Episode #21 – Deciphering The Power Within: Exploring Energy Leadership Levels Through Science & Research

[00:00:00] INTRODUCTION

[00:00:00]

[00:00:00] Taty Fittipaldi: What’s with the attitude, young lady. Well, sometimes when we see someone behaving unexpectedly, we might label that attitude as a bad attitude. What if I told you that we can label all attitudes into seven different types. Or seven different ways we can react and respond in any kind of circumstance.

[00:00:26] Taty Fittipaldi: If you’re interested in learning that, then, you are very welcome to this episode where we are diving into the intriguing world of the energy leadership index assessment. Also known as the E L I. This tool has been causing quite a stir in the realms of personal development and leadership coaching, because it’s scientifically shows, which of these seven attitudes you present the most. In this episode, we’ll get cozy with the core concepts of the ELI, talk about the seven types of attitudes, chat [00:01:00] about whether it has a 360 version for professional settings, see how it stacks up against other HR assessments and, finally, peek behind the scenes at the research that vouchers for its effectiveness. As you can see, today we have a packed agenda. So let’s get started.

[00:01:18] NARRRATOR’S INTRO: Hello and welcome to the Leadership Nest Podcast. The podcast that nests stories, knowledge, and science to soar the leadership in you. I’m your host, Taty Fittipaldi. As always, our podcast will be divided into three phases. A story, a lesson, and its application. This way, you can have structure and information while also having some fun.

[00:01:49] NARRRATOR’S INTRO: This program is brought to you by Coaching Expatriates.

[00:01:52] TODAY’S STORY

[00:01:52] TODAY’S STORY: Today’s story.[00:02:00]

[00:02:02] Taty Fittipaldi: Picture this for a minute. You received a product you’ve recently bought, but it came defective. You call the customer service to complain about it and to get it replaced. Did you picture the situation?

[00:02:14] Taty Fittipaldi: Now picture yourself being really frustrated and angry as this product was going to be given as a gift for your 20th anniversary or something. Your anniversary is tomorrow, by the way, and there is not a way to get it replaced in time. Your furious. You’re pissed. Beyond that. The poor customer service representative who attends to your call does not have a single fault, but they hear an ear full of complaints, frustration, and anger. Your attitude, an aggressive attitude towards the representative, was fueled by your emotions. Your bad attitude was so intense, that the poor representative got so stressed that she [00:03:00] was not able to get to the reason of the anger, which is not being able to gift to your spouse in time. End of the story you were angry, your spouse’s frustrated and the customer service representative, disgruntled with their job.

[00:03:15] Taty Fittipaldi: Now picture the same event, but with a little twist.

[00:03:19] Taty Fittipaldi: After receiving the defective product, you take your time to fume and vent your anger. Then you call the customer service in a much more centered with a problem solving mindset. You calmly but firmly explain the situation and also explain related to your timing to gift your spouse. The representative puts you on hold to verify some options. Considering the urgency. And when they come back, they offer several options. One of which you’re not totally happy about, but you take it because you’ll get the replacement in time. The offer is you drive one hour to [00:04:00] their distribution center, where they will also send an employee with your replacement. On top of that, the representative even tells you, without her asking, that they realize that this option is not the optimal one, all things considered. So they will give you a $50 rebate, that will be automatically applied to your payment method, in up to five business days. End of this story. A happy marriage, a proud spouse and a customer service representative with a five star in the review.

[00:04:33] Taty Fittipaldi: Now, if you had to label your attitude in the first scenario of the story and the second scenario of the story, what would these labels be? Angry, stupid, centered, focus, apathetic. What? Think about your labels for both cases and then try to match them with one of the levels we are about to share with you in the next section.

[00:04:59] SPONSOR’S NOTE: [00:05:00] This episode is sponsored by Coaching Expatriates, a leading global executive development company that helps leaders around the world create happier and more profitable workplaces using the four success pillars in global leadership, an innovative leadership learning methodology. Visit their website at www.

[00:05:19] SPONSOR’S NOTE: coachingexpatriates. com.

