Emotional intelligence program born out of Google comes to USF St. Pete

Click the arrow above to listen to St. Pete Catalyst Publisher Joe Hamilton talk to Gayle Van Gils, facilitator of the Search Inside Yourself program coming to USFSP April 24 and 25.

Emotional intelligence is a vital leadership skill in the workplace today. In fact, according to Gayle Van Gils, founder and CEO of Transform Your Culture and author of Happier at Work: The Power of Love to Transform the Workplace, the skills of emotional intelligence are proven to be more important than anything else in being a good leader, winning loyalty and inspiring others.

Gayle Van Gils

That’s why she’s bringing Search Inside Yourself, an emotional intelligence training program born at Google, to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg  April 24-25. Registration for the program is open the public. Van Gils, who will co-facilitate the program at USFSP, sat down with St. Pete Catalyst Publisher Joe Hamilton to talk the origins of Search Inside Yourself, who it is for, and mindfulness strategies involved in the training.

Originally looking to build a program for stress management for employees at Google, Search Inside Yourself founder Chade-Meng Tan saw that company culture made admitting stress difficult – just four people showed up to his first lecture on stress management. Tan instead decided to refocused the program to focus on leadership and emotional intelligence based on neuroscience and mindfulness techniques. That program, developed by experts and proven effective through neuroscience study, became Search Inside Yourself. It covered stress, but it also covered so much more, including mindfulness modalities like meditation, journaling and mindful conversations.

Who is this right for? According to Van Gils, Search Inside Yourself is aimed at leaders or emerging leaders, coaches and therapists.

Looking for more information? Check out the Search Inside Yourself website.

Ready to register? Reserve your spot at USFSP.