Show Notes: Heartwired – Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

Episode Title: The Creative Process in an AI World: Mindfulness, Trust, and Lateral Thinking

Host: Dr. MJ

Guest: Kathy Leader, Founder of The Art Process Studio

In this episode of Heartwired, Dr. MJ speaks with Kathy Leader, founder of The Art Process Studio, about the role of creativity in an AI-driven world. Kathy shares her journey from being a visual artist and educator to creating a space where individuals and teams can explore creativity without the pressure of producing a perfect end result.

The conversation focuses on how the creative process helps people slow down, reduce anxiety, and open up to new ways of thinking. Kathy explains how working with teams revealed fear and vulnerability around creativity, and how guiding people through the process builds trust, connection, and openness. Together, they explore the differences between linear and lateral thinking, the impact of hands-on creative work, and how mindfulness and creativity support emotional intelligence and human connection.

Focus on Process Over Product:

Kathy emphasizes that creativity should not be driven by the end result. When people focus on the process, they become more open, less anxious, and more willing to explore ideas.

Creativity Brings Out Vulnerability and Trust:

Many individuals feel fear or anxiety when asked to create. As they move through the process, they begin to trust themselves and others, leading to stronger team connection.

Lateral Thinking Expands Ideas:

Unlike linear thinking, lateral thinking allows people to explore multiple possibilities. This approach encourages openness and creates space for new ideas to emerge.

Hands-On Creativity Encourages Mindfulness:

Working with physical tools like paintbrushes brings focus to the present moment. This reduces distractions and helps individuals enter a more mindful, creative state.

Creative Spaces Change Team Dynamics:

In creative environments, communication becomes more open and less guarded. Teams connect in ways that don’t typically happen in traditional workplace settings.

Creativity is Inherently Human:

Kathy reminds listeners that creativity is something everyone is born with. It is not limited to artists, but something that can be developed and accessed by anyone.

"It’s not about the product—it’s about the process."

"Leaning on AI too much can make us lazy."

"Creativity belongs to all of us."

"Paying attention one moment at a time—that’s mindfulness."

Kathy Leader is the founder and owner of The Art Process Studio. The idea behind the studio is to nurture a love of art-making as a healing and mindful form of creative expression. Kathy is a visual artist, creativity coach, and meditation facilitator who creates workshops for individuals and teams, encouraging openness, flexibility, and creative exploration.

Website: https://www.theart-process.com/

Email: theartprocess@yahoo.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artworkshops-theartprocess/

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Share: If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who could benefit from reconnecting with their creativity.

Contact HeartWired:

Email: drmj@drmjheartwired.com

Website: drmjheartwired.com

Episode Title: Hiring for Authenticity: Emotional Intelligence, Discernment, and Building the Right Teams

Host: Dr. MJ

Guest: Julie Spear, CEO of Jewels Talent Solutions, LLC

In this episode of Heartwired, Dr. MJ sits down with Julie Spear, CEO of Jewels Talent Solutions, LLC, to explore what it really takes to hire the right people in today’s fast-paced, AI-influenced hiring landscape. Drawing from over a decade of experience in recruiting, Julie shares how she moves beyond resumes and scripted answers to truly understand the person behind the candidate.

From navigating overly prepared interviewees to helping organizations avoid rushed hiring decisions, Julie emphasizes the importance of slowing down, asking deeper questions, and focusing on long-term fit. The conversation also dives into emotional intelligence in leadership, adapting communication styles across different personalities, and the critical role of onboarding and mentorship. Julie also shares her journey from corporate to entrepreneurship and her passion for advancing women in leadership, reminding us that people—not just positions—are the foundation of every successful organization.

Go Beyond Scripted Answers:

With candidates increasingly relying on AI tools to prepare for interviews, it’s essential to ask deeper, more personalized questions. Real authenticity shows up when candidates speak from lived experience, not rehearsed responses.

Slow Hiring Leads to Stronger Teams:

Rushing to fill a role often leads to misalignment and turnover. Taking time for multiple interviews, panel conversations, and deeper evaluation helps ensure long-term success.

Read the Human Signals:

Emotional intelligence isn’t just what candidates say—it’s how they respond. Body language, tone, and how someone reacts under pressure reveal far more than prepared answers.

Onboarding is as Important as Hiring:

Hiring the right person is only the beginning. The first 30 days, along with proper training and mentorship, are critical to long-term employee success and retention.

Adapt Leadership to the Individual:

Strong leaders adjust their communication style based on who they’re working with. Understanding different personalities—especially across technical and non-technical roles—is key to effective leadership.

Women in Leadership Create Balance:

Julie highlights the importance of women having a seat at the table. Their ability to lead with empathy, collaboration, and mentorship brings a necessary balance to modern organizations.

