Listen to “153. Emotional Intelligence & Human-Centered Connection w/ Dan Hill” on Spreaker.

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Note: this conversation with Dan Hill, PhD was originally released as Episode 153 and is edited and re-released as Episode 218.

Communication is so much more than just the words we hear. Communication is body language, tone, facial expression, and emotion. In fact, it’s the emotional part of our brains that’s the primary influencer of our communication perception. And it’s emotional intelligence (EQ) and insight into the conversation that’s essential to develop a more profound and genuine understanding of our daily communication.

Facial coding — recognizing and understanding what people are saying emotionally through their faces — is one way to better assess what people are actually communicating to us. And it’s through this process of becoming emotionally literate we’re able to enhance our communication, leading to more meaningful, human-centered connections.

Our guest today is Dan Hill, PhD. Dan is a facial coding and EQ expert, President at Sensory Logic, and podcast host of Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight. Dan specializes in analyzing emotions, facial expressions, and personality traits. He provides EQ insights for leaders and communicators. These insights are used as a guide to improving leadership through the understanding of the human mind and complex emotions.

In his role at Sensory Logic, Dan has advised people in politics, business, sports, law, and more. He also holds seven U.S. patents associated with the analysis of facial coding data. He’s written an impressive nine books including the brand-new Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. We talked extensively about Dan’s background and the power of faces and video messaging back on Episode 75 of this podcast.

During this conversation, Dan provided some key examples of facial coding that all leaders should be aware of. For instance, flat affect or neutral engagement usually means the general response to what’s being said is negative. In addition, people also often camouflage their emotions, with the smile being the most frequent way to do so. Finally, when it comes to taking a team forward, spotting the appearance of fear is critical. Fear can be a great motivator, but it can also significantly inhibit growth and success.

Dan is back on the podcast part of a special series we’re doing this summer here on The Customer Experience Podcast. He’s one of 11 experts that Steve Pacinelli and I interviewed in-depth in the process of writing our Wall Street Journal bestselling second book, Human-Centered Communication: A Business Case Against Digital Pollution (Fast Company Press, October 2021).

Throughout this series, we’re back in conversation with each of them in a way that adds to – rather than restates – their insights featured in the book.

By listening to this conversation with Dan, you’ll learn:

• How to infuse mission and purpose into our work for employee retention
• Why contempt and sadness can be dangerous emotions
• What to do to raise our emotional literacy
• How Steve Jobs illustrates the negative and positive sides of anger
• Why emotions stand apart from the rational parts of the brain

Emotional Intelligence and Human-Centered Connection

Hear Episode 153/218 and every other conversation on The Customer Experience Podcast in your preferred podcast player …

While you’re there, please take a moment to rate the show with a single click. Thank you for listening and rating!

We also embed the full conversation in a playable and searchable format right here in these blog posts. The recording with Dan Hill Ph.D. is right here …

Listen to “153. Emotional Intelligence & Human-Centered Connection w/ Dan Hill” on Spreaker.

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