“Without stress, there’s no way we can grow our emotional intelligence muscle.” — Eugene Seah
When Eugene Seah lost his high-paying job in finance back in 2013, it didn’t just shake his career — it forced a full reset of how he viewed personal growth, leadership, and self-worth.
That experience would later form the foundation of his message at the Digital Leadership Webinar Summit 2025, hosted by NewInAsia, where Eugene invited senior executives and innovators to rethink their approach to emotional intelligence in the age of generative AI.
As President of Asia Professional Speakers Singapore, Eugene is both a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), with global credentials in leadership development. But his sharpest insights came not from theory — they came from personal adversity and digital reinvention.
Titled “Emotional Intelligence in Digital Leadership”, his session combined real-world tech demos with deeply human stories to argue that future-ready leadership must go beyond AI proficiency. It requires an emotionally adaptive mindset — one built on empathy, self-awareness, and the ability to grow through pressure.
Highlights
Fragile, Resilient, or Antifragile — The Leadership Spectrum
To frame his talk, Eugene drew a clear distinction between three types of people during periods of uncertainty: fragile, resilient, and antifragile.
Fragile individuals tend to shut down, avoid stress, or collapse under pressure. Resilient ones survive difficult situations and recover — but remain largely unchanged. Antifragile leaders, however, grow stronger because of stress. They actively use disruption to build new capacity, creativity, and emotional depth.
“Resilience is like a stress ball — you squeeze it and it returns to shape,” Eugene said. “But I want to be a muscle, not a stress ball.”
That distinction matters in today’s business climate. Volatility, digital acceleration, and mental fatigue are now permanent features of work. Leaders who treat stress as an enemy may remain competent — but those who engage with discomfort as a training ground for emotional growth become exponentially more adaptive.
The EI Framework: AI, Empathy, and Growth
To help leaders build emotional intelligence in a way that fits today’s digital demands, Eugene introduced a simple but powerful framework: AI + EI + GI.
AI — Artificial Intelligence as an Emotional Amplifier
Rather than framing AI tools as technical platforms, Eugene showcased how they can serve as emotional amplifiers when used with intention. He demonstrated how tools like Captions AI and Suno allowed him to create videos and songs tailored to specific people in their native languages — even when he didn’t speak them himself.
For example, using generative video tools, he recorded a personalized message in Bahasa Indonesia, synced perfectly with his own voice and lip movement. For clients and family, he used Suno to generate personalized songs in formats ranging from J-pop to American rap — an act of care and connection, not just automation.
“If I send the same generic message to 1,000 people, that’s not emotionally intelligent,” he said. “True EI in digital leadership is about personalization — at scale.”
EI — Empathic Intelligence in Practice
Eugene stressed that emotional intelligence is not just about being “nice” — it’s about behavioral agility. Drawing from the DISC model, he explained how different behavioral types — dominance, influence, steadiness, conscientiousness — interpret communication in vastly different ways.
As a high-energy, influence-type speaker, Eugene admitted to often clashing with structured, detail-driven team members. But emotionally intelligent leadership, he argued, means adapting one’s behavior — not expecting others to adapt first.
“It’s foolish to treat everyone the same — everyone is unique. Engage them the way they prefer.”
This isn’t just interpersonal advice. For digital leaders managing remote, cross-functional, or intergenerational teams, empathic intelligence enables clearer communication, faster trust-building, and lower friction in high-change environments.
GI — Growth Intelligence as a Strategic Asset
The third element — Growth Intelligence — came with a personal story. After losing his job, Eugene found himself broke, demoralized, and unable to fulfill his promise to support his aging mother. That changed when he met “Ms. Growth” — a woman bedridden since age 19, yet running a thriving online business and writing books with only eye-tracking technology.
“She couldn’t move her limbs, but she was living more abundantly than I was,” Eugene said. “That encounter forced me to ask: what’s really stopping me from growing?”
The experience inspired him to rebuild his career from scratch, write a book, and eventually speak at TEDx. More importantly, it reframed growth not as a stage of life, but as a continuous mindset.
“Like a seed buried in the soil — dark, pressured, uncertain — that’s when growth begins,” he said.
Closing Insight: Growth is Not Optional, It’s Leadership Prerequisite
Eugene Seah’s message was clear: digital disruption is not slowing down, and neither are the emotional demands of leadership. AI will continue to evolve, but emotional intelligence — particularly in how we grow, connect, and adapt — is what will differentiate those who merely survive from those who transform.
“GI saved my life,” Eugene said in closing. “If you struggle with AI, or with empathy, don’t give up. Just focus on growing — every day, in small ways. Because leaders who stop growing, start failing.”
Editor’s Note:
This feature highlights Eugene Seah, President of Asia Professional Speakers Singapore (APSS) & Founder and Mindset Coach of Trainium Academy, who delivered the keynote “Emotional Intelligence in Digital Leadership” at the Digital Leadership Webinar Summit 2025.
Highlights
Read the Chinese article here.
