Why Emotional Intelligence is the Missing Skill in Surgical Leadership | Gina Catalano | 650

How do you grab the attention of the smartest person in the room and introduce an idea that could fundamentally change their approach to leadership? In this insightful episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Gina Catalano, President of Central Forza Group and author of The Leadership Wake Up Call, joins Bill Sherman to discuss her pioneering work in developing emotional intelligence (EQ) for surgeon leaders—a skill set largely overlooked in traditional medical training. Gina shares how her journey from managing medical device teams in Fortune 500 healthcare organizations led her to recognize a critical gap: Surgeons possess extraordinary technical skills but often lack training in emotional intelligence. Her unique insight is transforming how surgeons engage with patients, teams, and even mitigate malpractice risks. She explains the compelling data behind EQ’s impact, highlighting research correlating higher EQ among surgeons with lower malpractice claims. Gina also details her groundbreaking project with Duke University's general surgery residency, where she's building a curriculum to instill essential EQ skills early in surgical training. Listeners will learn how Gina's personal experiences and keen observations evolved into a compelling speaking and writing career, all centered around equipping elite performers with the "power skills" needed for true leadership success. This episode isn't just about developing better surgeon leaders—it's about creating profound, measurable changes that enhance patient care and team performance.   Three Key Takeaways: • Emotional intelligence is critical for elite performance — Especially in high-pressure fields like surgery, EQ impacts malpractice rates, team dynamics, and patient outcomes. • Thought leadership bridges knowledge gaps — Introducing EQ to surgeon leaders requires translating soft skills into evidence-based, practical tools that resonate with data-driven professionals. • Early intervention creates lasting change — Embedding emotional intelligence training into medical residency programs can shape more effective leaders from the start. If this episode got you thinking about the power of emotional intelligence in high-performance environments, you’ll want to keep going with our conversation with David Wood: The Effects of Soft Skills in Thought Leadership. Both episodes tackle a common challenge—how to introduce and scale “soft skills” like EQ in expert-driven fields where they’re often undervalued. Gina Catalano and David Wood each show that these so-called soft skills are actually mission-critical for leadership, trust-building, and long-term success. Listen now and discover how soft skills can create hard results.

Om Podcasten

Welcome to the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast, a beacon illuminating the paths and possibilities of thought leadership. With your guides, Peter Winick and Bill Sherman, we will embark on a journey into a captivating world where ideas converge with strategy and insight. Where will thought leadership take you? In each episode, we engage with thought leaders from diverse backgrounds. Whether it’s professional keynote speaking, writing your own thought leadership book, investigating the niche expertise of specialized consultants, or crossing mental swords with distinguished academics, our guests collectively paint a vivid mosaic of thought leadership's multifaceted potential. Through nuanced perspectives and rich experience, our talented co-hosts aim to offer you views of the ways independent thought leaders navigate success, elevate talent, and change company culture – while simultaneously examining how organizations harness the power of thought leadership to catalyze innovation and nurture sustainable growth. Peter Winick is your guide through the realm of independent thought leadership. For the past two decades, he has helped individuals and organizations build and grow revenue streams through designing and growing their thought leadership platforms as well as acting as a guide and advisor for increasing business to business sales of thought leadership products. Peter is the Founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage. His clients come from a diverse set of backgrounds and specialties. They include New York Times bestselling business book authors, members of the Speakers’ Hall of Fame, recipients of the Thinkers50 award, CEOs of public and privately held companies, and academics at prestigious institutions such as Yale, Wharton, Dartmouth, and London School of Business. With a keen eye for detail, he delves into the intricacies of crafting personal brands, fostering genuine engagement with audiences, and expertly monetizing one's expertise. From the artistry of crafting keynote speeches that resonate with audiences to the strategic deployment of bestselling books as conduits for inspiration and insight, Peter's guests offer a treasure trove of strategies for creating value and impact and driving revenue through thought leadership. Bill Sherman specializes in the exploration of organizational thought leadership. He examines how companies conceive, curate, and deploy thought leadership initiatives, and how those initiatives benefit the orgs and the people who work within them. Bill listens to the stories and advice of industry leaders and their triumphs within the competitive business landscape. Whether through the dissemination of white papers that shape industry discourse, webinars that educate and engage, or insightful executive blogs that offer thought leadership at the highest echelons of corporate governance, Bill's guests provide illuminating perspectives on the evolution of organizational thought leadership and its pivotal role in shaping industry paradigms and perceptions. Bill concentrates on organizational consulting and business expertise, investigating organizational thought leadership and its effects, from instructional design and learning product development to marketing strategy and execution, to organizational development and transformational consulting. He enjoys working with business leaders, speakers, authors, academics, and other consultants, connecting their ideas organizational platforms and enterprise-ready product development. As the series unfolds, Peter and Bill will lead us through a nuanced exploration of the latest trends and advancements in thought leadership. From the transformative impact of technology on communication and collaboration to the evolving preferences of consumers in an increasingly digital marketplace, they will dissect the shifting landscape with precision and insight. Moreover, they will shine a spotlight on emerging modalities that are reshaping the contours of thought leadership, from the ascendance of virtual events as a cornerstone of engagement to the growing influence of social media platforms as conduits for thought dissemination and audience interaction. Through their discerning analysis, they will reveal how thought leaders can adeptly harness these trends to amplify their reach, captivate new audiences, and maximize their influence in an ever-evolving business environment. Whether you find yourself at the height of your career as a seasoned thought leader, or whether you stand at the threshold of possibility as an aspiring entrepreneur, the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast offers an enriching voyage of discovery. Join us as we unravel the enigmatic secrets to success in the vibrant realm of thought leadership, where ideas have the power to shape perceptions, drive change, and inspire action. Together, let us explore how you, too, can engineer value, evoke impact, and cultivate revenue through the sheer power of your ideas and expertise. Welcome aboard.