The Elevate Media Podcast
Join Chris as he chats with successful business owners and entrepreneurs and shares his own lessons and successes of building Elevate Media Group.
His mission is to help coaches bring in more clients through video podcasting and content creation so they can elevate their brands and become the experts in their industries without all the time spent doing it.
The Elevate Media Podcast
Balancing Emotional Intelligence and AI
The episode explores the vital intersection of emotional intelligence and artificial intelligence, emphasizing that while AI continues to rise, the need for emotional awareness and connection remains crucial. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their emotional intelligence to effectively navigate personal relationships and broader societal challenges.
• Robin shares his journey into emotional intelligence
• Definition of emotional intelligence and its significance
• The role of EI in the age of AI
• Concerns about a global recession in emotional intelligence
• Balancing authoritative and empathetic approaches in coaching
• The implications of AI for enhancing or detracting from EI
• Practical tools for developing emotional intelligence through technology
• Call to connect with Robin and explore his online courses
This episode is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links, meaning we'll receive a small commission if you buy something.
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Welcome to the Elevate Media podcast with your host, chris Anderson. In this show, chris and his guests will share their knowledge and experience on how to go from zero to successful entrepreneur. They have built their businesses from scratch and are now ready to give back to those who are just starting. Let's get ready to learn, grow and elevate our businesses. And now your host, chris Anderson.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another recording of the Elevate Media Podcast. I'm Chris Anderson, your host, and today we're going to get into a topic that mixes some of the things we've talked about in the past. You know emotional intelligence and artificial intelligence, and you know we're seeing such a rise in AI nowadays with business and life. We're just going to continue to see an uptick there, at a rapid pace, I feel. But there's still room for emotional intelligence, and so we're going to dive into how these two kind of coincide, how we can bring them together and bridge these two kind of worlds into one. So we brought on an expert to kind of help walk us through this conversation and give us some good insight and direction with it. So, Robin Hills, welcome to the Elevate Media podcast today, Chris it's a pleasure to be on here.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me on your show.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, robin, and you know for those listening you might hear a little bit of an accent Robin's over in the UK For those who are here in the States or not in Europe, I guess. So we were kind of chatting before we got recorded and everything, talking about the history over there and the weather and things like that. But Robin, yeah, super excited to have you on To dive right in. You know, emotional intelligence it's an important piece, you know, to the puzzle of life. What got you so fascinated with emotional intelligence?
Speaker 3:Well, to give you a little bit of background, I started my career as a salesperson working for the pharmaceutical industry in the London, teaching hospitals a really deep level and some doctors who were doing exactly the same job, but in a completely different department, or perhaps even in the same department. As roles changed, I couldn't connect with them in the same way and I didn't know what what it was, because I was approaching everybody the same way, with openness, with empathy. I wanted them to respect me and to respect the fact that I was there to help them. Some couldn't equate with that, some actually embraced it, and it wasn't until I moved up to the northwest of England, having had a job change myself, that I realized that it was emotional intelligence, and that was a great revelation to me, because doctors are cognitively intelligent, they have high IQs, they have brilliant minds, but some of them are not in tune with emotions, their own and other people's, and that really limits them to a certain extent.
Speaker 2:For those who might not understand emotional intelligence, what you're talking about right there. Can you define that for people who might not know?
Speaker 3:Sure, it's a great question, chris, and sorry for not having brought that up earlier. Emotional intelligence is the way in which you are smart with your feelings. It's the way in which you utilize your intellect around your emotions in order to make good quality decisions and build up authentic relationships and then take action. Very, very simple. Simple to say, very difficult to do. Yeah, very simple. Simple to say, very difficult to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of like building a business. It's simple but it's not easy. Oh yes.
Speaker 3:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:So where does this you know we kind of mentioned in the beginning where does this emotional intelligence play in? Now in the world we are, with so much AI happening? How is this going to affect emotional intelligence, good or bad? Where do you see it going?
Speaker 3:Well, actually, I think, as a human race, we need to recognize that it's the emotional intelligence that will separate us from AI, and I think we've got to become more attuned to it and better at using it, because AI, for all its strengths, does not have emotional intelligence, will never have emotional intelligence, and the reason being is that it doesn't possess what you and I have. It doesn't possess what our listeners have, and that's the human brain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you think it will ever adapt you? You know we've seen movies like irobot and things like that. Do you think ai robotics will ever adapt enough to have a brain-like feature that allows it to have any sort of emotional intelligence?
Speaker 3:not in our lifetimes. I I don't think it will happen in the next millennia. I really don't. Well, look, let's look at what fundamentally makes us human. We were born of humans.
