation explores the importance of vulnerability and joy in the workplace. It emphasizes the need for vulnerability to be approached with care and used as a tool for connection.

Tracy and Gretchen discuss how increasing flow and creativity to bring joy to work requires prioritizing emotional intelligence skills, which are easy to learn and have quick transformative outcomes.

Key Takeaways:

• Emotional intelligence skills are easy to learn and have quick transformative outcomes.

• Leaders need to prioritize emotional intelligence to create emotionally healthy performance-driven cultures.

• Feedback and vulnerability are essential in creating a culture of growth and productivity.

• Joy can be structured and designed for in organizations by tying it to well-being, fostering connection, and prioritizing people's livelihoods.

• Emotional capacity plays a crucial role in individual and organizational well-being, and it can be developed through self-awareness, boundary-setting, and healthy coping mechanisms.

Gretchen’s Recommendations:

Books:

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron: https://tinyurl.com/zvrwp6jk

The Presence Process by Michael Brown: https://tinyurl.com/3ya9ke2a

Podcasts:

Satsang with Mooji: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/satsang-with-mooji/id1134425259

Connect with Gretchen:

MTO Agency: https://mtoagency.com/