Christian Espinosa was convinced from an early age that his intellect was his greatest asset. This belief served him well until he became a CEO and noticed that his team members also coveted the sought-out title of smartest person in the room.

This jockeying for recognition of intelligence began affecting how Christian's team related to and communicated with clients. Christian suddenly realized that his greatest weakness was people skills – and that it was one he would need to develop to continue to be successful in business.

On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, we talk with Christian about the 7 steps he took to raise emotional intelligence and improve his self-leadership skills, ultimately turning his biggest weakness into his greatest strength.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ The challenges that come from hanging your identity on being the smartest person in the room

🎙️ Why the true meaning of communication is the response you get

🎙️ How acknowledging others starts with being able to acknowledge yourself

🎙️ Accepting that developing emotional intelligence skills comes with hills and valleys

Christian Espinosa is the bestselling author of "The Smartest Person in the Room", an entrepreneur and founder of Alpine Security, a white hat hacker, a certified high-performance coach, and a lover of heavy metal music and spicy food. Christian used to value being the smartest person in the room until he realized that his greatest contribution to humanity, leadership, and the fight against cybercrime is his ability to bring awareness and simple solutions to challenges associated with high IQ/low EQ staff.

If you're looking to develop your emotional intelligence skills, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode here: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

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Faisal Hoque is no stranger to the typical hurdles of life. After building a highly successful company in his late twenties, he learned that things don't always work as anticipated when he was fired from the second company he opened.

Things only got worse when his twenty-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer. Faisal not only had to take care of his son throughout his illness, but he also had to find a way to rise up again in his career. These life experiences are what led Faisal to a journey of internal life reflections that revolved around overcoming the fear of failure.

On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, Faisal Hoque, Founder and Chair at NextChapter at Shadoka, gives us a peek at his acceptance journey, where he found that practicing mindfulness, resilience and empathy helped him maintain a consistent sense of pragmatic optimism in the face of fear.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ Finding momentary joy amidst adversity

🎙️ Finding meaning by impacting others when you have space

🎙️ Engaging in daily meaningful activities as a way to conquer fear

🎙️ The power of building community and connecting with others on a human level

🎙️ Balancing logic and emotion to enhance resilience

Faisal Hoque is the founder of SHADOKA, NextChapter, and other companies that focus on enabling sustainable and transformational changes. He has developed over 20 commercial business and technology platforms and worked with public and private sector giants such as the US Department of Defense, GE, MasterCard, American Express, PepsiCo, IBM, Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase.

If you're looking to learn new ways of overcoming the fear of failure and don't know where to start, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode here: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

Faisal Hoque's contact information:

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Book: Everything Connects and Lift

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Working as a team of diverse members with hundreds of differences is something that many of us have yet to master. One thing that often remains untapped is the strength and power of optimizing those differences that lie between us.

Carolynne Wintrip has been fascinated by team work and collaboration from a young age. She believed that learning about team collaboration would not only help her to impact change, but also help her team to become more productive, achieve better results, and build stronger relationships.

On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, we're talking with Carolynne Wintrip, Learning & Team Effectiveness Consultant at Luminus Learning about cognitive diversity and the kind of power it holds in the workplace in order to enhance team collaboration.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ Recognizing the way in which you process information

🎙️ Identifying the gap between how you and the person you're speaking with process information

🎙️ Adapting and appreciating the different thinking and behavioral styles of your team members

🎙️ Moving past the affinity bias to find ways to understand people who process information differently than we do

Carolynne Wintrip is a dynamic facilitator and the founder of Luminus Learning. Her mission is to help people and teams improve collaboration and results. She creates and facilitates learning experiences and conversations that support leadership and team effectiveness, organizational change, communication, influence, and resilience. An experienced Emergenetics Associate, Personal Resilience Practitioner and Team Effectiveness Coach, Carolynne thrives when exploring and acting on new possibilities with people.

If you're looking to enhance your team collaboration through cognitive diversity, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

Carolynne Wintrip's contact information:

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Lindsay's contact information:

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Free e-course: Free Yourself from Workplace Confrontation and Conflict

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As a nationally acclaimed attorney mediator, Hesha Abrams has earned her stripes as a Professional peace maker by mediating everything from business cases to car accidents to civil rights to whose roommate peed on the rug.