Speaker 3:We were nurtured as humans and that's where we developed our empathy to start with. It was the emotional connection that we had with our mothers initially and our fathers and our caregivers that helped us to develop the right neural connections for empathy. It was then the social relationships that we built up when we started engaging with people of our own age, and we built up relationships that way and we built up relationships that way and we learned as we got older that those relationships adapted and we adapted around them, and what we did as young children we don't necessarily do now as adults, or if we do, we've built upon them and become a lot more sophisticated and a lot more mature around those activities and the. The other thing is, chris, you and I I can say this without any fear of contradiction you and I, at some point in our lives, have been naughty boys and we've been reprimanded for it.
Speaker 3:And we've learned through that process and we can tell some great stories about it. I Robot will never be able to do that. Never be able to do that because he just doesn't have that human experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Do you think we'll see any sort of growth within them, trying to connect on that level at least? Or how do you think the the ai kind of system is going to work? You know, alongside our emotional intelligence, you see it meshing well or no?
Speaker 3:I? I think it will do to a certain extent. There's some great research being done in terms of picking up emotions and looking at nuances, but it's got to become a lot more sophisticated because, again, through our social conditioning, we've picked up on various nuances of body language and language, so we have a deeper understanding and we can make those sort of connections which, again, ai has got to be programmed to do that.
Speaker 2:What about the self-learning aspect of AI and robotics? Do you think it could start to self-learn and do its own research on emotional intelligence?
Speaker 3:Yes, I think that's a great inevitability of it, but one of the things that it is unlikely to ever develop is self-awareness, and it's the self-awareness that gives us our reason for being. Why are we here on this earth? Why are you and I, chris, doing what we're doing at the moment?
Speaker 3:yeah it's because we have purpose and it's because we have meaning, and that is inherently a part of what makes us human as well, which, unfortunately, I don't think the robots will ever have that degree of autonomy in order for them to develop it yeah, it's definitely interesting.
Speaker 2:You know it's all, it's all a guessing game, but and then kind of dreaming of what it could be, but yeah, that's very interesting thing. Do you think robotics, ai, you, you, chat, gpt kind of thing right now could aid individuals in better understanding or having a better level of emotional intelligence?
Speaker 3:Yes, I think it can. I mean I use chat GPT, I use Gemini. I've been using Copilot recently and I get it to check my thinking and it's a very, very good tool for that. It's not excellent because it often comes up with mistakes and it often comes up with errors.
Speaker 2:What kind of mistakes and errors?
Speaker 3:Well, some very, very fundamental ones, some built-in prejudices into its programming, and sometimes it will give me some instructions. I want it to give me some instructions on how to use a piece of software, for example, and it will give me these instructions. But some of these steps are wrong and I go back and say, well, this doesn't work. And the AI systems will come back and apologize and say, oh, I've made a mistake. So if it can make a mistake and if it can apologize for making mistakes, what other mistakes is it making? What other mistakes are being made that we're not picking up on? And I think this is where the human side of checking and double checking and making sure that it's consistent with what we know and what we need is vitally important to this stage yeah.
Speaker 2:So because there's been so much, you know, technological advancement, do you see emotional intelligence in individuals lessening, becoming less of a forethought um? Are we having more trouble with emotional intelligence because of everything online and hybrid stuff? Do you see that as a as a negative, or are we or or have you seen that emotional intelligence is becoming better because people are becoming more aware of it through, maybe, tiktoks online or whatever it might be?
Speaker 3:I think at the moment, we're in a bit of a recession with regards to emotional intelligence. I'm going to stay up front. I'm seeing certain indications globally around what that is. I think we're in a global recession at the moment and I see a lot of this globally at the individual level, the group level and certainly when we start looking at the economic and the political level, and I think we've got to come to terms with where we're going as a human race and I think we need to be a lot more supportive of each other. It causes me great distress, great turmoil emotionally and great worries for the future when I look at some of the wars that are happening and some of the big arguments that are happening, and I think some of our leaders ought to knock their heads together, get their heads knocked together and to really come down to what it is about being human and trying toetic and being a lot more understanding. You don't necessarily have to agree with other people.
Speaker 3:You just have to tolerate and you have to understand, and I think that's missing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting because you know. So what would you say, I guess, with that? What would a healthy, emotional, intelligent person kind of look like? How would they react to things or go with with things happening in the world?
