You Might Be Optimizing for the Wrong Thing
Why working smarter, faster, better is an EQ issue, not an IQ one
Friends,
How did I build the largest corporate-based EQ movement in the world at Amazon?
One key ingredient: autonomy.
I had a day job. I was delivering results. But I had an idea I couldn’t shake: What if we could scale emotional intelligence skills across the entire company?
So I started small. I experimented. I delivered sessions on the side. I built a scrappy team of passionate EQ champions and EQ Evangelists who believed in what we were doing.
I had agency—the mindset to drive change. But that alone wasn’t enough. I also needed autonomy—the freedom to act on that agency.
I am grateful that my leaders gave me that freedom. They trusted me. They saw the value in what I was building, both for Amazonians and for our customers. They didn’t micromanage or say “this doesn’t relate to your job description.”
Agency + Autonomy = a virtuous cycle of growth and positive change.
That’s what turned a side project into a movement that reached over 1.5 million people with EQ skills.
It reminded me of concepts that Charles Duhigg wrote about in his best-selling book, Smarter Faster Better. It’s about the psychology of real productivity. Not “doing more stuff,” but performing better in complex, uncertain environments. Although it was written a few years ago, the concepts are more applicable today than ever in our AI-crazed era.
Duhigg’s core argument: the people who thrive aren’t necessarily the smartest or hardest-working. They think, decide, motivate, and adapt differently. In other words, they expertly harmonize their EQ with their IQ.
Here are three ideas from the book and and why they matter more than ever right now.
1. Motivation isn’t about discipline. It’s about agency.
People become more motivated when they feel they have a choice. The interesting thing is that it doesn’t have to be a big choice; it can be small..
Marines who were given some say in how they practiced were more resilient than those who weren’t. Students who had options (not just assignments) performed better. Teams given autonomy over how they achieved goals outperformed those who were simply told what to do.
The principle: when people feel powerless, performance decreases.
My Amazon story is an example of that. I was fortunate that most of my managers didn’t tell me how to do my job. They called out goals and challenges and said, “Go figure it out.” That small act of trust generated more ownership.
A low-EQ leader creates compliance. An EPIQ leader creates commitment. The difference isn’t strategy or technical knowledge. It’s the emotional intelligence to know that micromanaging is the enemy of ownership.
EPIQ Booster: Think about someone on your team whose motivation has dipped. Before diagnosing the person, diagnose the environment. Ask yourself: How much autonomy am I giving them? Am I giving them tasks to do or a problem to solve? Those aren't the same thing. One creates compliance. The other creates ownership.
2. Distraction isn’t a focus problem. It’s an emotional one.
Most productivity thinking treats distraction as a time management problem. Better systems, tighter schedules, more discipline. Duhigg points to something different: the people who manage their attention best aren’t just more disciplined. They’ve learned to recognize when emotion is running their focus. (Nir Eyal makes a similar assertion in his excellent book, Indistractible.)
Distraction is often emotional avoidance. We scroll, we over-prepare, we answer low-stakes emails for the fourth time—not because we’re lazy, but because we’re uncomfortable. We’re afraid of ambiguity. Afraid of what might happen if we actually start the hard thing.
This reframe changes everything. If you’re struggling to focus, the key question isn’t “how do I try harder?” It’s “what am I avoiding, and why?”
In the AI era, this matters even more. As AI handles more of the routine cognitive work, what remains is the harder, messier, more ambiguous work. It’s exactly the kind that emotional avoidance loves to target. The professionals who thrive won’t just be the ones with the best AI tools. They’ll be the ones who can push through discomfort long enough to do the work that matters.
EPIQ Booster: The next time you’re procrastinating on something important, pause and ask: What am I afraid will happen if I actually start this? Name the fear out loud (or write it down). You don’t have to solve it. Just naming it empowers you to interrupt the avoidance loop.
3. Psychological safety isn’t a soft culture initiative. It’s a performance strategy.
You may have heard of Google’s Project Aristotle — the study that set out to find what made their best teams so successful. The answer wasn’t IQ, seniority, or technical expertise. It was psychological safety: the belief that you could speak up, admit mistakes, ask questions, and disagree without being punished for it.