[00:05:25] TODAY’S LESSON

[00:05:25] TODAY’S LESSON: Today’s lesson.

[00:05:35] Taty Fittipaldi: So what’s this energy leadership about? Well, think of it as your energy or attitude thermometer, with a leadership twist. Energy leadership is a theory that puts your attitudes into perspective, for your quicker reference and action.

[00:05:51] Taty Fittipaldi: Then the theory was extrapolated to create an index that guides you where you are in a [00:06:00] scale, for even a quicker reference. And, then, of course, an assessment was created to identify what your index is and how your general attitude profile looks like. This index is called energy leadership index or. E L I. And it measures how amped up you are in terms of quality energy, and how that affects your leadership potential and results. Think of it this way.

[00:06:26] Taty Fittipaldi: Imagine a leader who is knowledgeable, experienced, and competent. Now, think about this leader interacting with other people around them with a bad attitude and causing havoc in his wake. Now, think of this same knowledgeable, experienced and competent leader. But someone who interacts with others with a positive, constructive attitude. Given the same level of knowledge, experience and competence, which one do you think will get the better results? That’s an easy answer, right? [00:07:00] Of course the one with the most constructive attitude. At least longterm speaking.

[00:07:05] Taty Fittipaldi: On top of that in a previous episode where we presented Jekyll and Hyde’s story in the coffee shop, you learned that a bad attitude can be so impactful in interactions that it even can sway people’s moral judgements. That’s how strong attitudes affect people around us.

[00:07:24] Taty Fittipaldi: And then in another episode, you learned about the science of perception and how we can wrongly be perceived if we don’t send the right signals. Even when we are displaying a positive attitude. So, understanding how others are preceding our attitudes and how we are showing up deciphers many things about why we’re getting the results we are getting, in our lives and work.

[00:07:52] Taty Fittipaldi: So, energy leadership and its index assessment is all about helping you peek into your mindset, attitudes, [00:08:00] and actions in different situations and how this will impact the results you get. It rates your quote unquote energy, or you can call it a vibe or attitude. On a scale of seven levels from down in the dumps to the go getter Supreme.

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[00:08:20] Taty Fittipaldi: imagine if we could label every single behavior people display in only seven different ways, for quicker mind processing. That’s sort of what this assessment does for us. And it does this not to box people, but to help us quickly understand what’s going on, how our attitude is showing up and in which direction we need to change, in order to change the results from poor results to better outcomes.

[00:08:50] Taty Fittipaldi: In the story today, we shared the same story, but with two different scenarios, portraying two different attitudes. In one of [00:09:00] the scenarios, we told a story of a person who chewed up the representative and projected their frustration on the poor attendant. The result was that they didn’t get anything out of it. Besides, perhaps getting also a frustrated spouse on their 20th anniversary. And it all happened because of this person’s reaction to this circumstance.

[00:09:24] Taty Fittipaldi: Now the other scenario was a bit different. This person took some time to steam off, became more centered and then talked to the representative with a more problem solving approach. They got an alternative to replacement, in time, and a 50 bucks off for the inconvenience. , Their spouse was not only probably happy with the gift, but also proud of how their spouse handled things, when the tale was shared during the gift exchange, right.

[00:09:56] Taty Fittipaldi: And that’s exactly what happens in our [00:10:00] lives. Shit happens. It always does, but how we react to it is the trick between getting a lousy or a first rate result. From the very same shitty situation.

[00:10:16] Taty Fittipaldi: Now let’s talk more about specifics. The different types of reactions were categorized and labeled into a model. By a guy called Bruce D. Scneider.

[00:10:28] Taty Fittipaldi: If you read the incredible book power vs force, by the medical doctor and PhD Dr. David R. Hawkins, I will live in link for it in the show notes for you, you know that based on this book, our state of mind can be classified into two ways. A positive response and a negative response to situations and people around us. It’s. That. Simple.

[00:10:55] Taty Fittipaldi: When we are in a state of positive response or a positive energy, [00:11:00] he called it anabolic state. Or life enhancing because it’s the type of energy that helps build and grow things around us.

