#90: How to Build an Emotionally Intelligent World with Mark Baker and Theran Knighton-Fitt

Mark is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mygrow. He is an Organisational Psychologist specialising in the development of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and organisational culture. His work in neuroscience, leadership and behavioural change have made him a sought-after facilitator, coach and speaker and his methods and teachings are being used around the world through Mygrow.

Theran is the Chief Humanising Officer of Mygrow. He thinks, writes, and speaks about humans— about our individual and collective potential. He’s an expert in topics and issues involving capitalism, organisational culture, behaviour, values, emotional intelligence, narrative identity, psychology and social science. His personal purpose statement in everything he does professionally is to “Realise Humanity.”

Mygrow is on a mission to build an Emotionally Intelligent World by pioneering a new approach to people development and organisational well-being. Leveraging a unique blend of psychology, neuroscience, film and technology, Mygrow is delivering scalable, measureable and sustainable behaviour change causing individuals and organizations to flourish.

Top 3 Takeaways

1. Feel the burn. I really enjoyed how Mark described how emotional intelligence is a set of competences that work like muscles. They can be developed, but we have to put in the reps and the effort
2. Root down. We may be tempted to look at short-term investments as a fast path to the fruit we want to enjoy. Better to go deeper to the root of the skills needed to make those intermediate efforts pay off.
3. Be human. It’s a familiar refrain on this show, but our world of work has fundamentally changed. Everything is connected now, and our business results are directly tied to our ability to meet the very human needs and interests of our workers.

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From the Source

“The research seems to show quite clearly that these are competencies that can be developed. It is classified as an intelligence for a few specific reasons, one of which is that it actually can develop with with age.” (Mark)

“I like to think of cognitive intelligence a little bit more like bones. It increases to a certain age and then it gets relatively set where emotional intelligence or the competencies in the domain of EQ seem to be a little bit more pliable based on implementing techniques.” (Mark)

“If a system works well, it doesn't mean it will accomplish what it needs to just because the system itself works well. The people themselves can hamper that.” (Theran)

“We were chatting with a partner in our network recently who said, ‘Covid wasn't the problem. Covid was just the start of the infection, and we're really beginning to see the organ failure.’ Now that's coming as the result of the infection that spread, and human nature will take the easy way out which is often the maladaptive coping mechanism which is focused on current state.“ (Theran)

“Something of a mistake that's being made in the investment that companies are making is they're investing in the fruit and not investing quite as much in the root constructs that will make the fruit possible.” (Mark)

“The human side of business is starting to show greater fruit than the systems and processes and bureaucracy that was part of an era that unfortunately is bygone.” (Mark)

Connect with Mark and Theran

Website: http://www.mygrow.me

LinkedIn (Mark): https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbaker-mygrow

LinkedIn (Theran): https://www.linkedin.com/in/theranknighton-fitt

Human Impact Audit: https://humanimpactaudit.com

Leadership Development Strategy Audit: https://meetings.hubspot.com/mark392/leadership-strategy-audit