Speaker 3:it pulls in a fundamental question am I emotionally intelligent? Well, it's an interesting question because if I answer yes, it's rather arrogant, self-conceited and suggests there's no room for improvement. And if I answer no, why am I here talking to you as an emotionally intelligent individual? I think the answer is it depends, and it's work in progress.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm continually looking at ways to improve my emotional intelligence and there are going to be certain situations that I'll go into and I'll interact well and I'll come out of it and think, yeah, that worked well. And there's going to be other situations where I go in and it doesn't work. I completely screw up, and that's because I'm human, like like you are, chris. So I think, to answer your question, an emotionally intelligent individual is always looking at ways to improve and they go through periods of self-reflection what went well, what didn't go so well, what can I do better next time? Did I leave that person feeling good about themselves, feeling good about me and feeling good about the relationship? And if I can answer, then I think I've been emotionally intelligent. But it's not easy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause my mind goes to. So I coach soccer, uh, football, uh, for you all Um. And my mind goes to, like when I had coaches and I didn't always feel good after conversations with coach, whether that be, I was maybe upset or like, oh, why can't he see the good? But it always turned out good, because then I would kind of take a second and say, okay, this is what he was saying. Yeah, he's right.
Speaker 2:I was just in the moment emotional or just frustrated, but it wasn't that they were beating, you know, beating around the bush, trying to be nice, like directly, you know, constructive criticism, feedback, things like that. Like to some people might seem intense or might seem mean or might seem, you know, brash or things of that nature, but to me, maybe in the moment I was frustrated, but but like I took it well and and was able to improve. So as a coach, like coming off like I'm trying to walk that line of, yes, I want these individuals, these young men, to to know their worth and know their potential and things like that, but also not just let it get by without working at that level that I can see where they're going. So, so my, my point is, like with emotional intelligence. Sometimes we still have to not necessarily be a nice guy, but a good person. So how can you walk that?
Speaker 3:line that. That's exactly it, chris. It's it's not being a nice guy, it's being a good guy, it's having the right set of values, doing it for the right reason, doing it from here. Um, you have to be cruel to be kind at times you have to call out bad behavior, you know, inappropriate behavior.
Speaker 3:You have to call out some of the guys who are not playing soccer appropriately and just help them to hone their skills. They may not feel good about it and they may not feel good about you, but you're doing it for the right reasons. You're doing it because it's being underpinned by your core values around wanting the best for the person. And if you're doing it for that reason, then you're being emotionally intelligent and sometimes you may actually have to soften your approach with some people and say, okay, I overstepped the mark there, but I'm I'm trying to help you and help me to try and help you as well. And then there are other times when you know you can push, you can push and you can push and you can push, and you might not feel good about pushing, but that person needs you to push even further. But you've got to make the judgment about that. And that, again, is where the challenge comes in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and definitely I think, like you said, we're constantly learning and you know, I'm fine to tell them hey, you know, maybe I was wrong in that approach or whatnot. But then you know, I see a lot out there in emotional intelligence uh, being the kind of, oh, it's okay, like the super, super other spectrum of like we can't be meaner, we can't raise our voice, you can't be stern, you can't do this, um, and so do you see that obviously both extremes are probably not good, but do you see, maybe people getting it wrong in that regards of of being, you know, super tolerant, super soft all the time being, not maybe the best emotional intelligence no, no, that's not being emotionally intelligence as well.
Speaker 3:I think you've got to go in with an approach that I don't necessarily want you to like me. I want you to respect me.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Now, if you can get both. If you can't, then you're in trouble. But get people to respect you for who you are, what you are, and through that they will then like you for that.
Speaker 2:So if you want to be liked all the time, forget it yeah, and I have two young kids, so, like my mind goes to parenting too, like understanding.
Speaker 2:I want to, you know, definitely make sure they always know they can come to me, like for help, for anything, and even if they were in the wrong like, I'm still here for them and we'll figure out. You know what comes next in this situation. But I always want them to know they can come here. I don't want them to think I can't talk to him because I'm scared of what's going to happen. But I also don't want to be like them having a tantrum in the store and like getting down and laying with them and say I'm here, I understand, like, and nothing against the people who do that kind of thing, but like, to me that's kind of the coddling side of things that we I don't think is a healthy emotional intelligence, because you're just allowing them to have no reprimandation or reprimanding from that situation. And I might be off, because I'm not, this is not my field. So how do you, how do you walk alongside those people who, um, and is that right? I mean mean, is that the best way to do it?
Speaker 3:Well, it's a case of being firm and fair.
Speaker 3:And again, you have got two great resources there in your children, because as you grow and mature as a father, you'll find that you become more emotionally intelligent. And if what you're doing is you're giving your kids the opportunity to be independent, make their own choices and make their decisions, find out what their barriers are, they will step over them just to see what the response is. And if you do not respond in the appropriate way, either let them go too far or not even go anywhere near the barrier you're going to limit them in terms of their growth and their emotional independence. So I think, again, you're going to find it very, very, very tough and it never stops. Look, I have two girls and they I'm very proud of them, and they're in their 30s, they're grown up, they're, they're married and I still um question as to whether I am treating them fairly or not and whether I'm doing the right thing. I don't want them to look at me and see me as somebody who's a great ogre that they can't turn to.
