172. Camilla Tuominen: Understanding Emotions Is Key for Communication

Camilla Tuominen (M.Econ., Psychology basic studies) is a surprising combination of many things: a speaker, author, illustrator and startup founder. Her mission is to teach everyone how to lead and understanding emotions which she realized to be the core skill of the future when she worked for years as management consultant. She has worked with hundreds of organizations in Finland and abroad and is one of the most popular female keynote speakers in Finland. She is the author and illustrator of three books on how to lead emotions. She also works with companies as a ‘business illustrator’ making illustrations of otherwise complex concepts, such as values, goals and emotions.

A journey led by illustrations

As Camilla says it wasn’t planned. Almost 10 years ago she was in the tech business founded a startup and was trying to sell an Emotion Tracker app. For this she started giving lectures using some illustrations made by herself. That worked so well that after the lectures and presentations people used to come and ask her to teach them about emotions because they felt very identified with the pictures she showed. Some time later she decided to switch from businesses to consulting and becoming a full-time speaker about understanding and dealing with emotions.

Leaders and emotions

There are many different cultures and emotional environments, but most are concentrated in the facts and logical things. Camilla thinks that the more we develop Artificial Intelligence and smart machines the more we have to focus in being more creative dealing with emotions. Leaders should help to create an environment more tolerant and emotionally intelligent. They have to become aware on how we behave as an individual because the emotional climate depends on all of us.

Understanding emotions is key for communication

When talking of speakers and emotions we talk about being nervous. Before you start speaking you are full of energy because your body prepares for something threatening but unknown. Later when you’re already speaking it’s your own mind creating threats. And how to deal with this?