Why Emotional Intelligence is the Missing Skill in Surgical Leadership | Gina Catalano | 650

How do you grab the attention of the smartest person in the room and introduce an idea that could fundamentally change their approach to leadership?

In this insightful episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Gina Catalano, President of Central Forza Group and author of The Leadership Wake Up Call, joins Bill Sherman to discuss her pioneering work in developing emotional intelligence (EQ) for surgeon leaders—a skill set largely overlooked in traditional medical training.

Gina shares how her journey from managing medical device teams in Fortune 500 healthcare organizations led her to recognize a critical gap: Surgeons possess extraordinary technical skills but often lack training in emotional intelligence. Her unique insight is transforming how surgeons engage with patients, teams, and even mitigate malpractice risks.

She explains the compelling data behind EQ’s impact, highlighting research correlating higher EQ among surgeons with lower malpractice claims. Gina also details her groundbreaking project with Duke University's general surgery residency, where she's building a curriculum to instill essential EQ skills early in surgical training.

Listeners will learn how Gina's personal experiences and keen observations evolved into a compelling speaking and writing career, all centered around equipping elite performers with the "power skills" needed for true leadership success.

This episode isn't just about developing better surgeon leaders—it's about creating profound, measurable changes that enhance patient care and team performance.

 

Three Key Takeaways:

• Emotional intelligence is critical for elite performance — Especially in high-pressure fields like surgery, EQ impacts malpractice rates, team dynamics, and patient outcomes.

• Thought leadership bridges knowledge gaps — Introducing EQ to surgeon leaders requires translating soft skills into evidence-based, practical tools that resonate with data-driven professionals.

• Early intervention creates lasting change — Embedding emotional intelligence training into medical residency programs can shape more effective leaders from the start.

If this episode got you thinking about the power of emotional intelligence in high-performance environments, you’ll want to keep going with our conversation with David Wood: The Effects of Soft Skills in Thought Leadership. Both episodes tackle a common challenge—how to introduce and scale “soft skills” like EQ in expert-driven fields where they’re often undervalued. Gina Catalano and David Wood each show that these so-called soft skills are actually mission-critical for leadership, trust-building, and long-term success.

Listen now and discover how soft skills can create hard results.