<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Leadership on Sharpstone Blog</title><link>https://sharpstone.blog/categories/leadership/</link><description>Recent content in Leadership on Sharpstone Blog</description><generator>Hugo</generator><language>en-us</language><lastBuildDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 23:51:13 -0500</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://sharpstone.blog/categories/leadership/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Straits of It: Hidden Chokepoints and Whiplash IT</title><link>https://sharpstone.blog/posts/straits-of-it/</link><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 23:51:13 -0500</pubDate><guid>https://sharpstone.blog/posts/straits-of-it/</guid><description>&lt;p>&lt;img src="https://sharpstone.blog/images/ITstraits.jpeg" alt="Navigating the Digital Straits" title="center">&lt;/p>
&lt;h2 id="-the-chokepoint-we-dont-see">🌊 The Chokepoint We Don’t See&lt;/h2>
&lt;p>The Strait of Hormuz is a name you have been hearing frequently over the last few months, but not one that you likely heard a lot about before the current conflict started between the United States and Iran. It is geographically a very small body of water that controls a very large portion of the flow of global energy, roughly one-fifth of global oil in 2024. When that narrow passage is disrupted, the effects do not remain local. They ripple through energy prices, financial markets, supply chains, and household budgets.&lt;/p></description></item><item><title>Emotional Intelligence and Leadership</title><link>https://sharpstone.blog/posts/eq_post/</link><pubDate>Mon, 10 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0500</pubDate><guid>https://sharpstone.blog/posts/eq_post/</guid><description>&lt;p>&lt;img src="https://sharpstone.blog/images/EQarticle.png" alt="Emotional Intelligence and Leadership" title="center">&lt;/p>
&lt;p>One of the great buzzwords of the last several years has been EQ, or
emotional intelligence.  John Maxwell ranks this as the most important
form of intelligence because it is behind our ability to connect with
others.  In this time of social distancing, unrest, injustice, and
uncertainty about the future connecting with others is the most
important thing we can be doing.  &lt;/p>
&lt;p>IT professionals, in particular, can reap benefits from focusing their
#leadership and their teams on raising their emotional
intelligence. Zoom and Webex meetings take away some of the personal
touch, as our interactions tend to be hyper-focused and lose the nuances
gained by a handful of interpersonal meetings during a typical
workday. These nuances can be the difference between cohesiveness and a
functionally competent but unengaged team.&lt;/p></description></item></channel></rss>