Cathy Mott started out her professional career doing executive coaching an consulting after getting an education in it at Macomb Community College.
Then Mott, the CEO and President of Shelby Township-based CWC Leadership Development went on to obtain certification in the field of emotional intelligence.
And everything changed.
“That spoke to me so deeply because I feel like it described everything I had experienced as an adult as far as emotions,” Mott said. “It gave description, it gave me verbiage to describe how I was feeling, and then it gave me permission and education and confidence to interact with other people effectively.”
Mott said she’d gone through a bout of depression in her mid-30s, but that she discovered she “didn’t have a voice” or the verbiage to describe what she was feeling.
Studying emotional intelligence, she said, gave her the emotional vocabulary to describe what she was going through.
“And once I learned about emotional intelligence and expanded my vocabulary, it was a game changer for me,” she acknowledged.
Mott coaches individuals, groups, and teams, helping people understand the value of listening to their emotions to reach their authentic leadership potential.
In that work, she has discovered, she often finds that leaders are “disconnected from themselves,” trying to lead a team or an organization without the skillset to engage effectively with their teams.
“Being able to sit and hold the space for people to grow and develop and enhance their emotional intelligence is such a blessing for me,” said Mott. “I absolutely love it. And a part of loving it so much is living the journey, having lived that experience and growing through the experience and then watching others do the same. It’s phenomenal.”
Mott sat down with Corp! Magazine to talk about a variety of issues surrounding her work.
Corp! Magazine: How does the emotional intelligence part of your work tie in to the coaching?
Cathy Mott: From the standpoint that emotional intelligence is four components, self-management, awareness of others, and then managing the social setting or the relationship that you’re in. What’s the relationship you have with yourself? One of our slogans as leaders, the first person we lead is ourselves. Most leaders aren’t disconnected from themselves. I often will ask people, what’s the dominant conversation you have with yourself? And most often people typically respond with phrases where they put themselves down. So when you think about the principle “love your neighbor as you love yourself,” if I don’t have a healthy relationship with myself, how can I have a healthy relationship with others? How can I lead a team of individuals?
Corp!: How long have you been doing this kind of work?
Mott: I started coaching in 2014. I got my credentials and emotional intelligence in 2015. So kind of like back to back. I’ve trained over 10,000 people nationally and internationally and have heard thousands of life stories. And I still feel like every time I hear someone’s life story or their experiences, I feel like I’m hearing it for the first time because I genuinely love humans. I think we’re fascinating and when people open up and share, I feel like they’re giving me a gift.
Corp!: That’s imparting a lot of knowledge and helping a lot of people. Why is that important to you?
Mott: For every life story that I hear, I’m also learning a lesson from the person. I’m either learning what to do or what not to do. I’m also able to watch and read body language, which is 55% of human communication. I’m also honing my craft as I’m watching body language, I’m listening to their tone of voice. Words are only 7%. I’m tuned in to the other 93% that most people don’t even pay attention to.
Corp!: What made you want to start studying that? It seems like more than a job to you.
Mott: It is really my passion. So I am an empath. I can literally feel what other people feel. And when I am in the space of someone with an open heart, the reward in itself is worth it. I love helping people reach their full potential. It’s very exciting.
Corp!: You’ve written a couple of books. Talk about those a little bit.
Mott: So the first one is an emotional intelligence workbook (Just Listen, Great Things Happen in the Silence). And the reason for the title is when I was in my 30s, I went through a depression and I feel like I found myself sitting in silence, asking myself questions, developing the relationship with myself.
The second book, “Welcome to Diversity and City of Love and Belonging,” was a result of working with the Macomb Intermediate School District facilitating diversity, equity, and inclusion. It’s based on emotional intelligence. So as the child and the reader moves through diversity, they’re asked how do you feel about the different circumstances or the differences within the city? And then there’s five emojis that the child can point to and the reader can point to. So it’s an interactive reading experience based that emotional intelligence.
Corp!: How did you get into being an executive coach?
Mott: I was working in healthcare and at the time I was reporting to the chief diversity and Inclusion officer and the corporate office. What they wanted to do was certify and credential 60 in-house coaches within the organization, and they could use those in-house coaches to coach their executives.
Well, my boss said at the time ‘I know how much you love it.” She allowed me to go to this training. It was a certification training for the International Coaching Federation, and that changed the trajectory of my life. I feel like I found passion, purpose, I felt like I found my thing.
Corp!: And you started your business in 2014?
Mott: I left that organization in June 2014. I had clients in Ohio, and I was driving to see them for the last time. And some of them, when I told them I was leaving, they were literally crying and they were like, we still want to work with you. We still want to work with you. I said, I got to check and see if you can do that still. And most of them came with me.
Corp!: What’s the biggest challenge to your work?
Mott: The biggest challenge for me is because I love humans. As the owner of the company, there is, and as an entrepreneur, there is a lot of alone time making the majority of the decisions. And I’m a free-spirited person. I love people. If I had an opportunity to be with people all day or work with a team, and that’s the thing about Zoom. You’re not with your team per se. So it’s the people aspects that I miss. It’s the team aspects that I miss. I meet with my team, but it’s virtually, it is the conversation by the coffee pot or the water cooler.