"I want to know that the person I’m speaking to is the real person—not just words on a resume."

"Slow down and figure it out."

"Emotional intelligence is about learning to communicate with different types of people in different ways."

"We lift as we climb."

Julie Spear is the CEO of Jewels Talent Solutions, LLC, a strategic recruiting firm dedicated to connecting exceptional talent with organizations nationwide. With over a decade of experience, she is known for her relationship-driven approach, helping companies build strong leadership teams while guiding professionals toward meaningful career opportunities.

Here more from her here: LinkedIn | Website

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Share: If you found value in this conversation, share it with a colleague or leader navigating hiring and leadership in an AI-driven world.

Host: Dr. MJ Guest: Jake Pasimi, Digital Marketing Strategist & Villanova University Professor

In this episode of Heartwired, Dr. MJ sits down with Jake Pasimi—a leader with over 15 years of experience spanning D2C brands and SaaS martech—to discuss where technology meets humanity. Jake shares his "Batman" persona as a professor at Villanova University, where he has spent a decade teaching the next generation of leaders how to balance high-tech tools with high-touch emotional intelligence.

From the "Tree Metaphor" of prompt engineering to the ethical concerns of data privacy, Jake and Dr. MJ explore how leaders can use AI not just for productivity, but for genuine differentiation and human-centric collaboration.

• Trust But Verify: Reliability in AI starts with understanding the "inputs before the outcomes". Jake explains that while AI offers instant gratification, the best results come from the 80/20 rule: if you can get your question 80% of the way there with context and detail, the AI can provide a much more useful output.
• The Tree Metaphor: Think of a goal as a leaf on a tree. If you jump straight for the leaf, you break the branches; true success comes from planning a path up the trunk and limbs—understanding the foundational context before seeking the final answer.
• Differentiating in the Final 20%: Since everyone has access to AI, the "80% solution" is now the baseline. Human expertise and specialization are required to reach the final 20%, which is where true competitive advantage and differentiation live.
• The Leader’s Role in an AI World: Leaders should be tool-agnostic and result-focused. Success comes from collaborating with teams to identify which problems, if solved by AI, would make their jobs more energized and impactful.
• Ethical Concerns: Beyond corporate data security, Jake expresses deep concern regarding how personal search data (such as health inquiries for children) could be used by future systems to impact insurance or long-term opportunities.

"Trusting the outputs starts with making sure you have the right inputs."

"You actually could argue that the 20 percent's even more important than the 80 because everybody's going to do the 80."

"With more power and more tools, we need more collaboration, not less."

Jake Pasimi has spent over 15 years leading marketing, revenue, and analytical teams for some of the world's largest brands in the e-commerce and retail space. His expertise spans digital marketing, RevOps, and customer lifetime value (CLV). By day, he finds simple human answers buried under mountains of data; by night, he teaches Digital Marketing Strategy & Analytics at Villanova University in both the undergraduate and MBA programs.

Get more updates from him here: LinkedIn

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• Share: If you found value in this conversation, share it with a colleague or friend who is navigating the world of AI leadership.

In today’s episode, we’re diving deep into how emotional intelligence empowers us as leaders in the rapidly advancing age of AI.

I have the privilege of sitting down with Noah Daniels, Senior Vice President of Market Development at Simpson Strong-Tie. Noah’s career is a remarkable journey that seamlessly blends technical expertise with a true people-first philosophy. He’s known for championing emotionally intelligent leadership and driving digital transformation in the traditionally structured world of manufacturing.

We explore Noah’s unique approach to integrating digital transformation within Simpson Strong-Tie, a 70-year-old manufacturing company that’s leading innovation in homebuilding and affordable housing. We get into the challenges and opportunities when introducing technology to an under-digitized industry, and how staying human-centered is the key differentiator in a tech-focused landscape.

Noah and I also get personal as we talk about the “double whammy” impact of post-Covid isolation and AI automation on our social fabric, especially how these forces affect younger generations. We reflect on the urgency of emotional intelligence in leadership, and why relationships, empathy, and vulnerability are more crucial than ever.

• Digital Transformation with Heart: How Noah is leading the charge at Simpson Strong-Tie by blending innovation with a human-first approach in a manufacturing environment.
• Affordable Housing Solutions: The role of technology and emotional intelligence in addressing the housing crisis and building more accessible homes.
• AI and Outsourcing Our Thinking: The risks of letting AI do the thinking for us, and strategies to maintain critical and creative human thinking on your teams.
• Emotional Intelligence Post-Covid: The heightened importance of empathy, connection, and psychological safety in a remote and automated workplace.
• Building Trust Remotely: Practical tools for engaging virtual teams, fostering trust, and sustaining meaningful relationships even when you’ve never met in person.
• Addressing AI Anxiety: How to help your team move past the fear of job loss through continuous learning, a growth mindset, and leveraging unique human strengths.
• The Indispensable Power of Empathy: Why empathy is the one irreplaceable human quality that no AI will ever replicate and how it builds trust, loyalty, and collaboration.

