Pennsylvania, US, 5th November 2025, ZEX PR WIRE, In the high-stakes world of tech leadership, the traditional markers of success revenue, market share, product launches, and investor confidence often dominate the conversation. But after thirty years in the trenches as a six-time CEO, two-time COO, and now as a coach at CEO Coaching International, I’ve come to believe that none of these achievements mean much without one critical ingredient: emotional intelligence.

I’ve spent my career founding companies, leading turnarounds, executing successful exits, and transforming legacy businesses into modern SaaS powerhouses. At Sopheon, for example, we transitioned from a consulting-heavy model to a cloud-native SaaS platform, a shift that demanded technical precision and deep emotional leadership. Change is uncomfortable. People fear uncertainty more than they fear failure. What gets a company through that kind of transformation isn’t just strategy, it’s trust, empathy, and the ability to connect with people where they are.

This is the real differentiator between good CEOs and great ones.

The Myth of the All-Knowing CEO

There’s a romanticized idea that a great CEO is a lone visionary who knows all the answers and commands the room. But the CEOs I’ve seen thrive, especially in today’s climate, are not the loudest or most forceful personalities. They are the ones who listen.

When I coach leaders, I tell them: Your job isn’t to have all the answers; it’s to create the conditions for the right answers to emerge. That shift in mindset requires emotional intelligence to read the room, to detect fear before it becomes resistance, to inspire confidence without ego.

This doesn’t mean CEOs should abandon strategy or financial discipline. It means they need to anchor both in self-awareness and empathy. You can’t lead transformation if you don’t understand the people you’re asking to change.

Lessons from the Frontlines of Innovation

Throughout my career from my early startups to public company boardrooms, I’ve seen how emotional intelligence drives innovation. It’s not just a soft skill; it’s a growth multiplier.

When I helped guide Sopheon through its transformation to a SaaS model, we weren’t just changing a product, we were changing a culture. I had to help teams let go of the old ways of working, reimagine their purpose, and trust a new process. The emotional toll was real. But so was the reward: a thriving business that successfully exited to a private equity firm.

Similarly, in founding and funding 14 startups, I’ve learned that emotional intelligence isn’t optional in entrepreneurship, it’s survival. Startups live on uncertainty. The ability to stay grounded, to maintain morale, and to lead with transparency during volatility is what separates those who scale from those who stall.

I’ve raised over $73 million in venture capital and been through 17 mergers and acquisitions. In every deal, negotiation, and hard pivot, human connection was the difference-maker. The spreadsheet never closes the deal. The story does.

Emotional Intelligence Is Measurable and Coachable

At CEO Coaching International, we work with hundreds of CEOs around the world, helping them scale faster and lead better. What I’ve seen time and again is that the best leaders aren’t necessarily the most experienced but they’re the most self-aware.

They know their triggers. They understand how their moods affect their teams. They balance ambition with humility.

And here’s the good news: emotional intelligence can be developed. I’ve seen leaders who started out purely metrics-driven learn to lead with empathy and their performance skyrocketed. Employee retention improved. Innovation increased. Customers noticed.

In fact, a McKinsey study found that organizations with emotionally intelligent leadership are 20% more likely to outperform their peers. But beyond the statistics, there’s a deeper truth: when people feel seen, they give more of themselves. And that’s the foundation of sustainable growth.

The Shift in Leadership Culture

We’re entering a new era of leadership. The old model of command and control is dying. The new model of connect and inspire is thriving.

This shift is especially pronounced among the next generation of leaders. I teach at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business and founded Carnegie Mellon University’s Master’s in Product Management: the first program of its kind globally. What I see in young leaders is both exciting and challenging: they demand meaning, transparency, and humanity in their work. They won’t follow leaders who lead from fear. They’ll follow those who lead from authenticity.

To me, that’s not just a generational preference, it’s a competitive advantage. Companies that cultivate emotionally intelligent leadership are more adaptable, more resilient, and more attractive to top talent.

The Human Side of Growth

Let’s be honest: leadership is lonely. The higher you climb, the fewer people you can confide in. I’ve been there: staring at the numbers late at night, questioning decisions, feeling the weight of payroll and investor expectations.

What pulled me through wasn’t bravado; it was balance. Learning when to push and when to pause. When to fight for the vision and when to listen to dissent. Emotional intelligence gave me that balance and it gives CEOs today the same.

At its core, business is about human relationships. You can automate processes, but not trust. You can buy attention, but not loyalty. You can scale operations, but not authenticity.

As leaders, we have to remember: growth without humanity isn’t sustainable. Profit without purpose doesn’t last.

Coaching CEOs to Lead with Heart and Precision

In my coaching work today, I help CEOs master this duality to be both visionary and grounded, strategic and empathetic. I draw on decades of operational experience from launching 100+ products to managing multimillion-dollar exits but I always come back to the same question: How are you showing up as a human being?

That’s where transformation starts.

Because when CEOs lead with heart, it cascades. It shows up in how teams communicate, how customers are treated, how innovation happens. It builds cultures that last, where performance and purpose aren’t at odds but intertwined.

Final Thoughts: Redefining Strength

We often mistake emotional intelligence for weakness. It’s not. It’s courage in its purest form.

It takes courage to admit you don’t have all the answers.
It takes courage to be transparent when things go wrong.
It takes courage to listen when your instinct is to defend.

But that’s the kind of courage that builds enduring companies and enduring leaders.

After thirty years of leading, founding, acquiring, and teaching, I can say with certainty: the CEOs who win aren’t just the smartest in the room. They’re the most human.

And that’s a lesson worth repeating in boardrooms, classrooms, and everywhere leadership is redefined.

About Greg Coticchia

Greg Coticchia is a Partner and Coach at CEO Coaching International, a six-time CEO, two-time COO, award-winning entrepreneur, and educator. He has raised over $73 million in venture capital, participated in 17 M&As, launched more than 100 products, and led companies to successful exits. He is also the founding executive director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Master’s in Product Management program.

For more information, visit : https://ceocoachinginternational.com/ and https://gregcoticchiainsights.com/