[00:11:08] Taty Fittipaldi: When we are in a state of negative response or negative energy, we are in a catabolic energy state. Meaning life consuming because it breaks down and destroys processes and relationships.

[00:11:23] Taty Fittipaldi: So, what Bruce Schneider did was expand this idea into an energy model. And I believe he called energy leadership because it requires our personal leadership to drive our attitudes into better states and to greater leadership effectiveness. If you want to learn more about personal leadership, you should check out episode five of season one of this podcast.

[00:11:48] Taty Fittipaldi: Now, getting back to Bruce Schneider. He ended up writing a book about this model in a study case, to showcase how the model works. In his book, energy leadership, [00:12:00] transforming your workplace and your life from the core. He explains the concept through this interesting, fun and intriguing study case.

[00:12:09] Taty Fittipaldi: If you don’t yet know what your next read is, I recommend getting this book, for a light and informative read. I will also leave a reference for this book on the show notes for you.

[00:12:21] Taty Fittipaldi: Well now you’re probably saying, fine, fine Taty! Talk about the seven levels or attitudes already.

[00:12:28] Taty Fittipaldi: So, the generic model and it’s seven levels of leadership energy can be summarized like this.

[00:12:36] Energy level one, the victim.

[00:12:36] Taty Fittipaldi: Energy level one, the victim.

[00:12:39] Taty Fittipaldi: In this state, you feel like you have no choice as if life is happening to you against your will. You’re overwhelmed by a sense of apathy and everything feels wrong. Procrastination and avoidance are common and you just want to be left alone.

[00:12:56] Taty Fittipaldi: If we were to create a scenario for this level based on the [00:13:00] story today, what would happen is that you would avoid calling the customer service, would victimize yourself for the shitty situation happening, and wouldn’t do much about it. You’d just feel awful and complain all day long.

[00:13:15] Energy level to the antagonist.

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[00:13:16] Taty Fittipaldi: energy level to the antagonist.

[00:13:19] Taty Fittipaldi: At this level, conflict and defiance are prevalent. You’re still in a very negative space, often triggered by frustration or things not going your way. Anger is the core emotion and you’re ready to confront challenges head on.

[00:13:36] Taty Fittipaldi: This is the exact level in our first scenario in the story today.

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[00:13:41] Energy level three, the rationalizer.

[00:13:41] Taty Fittipaldi: Energy level three, the rationalizer.

[00:13:45] Taty Fittipaldi: Here you are starting to transition from negativity to positivity, but it’s still more catabolic than anabolic. Responsibility is your focus often for other’s sake and you tend to avoid [00:14:00] conflict. Forgiveness is the core emotion and corporation, though positive, may come at a cost of self-expression. In other words, you might tolerate to appease or resolve.

[00:14:13] Taty Fittipaldi: This is the exact level in our second scenario in the story today. You are still frustrated, but you gulped this frustration and tried to find a way to accommodate things, so that your spouse could get their gift.

[00:14:28] Energy level for the helper.

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[00:14:29] Taty Fittipaldi: Energy level for the helper.

[00:14:32] Taty Fittipaldi: Now, you’ve fully embraced an anabolic, positive state. Concern, especially for others, is your core thought. And compassion is your core emotion. Your actions are geared towards serving others, making this level common amongst psychologists, counselors, and coaches.

[00:14:52] Taty Fittipaldi: If we were to create a scenario for this level based on the story today, what would happen is that you would go [00:15:00] out and buy something else for your spouse, and, then, handle the whole replacement or refund ordeal separately. But your main focus here would not be on the gift or what you paid for, but on satisfying your spouse, even if it were at a higher cost.

[00:15:18] Energy level five, the collaborator.

[00:15:18] Taty Fittipaldi: Energy level five, the collaborator.

[00:15:21] Taty Fittipaldi: In this state, you are all about reconciliation and seeking win-win solutions. Peace is your core emotion, especially with yourself. Acceptance of others and situations is your goal with a strong inclination to transform challenges into opportunities.