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I encourage you to share this episode with a leader or friend who needs to hear it. Want to keep leading with heart in the AI age? Subscribe to HeartWired for more insights and connect with Noah Daniels on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-daniels-0a0b911/

Stay wired to what matters most and keep leading with empathy.

Welcome to HeartWired! I’m Dr. MJ, and today’s episode is packed with powerful insights for anyone curious (or a little apprehensive) about navigating the intersection of AI, leadership, and being authentically human in a tech-driven world.

Hilary Bilbrey is not just an award-winning author and speaker; she’s a true thought leader in emotional intelligence, resilience, and authentic leadership. Hilary’s work especially her book The Authenticity Key challenges us all to deepen self-awareness, lead with integrity, and leverage technology as a tool for good, not as a replacement for meaningful human interaction.

In this candid conversation, Hilary and I dive into the real effects AI is having on our personal and professional lives both the exciting opportunities and the fears it brings up. We talk about the “pleasing bias” in AI, the importance of asking machines for honest feedback (instead of just flattery!), and actionable strategies for keeping our core values at the center as we embrace new technologies.

Key Topics & Takeaways:

1. AI’s Built-in Bias to Please: Hilary breaks down why AI is designed to tell users what they want to hear, and how that can limit our growth unless we intentionally ask for challenge and critique.
2. Prompting for Growth: Learn practical prompts to get AI to disagree with you, point out your blind spots, or play the role of “devil’s advocate” to strengthen your proposals, presentations, or ideas.
3. Conversational AI: Hilary shares her real-world workflow using both voice and text with AI to brainstorm, plan, and iterate, whether she’s on a walk or at her desk.
4. Self-Reflection & Capability Models: Discover how AI can serve as a tool for honest self-assessment and ongoing personal development.
5. How AI Can Enhance Our Humanity: Together, we debunk myths about AI making us less relevant, and show how it actually frees us to focus on deeper relationships, real listening, and meaningful work.
6. Authenticity in an AI World: We explore why you must know yourself your values, strengths, and leadership style before you can “train” any tool to reflect your true voice and aspirations.
7. Overcoming Fear with Curiosity: Hear Hilary’s simple, “safe” ways to start exploring AI, from vacation itineraries to finding unique gifts, before working up to using it for business decisions and coaching.

If this episode inspired you, share it with a friend or colleague who’s curious about the future of work, AI, and emotional intelligence. Be sure to subscribe to HeartWired so you never miss an episode. And if you’re ready to embrace AI as a partner in your authentic leadership journey start small, stay curious, and trust yourself.

Thanks again to Hilary Bilbrey for her wisdom. You can find more about her book The Authenticity Key wherever books are sold.

Let’s keep leading with heart, one conversation at a time!

— Dr. Mary Jean Vignone

Mentioned in this episode:

HeartWired is part of the eWomenPodcastNetwork

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Welcome back to HeartWired! I’m Dr. MJ, your host, and in this episode, I’m joined by the remarkable Dr. Gemma Sharp, a powerhouse in the worlds of epidemiology, mental health, and ethical AI innovation. Gemma is not only a professor and globally-minded researcher but also the founder of the Global Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders and CEO of her own AI mental health technology company.

In this inspiring conversation, we dive deep into the intersection of mental health care and artificial intelligence. Dr. Gemma Sharp shares her journey from academia to entrepreneurship and charity leadership, all driven by her desire to create real-world impact. We discuss the importance of human-centered, co-designed AI, how to navigate conflicting stakeholder needs, and the critical ethical boundaries that must guide tech innovation in high-stakes domains like mental health.

Key Takeaways and Topics Covered

1. Why Diverse Roles Matter: Learn how Dr. Gemma Sharp integrates research, clinical experience, and tech leadership to drive meaningful change in mental health ([00:00:49]–[00:02:25]).
2. Co-Design in Practice: Discover the double diamond design model and how involving end-users from the start (those with lived experience, clinicians, advocates, and more) leads to safer, more effective AI tools ([00:05:28]–[00:07:59]).
3. Ethical Guardrails: Explore why “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” is Dr. Gemma Sharp’s mantra for AI development, and the risks of moving faster than governance and ethics allow ([00:12:22]–[00:14:28]).
4. Practical AI in Care: We differentiate between lower-risk uses (admin support, clinical notes, scheduling) and high-risk ones (AI as therapist substitutes), and why current technology is best viewed as an assistant, not a replacement ([00:15:01]–[00:17:27]).
5. Building Trust and Safety: Hear about GEM and EDS-E, two AI-driven tools Dr. Gemma Sharp has co-created, and why listening to user concerns led to “less fancy” but safer, trusted solutions ([00:17:37]–[00:19:42]).
6. Advice for Innovators: The most crucial question to answer before launching an AI mental health tool? Define safety boundaries and know exactly what’s in and out of scope ([00:20:18]–[00:21:01]).
7. Community Impact: Get introduced to the Global Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders, an inclusive, barrier-free organization aiming to welcome all voices in support and research ([00:21:21]–[00:23:23]).

