You’ve probably had this moment: something small happens, and your reaction feels bigger than the situation. That gap between “what happened” and “what I told myself it meant” is where so much leadership, stress, and conflict is born. We sit down with Coach Monique DeMonaco, founder of EQ Wize and an emotional intelligence and change expert, to unpack why awareness is the first step to any sustainable change and why fixing behavior alone rarely works.
We get practical and personal, moving from childhood messages and limiting beliefs to the inner critic that talks to us in a voice we would never use on a friend. Monique breaks down the brain-based drivers that sit under so much human suffering: the belief of not being enough, fear of rejection, the need for connection, and the sense that what we want is not available to us. We also explore how memory and interpretation can shape present-day workplace culture, from tense feedback conversations to the way we read a manager’s tone.
You’ll hear actionable tools you can use in real time, including Monique’s “delete delete” pattern interrupt to stop spiraling thoughts and replace them with something true or at least neutral. We also talk confirmation bias and the reticular activating system, the brain’s filter that decides what you notice, and why that matters for communication, empathy, and better decision-making. We close by connecting emotional intelligence to the modern hiring landscape, including the skills employers keep asking for: EQ, business etiquette, and critical thinking.
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🌐 Connect with Monique:
• Website: https://www.coachmonique.com/
https://eqwize.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquedemonaco/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecoachmonique/
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