On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, Hesha (tag: Hesha Abrams Mediation) Hesha joins us to share her top tips to help you handle tension before it escalates into conflict.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ Focusing on the problems in front of you rather than everything that has ever happened

🎙️ Taming your fight, flight, freeze reaction

🎙️ Tips on how to adapt your language to be heard by everyone

🎙️ Negotiating skills you can use to ease tension

Hesha Abrams, Esq., a nationally acclaimed attorney mediator and author of Holding The Calm: The Secret to Resolving Conflict and Defusing Tension has successfully mediated thousands of high conflict cases globally using her innovative techniques. She has the unique talent to work with big egos and strong personalities in difficult, complex, and political matters.

If you're looking for tips to hold the calm even during the most difficult of conflicts, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

Hesha Abrams's contact information:

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Free e-course: Free Yourself from Workplace Confrontation and Conflict

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After graduating with double degrees in International Relations: Language & Society and German Language, Heather Hansen moved abroad and began working in global environments while speaking a foreign language.

She quickly began to notice that speaking English afforded her a certain level of respect, power and privilege that wasn't necessarily given to second language speakers – particularly to those who weren't as proficient or intelligible in English.

As Founder, Author and TedX Speaker at Global Speech Academy, Heather joins us on this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast to talk about microinequities related to language and accent in international teams and how to build UNMUTED cultures where every voice is heard.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ Recognizing unconscious bias and microaggressions related to accents

🎙️ Those moments when you think you're helping someone, but may actually be hurting them

🎙️ Developing the communication competencies to become successful in global communications

🎙️ Situations where you may need to dial up or dial down your communication

Heather Hansen is the Founder of Global Speech Academy where she helps top global leaders show up, speak up, and inspire action in a changing world. She is also the author of UNMUTED, The must read guide to enhancing your communication.

If you're looking to unmute yourself or to create a workplace culture where everyone can unmute, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode here: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

Heather Hansen's contact information:

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Lindsay's contact information:

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Free e-course: Free Yourself from Workplace Confrontation and Conflict

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After listening to a recent podcast episode, my mentor commented that there wasn't a single sign of the mountains of struggles I've been dealing with this past year. She said I sounded competent, together and professional.

I should hope so. Ha!

But it also led me to reflect on why.

Why was the podcast episode the polished version of me?

Was I trying to portray success and perfection and hiding what was really going on?

The honest answer is that I simply haven't had the energy to engage much on social media this past year.

But being real is important to me. And this year has been anything but smooth.

Tune in to this solo episode, as I share a run down of the challenges of the past year, share my top 7 lessons learned and give a sneak peak into what's around the corner at Collaborative Solutions.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ Accepting reality as the first step to adaptability

🎙️ Prioritizing like a boss to alleviate stress during challenging times

🎙️ Not letting someone else's perception of you define you

🎙️ Taking a moment to celebrate all you've accomplished

🎙️ Staying connected to yourself and trusting that you'll figure it all out

If you've had a challenging year and are looking to leave that behind for 2023, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

A written transcript of this podcast episode is available upon request. To request a copy, please send us an email.

Lindsay's contact information:

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After working 60-hour weeks for multiple years and laying off 100s of people, Jerome Myers realized that despite his long list of accomplishments, his work lacked a sense of significance.

By creating a business and career that brought purpose to his work, Jerome discovered that when you are passionate about what you do and are using your talents, the need to seek balance naturally disappears.

On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, Jerome and I discuss how to unlock your hidden potential and to live a life of fulfillment while delivering massive value to the organization you serve.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ The difference between balance and being centered

🎙️ Creating significance in your professional life

🎙️ Living from a place of integrity, where you can be authentic with yourself

🎙️ Developing relationships where you can give freely

🎙️ Noticing when you're being more accountable to others than you are to yours

Jerome Myers left corporate America because he realized that although he had many accomplishments, he had not gained significance because he was not leading a centered life. Now, as a leadership coach, he uses his personal journey and unique training method to guide other apex performers in leadership positions to face their toughest personal and professional challenges head on.