If you’re a clinician, researcher, entrepreneur, or technologist curious about the future of mental health and AI, this episode is packed with wisdom, practical frameworks, and ethical insights. Dr. Gemma Sharp’s perspective balances optimism and caution, always centering technology as a support for, not a replacement of, human connection.

1. Learn more about eating disorders research or join the free Global Consortium: core-ed.com.au
2. Contact Dr. Gemma Sharp through Adelaide University, LinkedIn, or X for more on AI tools and consortium events.

If today’s conversation resonated with you, please share this episode with friends or colleagues interested in responsible AI, human-centered design, or mental health innovation. Subscribe to HeartWired for more thought leadership where tech meets human values and stay tuned for our next episode!

Thank you for being part of the HeartWired community. Your curiosity and commitment to emotional intelligence in the AI age make all the difference.

— Dr. MJ

Mentioned in this episode:

HeartWired is part of the eWomenPodcastNetwork

eWomenPodcastNetwork

Welcome back to another episode of HeartWired: the podcast where we explore how emotionally intelligent leadership can thrive in an AI-powered world. I’m your host, Dr. Mary Jean Vignone, and in this episode, we’re diving into the future of banking, risk, compliance, and the undeniable human element at the core of technological change.

In this insightful conversation, I sat down with Laurel Sykes, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at American Riviera Bank, a seasoned leader with over 30 years navigating regulatory shifts, mergers, and enterprise risk management in the banking sector. Together, we explore how AI is evolving the finance industry, from fraud detection to hiring practices, and how leaders can balance innovation with human empathy.

Laurel Sykes is a powerhouse when it comes to banking risk, compliance, and operational excellence. With her deep expertise in enterprise risk management, anti-money laundering, business continuity, and much more, she’s uniquely positioned to unpack how AI is reshaping financial institutions without losing sight of the very real people behind the numbers.

1. The Evolution of AI in Banking:
2. We explore how AI isn’t new to banks from algorithms powering credit decisions to today’s generative models creating content and analyzing vast data streams.
3. Balancing Innovation & Security:
4. Laurel discusses piloting AI tools like Copilot internally, focusing on privacy, security, and limiting exposure to sensitive client data.
5. AI Risks & Real-World Safeguards:
6. Practical insights into how improperly configured AI can expose confidential information or amplify fraud risks and how keeping an expert “human in the middle” is non-negotiable.
7. Fraud in the AI Age:
8. The episode covers real examples of AI-powered fraud, including deepfake scams, voice impersonation of loved ones, and evolving social engineering targeting everyone from seniors to young adults.
9. Maintaining the Human Touch:
10. Even as automation grows, banking remains a relationship business. Laurel and I discuss how authenticity, emotional intelligence, and intentional leadership keep enterprises grounded.
11. AI in Hiring & HR:
12. The challenges of AI-generated resumes and candidates using AI in interviews, plus tips for crafting behavioral interview questions that reveal true experience beyond what an algorithm can prepare.
13. Leadership in a Tech-Driven Era:
14. Advice for leaders: Pilot AI thoughtfully, treat AI like an intern—not a replacement—and always double-check results for accuracy, compliance, and tone.
15. Regulatory Insights:
16. What leaders need to know about emerging laws governing AI, automated decision-making, and consumer data protection.

As AI becomes embedded in nearly every organizational process, leaders face the dual challenge of driving efficiency while remaining vigilant stewards of data, relationships, and trust. This episode is a must-listen for financial professionals, risk officers, HR leaders, and anyone navigating technological change with a human-first mindset.

If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe to HeartWired and share this conversation with colleagues or friends who care about the intersection of tech, trust, and leadership. And if you want to stay on the cutting edge of emotionally intelligent management in an AI world, leave us a review or reach out with topics you’d like us to cover next.

Thanks again for joining me and Laurel Sykes on this journey. Remember: technology shapes the future, but heart shapes technology’s impact.

Subscribe. Share. Stay HeartWired.

Dr. MJ

Mentioned in this episode:

HeartWired is part of the eWomenPodcastNetwork

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