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🎙 Emotional Intelligence Is a Leadership Discipline—Not a Personality Trait

In this episode of the Elite Leader Insights™ Podcast, Donald C. Kunkel Jr. breaks down one of the most misunderstood elements of leadership: emotional intelligence.

Too many leaders still treat EQ as a soft skill—or worse, a personality trait you're either born with or not. But the truth is, emotional intelligence is a discipline, and it’s one that separates those who manage people from those who truly influence them.

Drawing from the TECCA™ Influence System and insights from The Foundations of Influence, this episode explores why EQ is the thread that connects trust, communication, and leadership credibility—and how leaders can start developing it with intention.

This is for every leader who's ever been told to “stay calm” or “be more empathetic” but was never given the tools to do it.

You’ll learn:

• The Five Core Areas of Emotional Intelligence (based on Goleman’s research)
• Why empathy without self-regulation can do more harm than good
• How blind spots in EQ quietly derail your leadership
• A real-world story from Donnie’s First Sergeant experience that shows EQ in action
• Coaching tips to build your EQ as a habit—not a buzzword

Resources Mentioned:

• The Foundations of Influence: The Power to Lead & Inspire
• TECCA™ Influence Assessment + Power Profile™
• Elite Leader Insights™ Newsletter

Final Thought:
You can’t lead others if you can’t lead yourself—and emotional intelligence is where that leadership begins.

Elite Leader Insights is hosted by Donald C. Kunkel Jr., founder of the Elite Leadership Center, author of The Foundations of Influence: The Power to Lead and Inspire, and creator of the TECCA Influence System

🌐 Connect with Us: LinkTree | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter (X)

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🎙 We All Hate Pointless Meetings—So Why Do We Keep Having Them?

In this episode of the Elite Leader Insights™ Podcast, Donald C. Kunkel Jr. unpacks one of the biggest productivity killers in modern leadership: meetings that waste time, erode trust, and derail execution.

Meetings were designed to move teams forward—but too often, they drain energy and deliver nothing. From performative face time to calendar chaos, Donald explores why we keep defaulting to meetings that don’t work—and what real leaders can do to fix them.

Drawing from the TECCA™ Influence System and The Foundations of Influence, this episode offers a powerful framework for making every meeting a moment of momentum—not confusion.

This is for every leader who's ever walked out of a meeting and thought:
“What did we actually accomplish?”

You’ll learn:

• Why most meetings create more confusion than clarity
• The neuroscience behind cognitive overload—and how meetings feed it
• Five research-backed strategies to lead meetings that actually matter
• How communication breakdowns start long before anyone speaks

Resources Mentioned:

• The Foundations of Influence: The Power to Lead & Inspire
• TECCA™ Influence Assessment and Power Profile™
• Elite Leader Insights™ Newsletter

Final Thought:
You don’t need another meeting. You need better meetings.
Because leadership isn’t about being busy—it’s about driving impact.

Elite Leader Insights™ is hosted by Donald C. Kunkel Jr., founder of the Elite Leadership Center™, author of The Foundations of Influence, and creator of the TECCA™ Influence System.

🌐 Connect: Link Tree | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | EliteLeadershipCenter.com

Elite Leader Insights is hosted by Donald C. Kunkel Jr., founder of the Elite Leadership Center, author of The Foundations of Influence: The Power to Lead and Inspire, and creator of the TECCA Influence System

🌐 Connect with Us: LinkTree | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter (X)

Send us a text

🎙 How Comparison Hijacks Growth—and Steals Your Momentum

In this episode of the Elite Leader Insights™ Podcast, Donald C. Kunkel Jr. takes on one of the most overlooked leadership traps: comparison.

It doesn’t just distract—it distorts. And when left unchecked, it slowly pulls even the most driven leaders off track.

From subtle self-doubt to unhealthy competition, comparison can quietly erode confidence, authenticity, and clarity. Drawing from his own experience as a competitive leader—and grounded in the TECCA™ Influence System—Donald explores what it really costs us to lead by someone else’s scoreboard.

This episode is a mindset reset for anyone who’s ever thought, “I should be further by now.”

You’ll learn:

• Why comparison impacts decision-making more than we realize
• How to spot when competition becomes misaligned
• Three powerful shifts to reclaim your focus and momentum
• Why identity-based goals lead to sustainable growth and influence

Resources Mentioned:

• The Foundations of Influence: The Power to Lead & Inspire
• TECCA™ Influence Assessment and Power Profile™
• Elite Leader Insights™ Newsletter

Final Thought:
Your timeline isn’t broken. But the lens you’re using might be.
You don’t need to catch up—you need to realign.
Because influence doesn’t come from chasing others. It comes from becoming more of who you are.

Elite Leader Insights™ is hosted by Donald C. Kunkel Jr., founder of the Elite Leadership Center™, author of The Foundations of Influence: The Power to Lead & Inspire, and creator of the TECCA™ Influence System.

🌐 Connect with Us: LinkTree | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter (X)

Read this week's article and take you TECCA Influence Assessment by visiting us at www.EliteLeadershipCenter.com

Elite Leader Insights is hosted by Donald C. Kunkel Jr., founder of the Elite Leadership Center, author of The Foundations of Influence: The Power to Lead and Inspire, and creator of the TECCA Influence System

🌐 Connect with Us: LinkTree | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter (X)