[00:15:39] Taty Fittipaldi: If we’re were to create a scenario for this level, based on the story today, what would happen is that you would come up with a plan B about your anniversary celebration, even if that would cost you more, but so much so that you’d be completely at peace with yourself before even trying to find a win-win solution with the [00:16:00] customer representative. For example, you could take this messy situation to create a perfect opportunity to book a table at your spouse’s favorite French restaurant in New York, for example, or the closest Metro area, a few days away from the anniversary and then tell your spouse about a future surprise. You could arrange with the restaurant, a cake or something, that would come with your gift that by then would have had the perfect time to arrive with the right replacement.

[00:16:35] Taty Fittipaldi: As you can see when you are in the state of the collaborator, you’re not exactly collaborating with other people per se. You are collaborating with yourself. To see opportunities and get the best results possible. Even from a shady situation. And the best result for everyone around you. Including yourself.

[00:16:58] Energy level six, the creator.

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[00:16:59] Taty Fittipaldi: [00:17:00] Energy level six, the creator.

[00:17:02] Taty Fittipaldi: Here you transcend the ego, your thoughts revolve around synthesis, combining ideas to create something new. Joy is your core emotion because you’re excited about possibilities. Wisdom is the result, both for yourself and those you collaborate with.

[00:17:21] Taty Fittipaldi: If we were to create a scenario for this level based on the story, what would happen is that you’d make use of all previous levels. You’d get an extra gift for the anniversary day. Drive to the distribution center to get the replacement for the original gift. Arrange the French restaurant. And package the whole situation into the most memorable creation possible for your anniversary event. You’re not worried about how you will look and what your spouse will think… you are just living in the moment and you are fully [00:18:00] enjoying your experience of creating a memorable event. You’re like, who cares about the defective product? I can adapt this mess and make it memorable, something like that.

[00:18:11] Energy level seven, the passionate.

[00:18:11] Taty Fittipaldi:  Energy level seven, the passionate. At the highest level, you’ve completely transcended the ego. Your thoughts are centered on non-judgment and pure observation. Your core emotion is absolute passion and unconditional love. You see the interconnectedness of all things and synchronistic co-creation becomes your reality.

[00:18:38] Taty Fittipaldi: If we were to create a scenario for this level, based on the story, what would happen is that you’d be doing the same thing as in the previous level, the creator, but with so much passion that it almost feels like none have this IS for you. Or your life. It’s almost like you’re watching a story unfold. [00:19:00] Your focus is on the passion for the story that is being unfolded. Just in front of you. At each present moment. And that’s why it’s called the passionate, because you are passionate about experiencing your experiences. No matter what they are and how they are. You observe yourself simply co-creating with the universe without any judgment.

[00:19:25] Taty Fittipaldi: These seven energy levels represent a spectrum of consciousness. With higher levels associated with greater positivity, collaboration, and wisdom. Recognizing and navigating these levels can profoundly impact personal and leadership development.

[00:19:43] Taty Fittipaldi: Try to transpose these seven levels into a business situation. For example. A project management. A product launch. A merger and acquisition. What would be your attitude in each of these situations?

[00:19:58] Taty Fittipaldi: It’s important to tell you [00:20:00] that there is no right or wrong energy level. There is only the right attitude for the right situation for maximum results. For example, if you were in a business situation, you might be constricted by budget. And level five approach would not be applicable, maybe. You’d need to use maybe level three. If you were the company servicing the disgruntled customer, you might need to use the approach in level four.

[00:20:29] Taty Fittipaldi: So, there is only the right attitude for the right situation for maximum results. It’s critical for you to know that the levels bring awareness for action. Not judgment. They are meant to help you decide which is the best way to think, behave and act. To get the best results.

[00:20:51] NARRATOR’S NOTE: You’re listening to The Leadership Nest, the podcast that nests stories, knowledge, and science [00:21:00] to soar the leadership in you with your host Taty Fittipaldi.

[00:21:09] Taty Fittipaldi: Now here’s the question we often hear. Does the ELI come in 360 version?