If you're looking to find greater significance in your work and your life, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

Jerome Myers's contact information:

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Free e-course: Free Yourself from Workplace Confrontation and Conflict

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Mark C. Crowley had a tumultuous childhood. His mother died when he was very young, spiraling his father into years of abusive behaviour towards Mark. A few days after Mark graduated from high school, his dad kicked him out onto the streets.

As a top finance and banking exec, Mark's journey towards heart-led leadership began years and years before he had ever realized that his focus on leading from the heart was a way of healing from his own past.

On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, Mark shares insights and tips from his recently revised and fully updated book: Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century to help all leaders lean into heart-led leadership.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ Insights into where traditional leadership practices are failing

🎙️ The science behind employee engagement and job satisfaction

🎙️ Transitioning from fear-driven to heart-led leadership practices

🎙️ Rewarding people with emotional currency

🎙️ Putting the practices of leading from the heart in motion

Mark C. Crowley is a recognized visionary in workplace management, engagement, and culture. He is also the author of Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century.

If you're looking to lean into heart-based leadership, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

Mark C. Crowley's contact information:

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Lindsay's contact information:

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Free e-course: Free Yourself from Workplace Confrontation and Conflict

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Workplace communication can often give rise to conflict as people intensely share and defend different opinions on topics they are passionate about. When not addressed effectively, these differences of opinion can start to affect how we treat one another.

How do we find common ground so we can start moving towards one another instead of dividing further?

On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, we're talking with Attorney Frederick T. Golder about bridging the divide by proactively identifying common sources of conflict and then using Frederick's simple, constructive strategies.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ The three primary traps that people fall into that tend to worsen conflict

🎙️ The five elements used to resolve conflict and solve problems for good

🎙️ Practising mindful conflict resolution in workplace communication

🎙️ The importance of value and respect in the workplace

Attorney Frederick T. Golder has over 30 years of experience teaching and practicing conflict resolution. Attorney Golder has appeared on national radio and television and has written extensively in this field, including Reaching Common Ground: A Comprehensive Guide to Conflict Resolution (Luminare Press); Uncivil Rights: A Guide to Workers' Rights, 2nd Ed. (Beachfront Press); Labor and Employment Law: Compliance and Litigation, 3rd Ed. (Thomson-West).

If you're looking to achieve stronger workplace relationships through effective conflict resolution skills, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

Frederick T. Golder's contact information:

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Book: Reaching Common Ground: A Comprehensive Guide to Conflict Resolution

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The golden rule that you should treat others the way you want to be treated yourself never quite made sense to Julie Pham. What if the way you like to be treated doesn't quite hit the mark with others?

As CEO and Founder of CuriosityBased and author of 7 Forms of Respect, Julie's research has redefined the meaning of respect, as a dynamic, subjective concept that means different things to different people.

On this episode of The Workplace Communication Podcast, Julie shares the 7 forms of respect from her research and reflections on how to negotiate expectations surrounding respect in a way that works for all.

Leadership tips you won't want to miss:

🎙️ The subjectivity and cultural impact of how we each define respect

🎙️ Why curiosity isn't a trait or a skill, but an ongoing practice

🎙️ Why practicing curiosity also requires letting people get curious about you

🎙️ Defining the forms of respect you need, which you are ambivalent about and those you actually dislike

🎙️ Dynamically negotiating how respect is defined and communicated

Dr. Julie Pham is a Cambridge trained historian who got her real-life MBA by running her family's Vietnamese language newspaper before working in the tech industry. In the middle of the pandemic, she left her cushy executive job to start her own company, CuriosityBased, to help people practice curiosity at work, because that is where we spend most of our waking hours, and she is the author of the Amazon bestseller, 7 forms of respect: a guide to transforming your communication and relationships at work.

If you're looking to rethink how you define respect in the workplace, then this episode is for you!

If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review.

🎧 Listen to the episode: https://lindsaylapaquette.com/podcast/

For a full written transcript of the episode, please see the show notes at the link above.

Julie Pham's contact information:

Websites: https://curiositybased.com/ and https://formsofrespect.com/

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Lindsay's contact information:

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Free e-course: Free Yourself from Workplace Confrontation and Conflict

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