Magic in the Room #47: Unlocking EQ – Decisions

March 16, 2021

One single decision can have enormous consequences for our lives. Every decision we make is influenced by many factors and can have ripple effects for us and the people we lead. In this episode, Luke, Chris, and Hannah discuss what happens in the brain when we make certain decisions and share tactics to make quality decisions.

We all have to make landmark decisions throughout our lives. It might begin with what school should I choose? And it will quickly progress to what job do I take? It won’t be too long until you try to determine the right time to change careers, buy a home or start a family. Being able to make high-quality decisions is pivotal in our success as leaders. In today’s episode, the hosts share their stories and how their decisions impacted their lives.

Just like the movie Sliding Doors, we all wonder what might have happened if we made a different decision in a pivotal moment in our lives. Hannah, Luke, and Chris explore the effect of our decision-making and our emotional intelligence spectrum. For example, Hannah shares how she was faced with living in Prague or Tulsa and chose to head to the US. But she often thinks about what an alternative story of her life would have looked like if she had decided to open door B and gone to Prague.

We all have two systems that are used to make decisions. One side is emotional, and the other is strategic. Do you know the kind of style decision maker that you are? Luke introduces the listeners to the  Decision-Making Style Matrix and what happens when we apply a misaligned decision-making style in the wrong structure.

The matrix can help you understand if you are dealing with ambiguity and ambiguous tasks or ambiguous people challenges. Hannah shares how people want to feel that they are seen and heard, and valued. But she also explores how this unwittingly can affect our decision-making process too.

The hosts explore how we are all searching for how we can obtain a sense of significance and make an impact. But are we striving for success? Or are we striving for significance? Hannah believes that when we approach decisions from the perspective of what impact we can have and what being significant, it can act as a guideline for making better decisions.

Hannah encourages listeners to evaluate their decision-making process. After making a decision, take some time to revisit the impact of that decision, look at the progress and then collect some feedback over time. Chris also shares how monitoring those reactions can help us understand our own wiring. Together, these pointers can help leaders implement structures that facilitate better decision-making.

Here at the Purpose & Performance Group, Hannah, Luke, and Chris invite you to share your experiences, insights, and questions about how being objective helps clarify decision-making. We love to see other people succeed, and if you need any help clarifying decisions, we would love to hear from you at  info@purposeandperformancegroup.com.

 

Magic in the Room #200: How to Lead through Polarities

By Sarah Whitfield • May 5, 2026
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke and Hannah explore the concept of polarities. Tensions like purpose and performance, stability and change, or accountability and grace that are often mistaken for problems to solve rather than dynamics to manage. Drawing on insights from Barry Johnson’s work, they explain how these opposing forces are interdependent and must be balanced over time to achieve sustained success. Through practical examples and personal reflections, they show how over-relying on one side of a polarity leads to predictable “shadow sides” such as stagnation, chaos, inefficiency, or burnout, while effective leadership requires recognizing where you are on the cycle and intentionally recalibrating. The episode emphasizes that many recurring organizational frustrations are not failures, but signals of imbalance, and offers a more nuanced approach to leadership. One that replaces rigid either/or thinking with flexible both/and awareness to improve decision-making, team dynamics, and long-term performance.

Magic in the Room #199: The Power of Mattering

By Sarah Whitfield • April 7, 2026
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke Freeman, Hannah Bratterud, and Chris Province dive into the concept of “mattering,” inspired by Zach Mercurio’s work, and explore why it is a foundational driver of engagement, performance, and culture in organizations. They challenge leaders to move beyond assuming people matter to actively ensuring individuals feel that they matter by being valued and by contributing value to a shared purpose. The conversation highlights how mattering differs from belonging, why it cannot be replaced by perks or efficiency, and how leadership behaviors like attention, recognition, and presence directly shape whether people feel seen, heard, and understood. Through examples ranging from workplace dynamics to broader societal trends like social disconnection, they argue that disengagement, conflict, and even poor performance are symptoms of a mattering deficit. Ultimately, they position mattering not as a soft concept, but as a measurable, actionable leadership responsibility that underpins trust, resilience, and long-term success.
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