Amy Edmondson, Harvard Professor and pioneer of psychological safety, found something counterintuitive in her research: the best hospital teams reported more errors, not fewer. Not because they made more mistakes. Because they felt safe enough to surface them.
Here’s a line that deeply resonates with me (and all leaders should take note of): Fear doesn’t drive performance. It drives silence. And silence is where innovation dies.
Alan Mulally, the CEO who turned Ford around, used a simple system to create psychological safety: traffic-light status reports. Red, yellow, green. When one executive finally had the courage to report a red (in a room full of executives who’d all been reporting green…many of them incorrectly), Mulally publicly thanked him. That moment changed the culture. As Mulally put it: “You can’t manage a secret.”
We used this same traffic light system at Amazon for our key metrics when we wrote up our weekly and monthly status reports (called 2x2s). Red and yellow were not signs of failure–they were leading indicators that something needed to be done differently or more help was needed. Combined with leaders who were genuinely curious about the truth, it was an effective mechanism for psychological safety.
This is why psychological safety is especially critical right now. You cannot AI-transform an organization where people are afraid to admit what they don’t know. And most people are afraid. The speed of change, the flood of new tools, the pressure to “figure it out”—these forces take a significant emotional toll beneath the surface of every team.
EPIQ Booster: In your next team meeting, frame it as a learning conversation rather than a purely execution-focused one. Before diving into the agenda, ask: “What have we learned this week that’s worth sharing?” or “What are we discovering about what’s working — and what isn’t?” That shift in framing signals something important: this team is here to figure things out together, not just report results. In the age of AI (where nobody has all the answers and the ground keeps moving) that signal matters more than any tool you roll out.
In a world of increasing ambiguity, accelerating change, and AI-driven disruption, technical skills are being commoditized. Whatever can be automated will be automated. What remains irreplaceable is the human capacity to motivate, build trust, manage attention, and perform under uncertainty.
That’s not a “soft” skill. That’s the differentiator.
The good news is these skills can be learned. I know, because I had to learn them myself. And I’ve spent the last two decades teaching them to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
I’m delivering a FREE course on this topic called EPIQ Skills: Work Smarter, Faster, Better in the Age of AI. If this article resonated with you, I think you’ll find it valuable. Enroll here.
Be EPIQ,
Rich
P.S. If you’d like to dive deep into EQ skills, then join the next cohort of my masterclass, Emotional Intelligence for Resilient, Adaptable & High Performance Leadership, on June 18-19. The first cohort was a smashing success with 5-star ratings across the board!
Through this course, you will:
Strengthen emotional agility to think clearly in high-stakes situations
Increase adaptability and resilience (for self and team) to sustain high performance without burning out
Transform disagreements into better decisions through productive conflict
Lead with high expectations & high empathy to bring out the best in others
Deepen trust and connection with your employees, leaders, and colleagues
Influence managers & teammates to achieve your goals
You will apply skills to Moments That Matter (MTM), creating a playbook with scripts you can use immediately. Expect live practice, real scenarios, and personalized feedback.
What people are saying about my course:
This was one of the most practical and engaging EQ courses I’ve taken. In just two days, Rich Hua combines science-backed frameworks with real-world application - so you’re not just learning concepts, you’re actively practicing them.
What stood out: 1/ Clear, actionable tools like “Moments that Matter” and reframing. 2/ Interactive peer coaching that builds real self-awareness 3/ A strong focus on behaviors you can apply immediately in your leadership.
I also appreciated the global cohort - learning from diverse perspectives made the experience even more impactful.
Gitanjali M, Technical Care Tier 2 Manager, Amazon Leo
Rich Hua was a guest speaker for my Executive Presence class, sharing his deep expertise on Emotional Intelligence (EQ) with the students. Rich is a powerful and polished speaker who is an expert at simplifying the many pieces of EQ. He make EQ an approachable, actionable piece of Executive Presence. He helps students read the room, develop relationships, and manage their own emotions in high-stakes situations. Rich’s talk will be a mandatory part of the core course from this point forward because of his example and impact on students.
Ethan Evans, ex-Amazon VP
Whether you’re a people manager or senior IC, this course will give you the mindsets and skill sets to upgrade your performance—and that of your team—in the AI era.
Enroll by May 31 and get 25% off with discount code EQEARLYBIRD.
