Student Leadership Alliance at THE CURE in Iron Mountain.
I was invited by the program director, Katie Cherney, to work with the Student Leadership Alliance.
The Environment Matters
Before we ever talked about emotions, intelligence, or leadership, Katie had prepared snacks! It's a lot easier to get teens out of bed on a Saturday morning if food is involved.
The Cure is a very low-stress, high-trust environment complete with comfortable couches and chairs. It is known for, and during my time there, it remained a psychologically safe environment.
That matters more than people think. Because people, regardless of age, won't engage deeply unless they feel safe enough to think, share, and reflect honestly.
Breaking Down Emotional Intelligence
We started with two key components of emotional intelligence:
1. Personal Competence
This is about understanding yourself.
We focused on:
Identifying emotions
Expanding emotional vocabulary using an emotion wheel
Recognizing what we’re actually feeling—not just saying “I’m mad” or “I’m fine.”
Learning how to manage those emotions once identified
2. Social Competence
This is about understanding others.
We worked on:
- Recognizing emotions in other people
- Reading situations more accurately
- Adjusting how we respond based on relationships
Leadership is interaction with people and meeting them where they are.
From Theory to Practice
After the classroom portion, we shifted gears into a practical exercise. Students were divided into three groups and given a fictional case study:
A young family had been hit by a drunk driver. The father had been seriously injured, the mother and children less so, but still with emotional trauma.
Each group approached the situation from a different professional lens:
Group 1: Law Enforcement
How do police officers use emotional intelligence when responding to a traumatic scene?
How will they handle the family and the drunk driver with dignity, respect, and fairness?
Group 2: Educators
How do teachers support the two children impacted by the crash when they return to school?
What emotional gaps can they help to fill? Which ones should they avoid?
Group 3: Social Workers
How do you support a family dealing with:
Injury
Emotional trauma
Financial stress
Disruption to daily life
What Happened Next
Each group applied social competencies to their role:
Empathy
Awareness
Communication
Relationship management
They weren’t just talking about emotional intelligence. They were using it in a realistic scenario that wasn't "real" but had enough realistic elements that they could all empathize with one or more of the people involved.
When each group was able to share their thoughts, you were able to see that they were thinking deeper, considering people, not just problems, and were using the tools that had just been placed in their toolbox earlier that morning.
From a teacher's point of view: It was awesome to see these young leaders engage with the material, each other, and the complex ideas that came from small and large group discussions.
Why This Matters
We talk a lot about leadership. But leadership without emotional intelligence is incomplete.
You can have great ideas, well-thought-out plans, clear direction, focus, mission, vision, etc. But if you can’t identify your own emotions, manage those emotions, understand people, and build trust, you and your team will never reach your full potential.
The Takeaway
Multiple students came up afterward and said:
They enjoyed it
They learned something
It made them think differently
That’s the goal. Not just information- Transformation.
Final Thought
Leadership starts with self-awareness and grows through how we treat others.
These students took a real-world situation and applied emotional intelligence in meaningful ways.
That’s leadership...and that’s the future.
Teach. Coach. Lead.
JVD
Ready to Bring This to Your Organization?
If you’re looking to build stronger leaders, better communication, higher emotional intelligence, and more connected teams: Schedule your leadership event at www.johnvandusen.com
Credits
This post was drafted with the assistance of AI (ChatGPT) and edited by Mr. VanDusen.
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