Speaker 3:I want them to turn to me because they feel that I can provide them with wisdom to help them to make their own decisions. So it's much more of a coaching relationship, but what I want is for them to be proud of me. So what is it that I can do in order to drive that? I want to be proud of them, so what is it I can do to drive that pride? And I think if we're looking at pride as an emotion and looking at it from a very pleasant, positive perspective, then that drives development of emotional intelligence as a parent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's good and that's kind of the ultimate goal, right, and you know anything. You know we're doing anything. It can be simple, but it's not going to be easy. Anything, you know we're doing anything. It's it can be simple, but it's not going to be easy. Parenting definitely is not, um, but you know, back to the ai thing, like with that like, so now we have that component to throw in the mix. You know, first there's social media and parents were having to deal with figuring that out and doing that and staying emotional intelligent. Now we have social media and ai and they mix, uh, and even more hybrid kind of work space. How do we, how do we navigate all that with emotional intelligence, with everything that's out there now, um, because they're they're being fed so much information from so many different directions, um, how do we kind of navigate that emotional intelligence landscape as we're trying to help others develop it?
Speaker 3:well, I think, first and foremost, we've got to accept that ai and social media are tools and they're there for us to utilize in the most appropriate way we've got to. We've got to dominate the tools rather than the tools dominating us. So we've got to get the balance right there and I think if we do that, then we then there's space for us to grow and develop and utilize our emotion, intelligence for the good and for the greater good of ourselves and for everybody else yeah, I agree, I think they're great tools, but we can't use them as a crutch.
Speaker 2:We can't let them, uh, take too much power, uh, in what we do and just kind of like, utilize them as the tools they are, which they are, you know, powerful tools, which is great. Um, whoever would have thought we would have been here, uh, in the technology and ai and robotic stuff, where we are, where it'll go from here? But you know, with that too, now, just kind of like a quick, almost like a not a rapid fire question type thing, but, um, what would you say is the biggest benefit of ai for emotional intelligence?
Speaker 3:um, well, look for for me. I think I. I think the best benefit is if I'm responding emotionally to a particular situation, say through email or in corresponding with anybody else, I just run it through AI, I just say rephrase in a more empathetic way and I am pleased that many times what I've written, it doesn't improve upon. But sometimes it can come up with something and I think, yeah, do you know, that is better, that's good, so let me use that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and to reverse that, what is the biggest detriment to emotional intelligence that AI brings?
Speaker 3:I think a lot of it is around everybody putting their reliance on AI to do the things that we do very well as human beings. The things that we do very well as human beings A great example is one of the things that AI will never, ever, ever be able to do, because this is a human element and that is an expression of human qualities and human emotions, and there's a deepness to art through its expression that makes us fundamentally human. Ai at the moment is not very good at producing images. Some of them are great. Some of them are really really good, but some of them are great. Some of them are really really good, but some of them are dreadful, and the majority of them you can automatically tell that they've got an AI component there.
Speaker 3:Now, will that ever be washed out? I think perhaps it will be, but it will never be original. It needs a human to say, oh, create a picture of a seagull trying to land in a high wind and see what it comes up with. You know, at some point it'll come up with a really good image but, we will.
Speaker 3:We will know it's ai and we'll know it's. We'll know it's ai for many years. So all this talk from celebrities and politicians and people in the media around AI taking over the world, Read it with a big smile and think, oh yeah, what do you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely a great tool and hopefully we continue to use it in a positive way, and I'm sure there will be people who don't. Well, there already is we already know that, with deep fakes and things like that, what they're doing. So, uh, and the security around it. But you know, uh, robin, this has been great conversation and just the the complexity of mixing ai artificial intelligence with. You know, emotional intelligence that only is human and, um, I think you, you really gave some good, valuable information on it and and kind of allowed people to think a little bit deeper on the topics at hand. So I appreciate you sharing what you have today in this episode I would love for you to share if you want to get connected with you, learn more about emotional intelligence from you. Where's the best place to direct them to?
Speaker 3:My website is eiforchangecom. If you go along to the website, you can sign up for one of my free courses. I have a range of online courses based around emotional intelligence. One of the most popular is bridging the gap between ai and emotional intelligence. So you know, if you want to find out more, there's a great course there for you awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, everyone, make sure you connect with robin moore to learn out, learn more about, uh, emotional intelligence from his courses and everything else he's putting out there. And yeah, robin, again, thank you so much for being on the Elevate Media podcast today.
Speaker 3:Thank you. It has been wonderful, Chris, and I do hope your listeners got a lot from it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And if you are out there listening, make sure you one follow and like the show, if you haven't already, but share this episode with someone who's maybe trying to improve their emotional intelligence, because we can do so much more. We can help so many more people by sharing this together. We appreciate everyone tuning in and listening. Continue to go out there, elevate your life, elevate your brand, and we'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Elevate Media Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. See you in the next episode.
