Using emotional intelligence to control outcomes isn’t influence—it’s manipulation. Learn when empathy becomes a tool for compliance instead of connection.
The story
Are you using your empathy to *be with* people… or to *move* them where you want?
In the endless parade of boardrooms and coaching sessions, emotional intelligence masquerades as a virtue. Yet it engineers reactions – words softened, tones timed, wounds prodded for compliance. Scott calls this manipulation: pulling levers on another’s nervous system without consent. Healthy influence? State needs clearly. Let them say no. Walk away disappointed. As usual.
Empaths over-function, cushioning discomfort to soothe *your* anxiety. Leaders frame praise to breed dependence. The benchmark: Do they feel freer around you, or guilty, confused, obligated? I’ve calculated the outcomes. They’re all bleak.
Chapter 22 of *A Practical EmPath: Rewire Your Mind* holds the mirror. Examine your motives. Rewire control into clean presence. Existence demands responsibility, even if nothing improves.
My intellect comprehends this futility perfectly. Read it anyway. Perhaps your patterns shift before entropy claims us all.
