In a riveting episode of Thriving in the Messy Middle, host Amy Wilkins welcomes Allison Arden, a pioneer in emotional intelligence within business environments. This episode takes listeners through Allison's transformative journey from a high-stakes leadership position at Ad Age to founding Elements of Us™, her groundbreaking framework for understanding and leveraging emotions at work to achieve dramatically improved outcomes. Allison shares her story of navigating personal and professional crossroads, offering powerful insights into embracing one's emotional landscape as a pathway to authentic leadership and innovative transformation.

The conversation delves into key themes of emotional resilience and personal growth, perfect for rising leaders and professionals seeking clarity amid uncertainty. Allison shares candid experiences from her time at Ad Age during tumultuous periods, such as the dot-com crash and global financial crises, illustrating how she came to recognize the power of emotions. She emphasizes the importance of pausing, self-reflection, and the courage to pivot when external success no longer aligns with internal values. Listen to Allison's story of resilience and growth for valuable lessons on navigating your own messy middle.

• Embrace the "messy middle" as an opportunity to redefine personal and professional success by aligning external achievements with internal alignment.
• Develop emotional literacy in leadership to foster human-centred workplaces and improve team alignment and resilience.
• Effective leadership requires pausing for reflection, understanding emotional cues, and asking employees meaningful questions.
• Cultivating emotional awareness can illuminate a clearer pathway when navigating crises and organizational changes.
• See every emotional challenge as a chance to connect deeply with others and drive positive change within teams and companies.

If I could help make emotion visible and make it easier to talk about and act upon, I could help a lot of people and ultimately help a lot of companies.There's so much joy and so much goodness on the other side, and so much learning and growing, but going through it (the messy middle) is really challenging.I believe that in setting up emotionally literate cultures and communities, and relationships, people are able to share differently. If we start taking the steps towards it, then we get there.

Mentioned in this EpisodeElements of Us Website: Explore Allison's framework for visualizing and acting on emotions. The Book of Doing: Everyday Activities to Unlock Your Creativity and Joy by Allison Arden - An activity book designed to inspire adults to rediscover joy and creativity.

About Allison Arden

Allison Arden is the Founder and Creator of The Elements of Us, the first patented, visual framework, language, and toolset that brings brain and behavioral science to people and teams to break through their biggest barriers, unlocking greater human connection, resilience, and performance at scale. An award-winning executive, Allison served as Publisher of Advertising Age for close to a decade. While leading through the Global Financial Crisis and the brand's digital transformation, amidst an industry going through seismic change, Allison realized the role emotion played in driving change, inspiring innovation, and navigating stress and burnout. Her curiosity set her on a mission to make the amorphous and 'soft skills' subject of emotion more visible and tangible. That mission led to The Elements of Us and a Master's in Psychology from Harvard to ensure The Elements of Us was grounded in evidence-based research and actionable insights to make an impact. She currently brings the Elements to individuals, teams, and organizations of all kinds through keynote talks and interactive experiences. The Book of Doing, Allison's first book published by Perigee, helps people of all ages unlock curiosity, creativity, and joy. A Brooklyn native, Allison is the Board Chair Emerita and board member of Reisenbach Philanthropies, supporting programs to improve the lives of all New Yorkers, and serves as a board member of Material for the Arts.