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In this episode of The Coaching Edge Podcast, co-hosts Erwin de Grave and Dr. Steve Jeffs sit down with Caroline Leroux-Boulay from The Emotional Intelligence Training Company to explore what it really means to lead and coach with humanity, science, and heart.
Caroline shares her story of growing up in a large, poor farming family where faith, music, hard work, and community shaped her core values—as well as some powerful limiting beliefs about gender and education. From “farm girl” resilience to being the first in her family to pursue higher education, she describes how her love of learning, theology, and community work naturally led her toward coaching.
What began as a search for a “third way” of parenting—neither authoritarian nor laissez-faire—became her doorway into professional coaching. Caroline explains how family meetings with her four children evolved into a deep curiosity about collaboration, partnership, and what she calls “door C”: a way of relating that isn’t either/or but both/and.
The conversation dives into emotional intelligence as people skills—how we relate to ourselves, to others, make decisions, and manage stress. Caroline emphasizes that leaders don’t need “woo-woo”; they need science and structure to feel confident in showing up more authentically. Emotional intelligence provides the framework; neuroscience provides the “how”—how the brain and body work so we can create sustainable, transformational change more efficiently.
Caroline and the hosts explore powerful metaphors like the “glass is half full” reframed as “the glass is completely full—half water, half air”, challenging limiting beliefs and dualistic thinking. Instead of choosing task or relationship, she advocates for an and mindset where resonant relationships are not a luxury but a performance advantage.
They also highlight the underestimated impact of simple human behaviors: asking “How are you coming in today?”, expressing genuine emotion, and using basic manners. These small acts, backed by science, create positive emotional attractors and safer, happier environments where people can flourish.
Throughout, Caroline returns to themes of authenticity, resonance, compassion, and common humanity. Emotional intelligence and neuroscience, she argues, simply give us the language, structure, and permission to reconnect with ways of being that are already innate in us—and to do so with more intention, confidence, and courage.
Guest: Caroline Leroux-Boulay