[00:21:15] Taty Fittipaldi: And in light of our recent episodes talking about perception and how people perceive us at work, that’s an obvious question to bring up. Kudos. That’s good critical thinking. You want to know which of these seven levels you are perceived the most by your peers, bosses and subordinates, right?

[00:21:35] A 360 degree assessment is like getting feedback from all angles, including peers, subordinates, and your boss. It’s like having your leadership style critiqued by the whole gang.

[00:21:49] Taty Fittipaldi: Of course, we wish to be perceived always with fives, six, and sevens from this seven level categorization, right? But sadly, that’s [00:22:00] not often the case. You might be really surprised.

[00:22:03] Taty Fittipaldi: The 360 degree energy leadership index assessment gathers Intel from everyone you interact with, in your professional life. It gives you a bigger picture of your leadership strengths and areas where you could sharpen your skills and especially your attitudes.

[00:22:21] Taty Fittipaldi: When combining self-assessment with feedback from the troop, it paints a more complete portrait of very leadership mojo. This way, you can know more precisely where the perception gaps are, and where to tweak to be more effective leader and communicator.

[00:22:42] Taty Fittipaldi: Now let’s put the Eli up against the are there HR assessments out there, like the mayor Briggs and the disc, for example.

[00:22:51] Taty Fittipaldi: While there are many tools out there for HR and leadership development, the Eli stands out because it’s all about energy, [00:23:00] attitude and consciousness. It’s difficult to change our personality. Right? But it’s far easier to change the way you show up.

[00:23:08] Taty Fittipaldi: Unlike those old school assessments that my size up your skills or personality quirks, the Eli hones in on your energy and how it drives your leadership style. It doesn’t pigeonhole you. Instead it highlights your energy levels and gives you a roadmap to boost your game. To show up differently and in a more effective way.

[00:23:32] Taty Fittipaldi: Sure those other assessments have their merits. Of course. But the Eli offers a fresh perspective by tapping into a core energy that fuels your thoughts. Feelings and actions. This unique approach could be a ticket to a real transformation in your leadership journey.

[00:23:52] Taty Fittipaldi: I will leave a link in the show notes to my article, where you can download a pretty infographic with all [00:24:00] the levels and their three dimensions for each of the levels, which are the associated thoughts, feelings, and resulting actions for each of these seven levels.

[00:24:10] TODAY’S TIPS TO APPLY WHAT YOU LEARNED

[00:24:10] TODAY’S TIPS TO APPLY WHAT YOU LEARNED: Today’s tips to apply what you learned.

[00:24:20] Taty Fittipaldi: To really understand why the ELI is the real deal we need to peek behind the curtain at the research that backs it up.

[00:24:28] Taty Fittipaldi: This assessment is rooted in some serious academic groundwork in the fields of psychology, neuroscience and leadership development. Loads of studies have shown a direct link between energy levels and how well you lead the pack. Folks rocking the higher energy levels tend to bring more to the table. Resilience, adaptability, and the ability to light a fire under others.

[00:24:55] Taty Fittipaldi: An Eli reliability test was conducted to identify [00:25:00] how valid this tool is. It was performed with data from more than 29,000 respondents and the validity tests’ outcomes shows that this assessment accurately reflects the participants results and that the tool is extremely reliable.

[00:25:17] Taty Fittipaldi: And further research shows that the higher the person’s E-factor is, the greater the overall life and work satisfaction and success is. The E factor is a score, which is a combination of how much energy and weight you have in each of the levels, when you take the ELI assessment.

[00:25:38] Taty Fittipaldi: There’s also a lot of evidence showing that the Eli can help teams move from a catabolic state to a more anabolic one and improve overall team performance.

[00:25:49] Taty Fittipaldi: So, the way to apply all this learning is by first taking your self-assessment and discovering your E-factor. Serious Eli providers will [00:26:00] also give you an assessment debrief where you can discuss actions and strategies with a professional coach to tackle your results. And improve the way you show up and lead with greater executive presence.

[00:26:13] Taty Fittipaldi: If you’re interested in taking this assessment, either as an individual or as 360 assessment, I will leave a link in the show notes below for you.

