When AI Puts IQ in Your Pocket, EQ Becomes the Differentiator
In this exclusive interview with the Inspirational Leadership Speakers Agency, Dalia Feldheim discusses why culture matters more as AI changes work, how psychological safety affects innovation, why fear-based leadership damages performance and how organizations can invest in people without losing sight of commercial results.
Question 1. As AI Takes on More Cognitive Work, Why are Culture, Emotional Intelligence and Human Relationships Becoming More Important to Business Performance?
Dalia Feldheim: “I always used to say ROI is not return on investment, but return on interaction, because what really drives business is the people. How you work with your employees drives motivation and hence performance. How you work with your stakeholders matters because sales is all around relationships. Today, it's even more important because when AI means IQ is in your pocket, EQ, emotional intelligence and relationships are your differentiator. I find companies spending millions on AI adoption tools, but they're not spending on building the right culture in the organization that enables AI adoption. How we develop people and allow them to experiment and fail will enable AI adoption. You can't outsource soul. AI can help us with productivity, processes and many other things, and it's a great companion. I'm now writing a book with my AI, but the thoughts, the creation, the human interaction and the storytelling are mine. When we talk about culture, we need the premise that will enable AI adoption, and we need to continue focusing on heart and soul.”
Question 2. What is the Link Between Psychological Safety, High-Performing Teams and an Organization's Ability to Innovate?
Dalia Feldheim: “I came across the term when I started exploring culture at work and Amy Edmondson's work on psychological safety. Google did a big project, Project Aristotle, where they tried to understand the number one driver of high-performing teams. They found psychological safety was the number one driver. Amy's work really explains why. A key driver of psychological safety is leaders admitting mistakes or creating a culture that embraces failure. When you do that, you get more collaboration because people are not afraid to voice their opinion or share feedback. You get better innovation because people are not scared to share crazy ideas. They know they won't be penalized for coming up with ideas, and that leads to more creativity. There are mistakes, but they are embraced and you learn from them, so you're not creating the same mistake twice. It also drives motivation and engagement in the company, and hence the culture's resilience over time and through change. Psychological safety should be at the core of what culture focuses on to ultimately enable the bottom line.”
Question 3. Why Does Fear-Based Leadership Undermine Performance Over Time, and What Do Effective Leaders Do Differently?
Dalia Feldheim: “I think it all goes back to this idea of ROI. I worked for 17 years with P&G. Procter & Gamble is very much a company of: take care of your people and the business takes care of itself. On a personal level, I delivered because I never felt like I was working. I was always nourished. From there, I moved to another company. My direct boss, the CEO of Asia, was a totally different animal. He was basically a bully. He didn't believe in people. He said it very directly: it's all transactional. The focus was on ROI, return on investment, money and the bottom line. As a result, there was a whole culture of fear. There were silos and people were put against each other. Fear delivers results short term, but long-term love delivers much higher results. Over time, people either quit, were fired or became so fearful that it prevented innovation. I could see it in myself. I was a top-rated performer at P&G, and suddenly I needed to think twice about every email I was writing because I felt scrutinized, like someone was constantly over my shoulder. My performance diminished. After three years of fighting it, I looked at myself and saw my performance was not what it was. Leaders need to understand that in order to be a leader, you need to have followers. Your people come first. That's the essence of what I teach and what I work on.”
Question 4. How Can Organizations Invest in People Development at Scale While Still Maintaining a Clear Focus on Commercial Performance?
Dalia Feldheim: “I hear a lot: "We don't have budget for training." At the end of the day, that's when you get into a downward spiral of performance. Today there are online courses, and I teach both online and live. I am also seeing a shift back towards live training. If the bottom line is your obsession, you still need to know that the bottom line goes through people development. There's no escaping it. Otherwise, you'll wear people down. You'll end up with burnout, silos and fear. Investment doesn't have to mean big, million-dollar projects. It can be $500 or $1,000 per employee, and they can go through a real transformation. What I also love about training is creating cohorts of like-minded people. When you create that cohort, that's when your culture change starts. When I look at P&G and why it was so successful, people development was the expectation. You were expected to spend 50% of your time on people development. We get what we measure. Putting that in place, bringing cohorts together and prioritizing training is core, not only for people feeling better and being motivated, but because that leads to higher results and the bottom line.”
This exclusive interview with Dalia Feldheim was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.