[00:26:22] Taty Fittipaldi: Now, once you take the assessment, a proven way to improve executive presence, is by sharing situations with your executive coach, discussing which level you are showing up with in that situation. And then brainstorming ways to react in different form, with a greater executive presence. Moving your E-factor from a lower level to a higher level needs a bit of practice, and a bit of patience, and having a coach to practice and discuss with, which not only is effective, but also very fun.

[00:26:59] KEY TAKEAWAYS

[00:26:59] KEY TAKEAWAYS: [00:27:00] Key Takeaways

[00:27:09] Taty Fittipaldi: What’s your main takeaway from this episode? Here are mine.

[00:27:13] Taty Fittipaldi: Number one. The energy leadership index assessment. Eli is an attitudinal assessments that measures your attitude and energy, helping you understand how they influence your results. It gives you an E-factor to help gauge where you are on the seven level scale.

[00:27:32] Taty Fittipaldi: Number two. The 360 version of the ELI gathers feedback from your professional network. Offering a complete picture of your leadership strengths and areas of improvement.

[00:27:45] Taty Fittipaldi: Number three. Teams can also benefit, shifting from catabolic to anabolic states. Ultimately, boosting performance. Team assessments can provide team averages in terms of attitudes. This helps [00:28:00] you as their leader pinpoint very specific actions to move your teams from storming to performing.

[00:28:06] Taty Fittipaldi: Number four. there are other HR assessments in the market and they all have their merits. But the Eli offers a fresh perspective by tapping into the core energy that fuels your thoughts, feelings, and resulting actions. That’s why it provides a unique path for a very transformative leadership development. Because it happens in the core.

[00:28:31] Taty Fittipaldi: Number five. Extensive research drawing from psychology, neuroscience, and leadership development underpins the Eli. This assessment has proven its worth through reliability tests and other studies involving over 29,000 respondents, confirming its accuracy and reliability. More over, higher E-factor scores, reflecting your energy and level distribution, correlate with greater [00:29:00] life and work satisfaction and success.

[00:29:03] Taty Fittipaldi: Number six. Lastly, taking the Eli self-assessment and collaborating with an executive coach to fine tune your leadership energy can be both effective and enjoyable. If you’re curious about giving it a shot, check out the link in the show notes.

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[00:29:21] HIGHLIGHTS

[00:29:21] Taty Fittipaldi: This brings us to the end of this leadership Nest episode. I hope you have enjoyed learning about the energy leadership index assessment and how it can change the way you show up at work. Tune into our episode next week, when we will chat about the six success influencers. Nope. I’m not talking about people. I’m talking about things that have influence over your circumstances and reality. Quite an intriguing topic.

[00:29:48] Taty Fittipaldi: Wherever you are in the globe, this is Taty Fittipaldi wishing you a beautiful day.

[00:29:54] Taty Fittipaldi: If you have any [00:30:00] questions, you’d like us to answer in a future episode of this show, just go to speakpipe.com/tatyfittipaldi or click the link in the show notes, to leave us a brief audio message.

[00:30:12] Taty Fittipaldi: Make sure to visit us on our website www.theleadershipnest.com, where you can subscribe to our show anywhere podcasts are streamed, so you never miss the fun.

[00:30:25] Taty Fittipaldi: While there, if you find value in our show, you can also subscribe to our global leadership weekly newsletter from Coaching Expatriates®, where we deliver bite-sized lessons on global leadership, decision-making, and cultural competence to help you learn how to think, relate and strategize in a whole different way as a global leader.

[00:30:47] Taty Fittipaldi: If you liked our show, you might want to check her online global executive leadership program. A nine week leadership development and learning system, that will help you lead internationally while making financially [00:31:00] conscious and impactful business decisions.

[00:31:02] Taty Fittipaldi: Taty Fittipaldi is also available for private coaching. See the websites for more details at www.coachingexpatriates.com/executive-coaching.

[00:31:15] Taty Fittipaldi: Thanks for joining us this week on The Leadership Nest podcast. Be sure to tune in next week for our next episode. Until the next time, keep nesting.

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