#310 Jevon Wooden: From Cell Block to C-Suite — Part Two

Summary

Chief Change Officer Podcast Summary

Episode: #310 Jevon Wooden: From Cell Block to C-Suite — Part Two
Release Date: April 19, 2025
Host: Vince Chen
Guest: Jevon Wooden, Army Veteran and Leadership Coach

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Introduction

In this compelling two-part series, Vince Chen welcomes Jevon Wooden, an Army veteran turned leadership coach, who shares his transformative journey from facing incarceration threats to leading soldiers in combat and ultimately ascending to the C-suite. This episode delves deep into how trauma can shape purpose, the power of empathy in leadership, and the critical role of emotional intelligence in today's corporate landscape.

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Jevon Wooden's Military Experience and Its Impact

Timestamp: [02:09] – [07:30]

Jevon Wooden recounts his 12-year tenure in the U.S. Army, highlighting his challenging deployment to Afghanistan in 2016 and 2017. During his final deployment, a suicide bombing on Veterans Day at Bagram Airfield profoundly affected him, resulting in the loss of six to seven comrades and injuring 18 others. This traumatic event marked a pivotal moment in his life:

“I was treating the bomber with the same respect as my friends and comrades, and that was another inflection point for me.”
— Jevon Wooden [03:46]

Upon returning home in 2017, Jevon grappled with severe depression and PTSD, plagued by recurring nightmares. Therapy revealed that his nightmares were tied to unresolved issues with his estranged father, whom he had to reconnect with under traumatic circumstances. This reconciliation not only alleviated his PTSD but also coincided with the birth of his daughter on the same Veterans Day, symbolizing a serendipitous turnaround from despair to joy.

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Transition to Leadership Coaching

Timestamp: [07:30] – [11:16]

Realizing that a career in technology wasn't fulfilling his desire to make a meaningful impact, Jevon transitioned to leadership coaching and speaking, focusing on emotional intelligence. He emphasizes that the core issue in many organizations is a lack of genuine human connection, exacerbated by over-reliance on technology as a scapegoat. Jevon observed that:

“People are not taking the time, they're not putting in the effort to make genuine connections.”
— Jevon Wooden [07:30]

His personal losses, including friends lost to suicide and the rampant opioid crisis, fueled his mission to foster environments where leaders prioritize emotional well-being and authentic support systems.

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Emotional Intelligence in Corporate Leadership

Timestamp: [11:16] – [15:32]

Jevon addresses the pressing issues faced by leaders in high-stress industries like construction, where suicide and opioid addiction rates are alarmingly high. He argues that emotional intelligence (EI) is not just a soft skill but a strategic imperative tied directly to profitability, employee engagement, and retention. By presenting compelling statistics, he convinces leaders that:

“Results over people is no longer the way. People aren't going to stay in places that they don't feel valued.”
— Jevon Wooden [11:16]

He dismantles the misconception that empathy is a sign of weakness, illustrating how empathetic leadership can drive organizational success through improved communication, diverse perspectives, and inclusive practices. He cites Satya Nadella at Microsoft and the CEO of Best Buy as exemplary leaders who have successfully integrated empathy into their leadership styles, resulting in transformational growth.

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Practicing Empathy in Leadership

Timestamp: [18:43] – [23:30]

Empathy in leadership, as Jevon explains, involves a deliberate shift from reacting emotionally to responding thoughtfully. He shares a case study of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) perceived as abrasive but genuinely caring for his team. Through coaching, Jevon helped the CMO transition from a confrontational style to one that fosters support and accountability:

“Instead of saying, why the heck did you do this wrong... you can say, how can I help you get there?”
— Jevon Wooden [18:43]

Jevon emphasizes the importance of feedback loops and inclusive decision-making, encouraging leaders to co-create solutions with their teams rather than imposing top-down directives. This approach not only enhances team cohesion but also unlocks innovative ideas by valuing diverse perspectives.

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Emotional Blind Spots and Self-Awareness

Timestamp: [23:30] – [28:21]

Addressing emotional blind spots, Jevon identifies key areas leaders must navigate to harness emotional intelligence effectively:

1. Mastering Self-Awareness:
   Jevon advises leaders to allocate daily time for self-reflection to understand their values, thoughts, and behavioral patterns.

   “Take some time daily, even if it's 15 minutes, to just be... to recenter yourself.”
   — Jevon Wooden [24:50]

2. Recognizing Behavioral Patterns:
   By identifying triggers and understanding their own reactions, leaders can manage their responses more intelligently rather than reacting impulsively.

3. Proactive Communication:
   Leaders should strive to understand the preferred communication styles of their team members, fostering a more supportive and effective work environment.

Jevon underscores that true leadership begins with self-mastery and extends to cultivating empathetic relationships within the team. This holistic approach ensures that leaders not only drive business results but also nurture a thriving, resilient workforce.

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Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Timestamp: [28:21] – [31:35]

Vince Chen and Jevon Wooden conclude by reiterating the importance of self-awareness as the foundation of emotional intelligence and empathy. Vince highlights that:

“Resilience is remembering that empathy includes self-empathy too, which is self-love, supporting yourself the way you will support others.”
— Vince Chen [28:21]

Jevon agrees, adding that empathetic individuals are more likely to receive support in return, fostering a culture of mutual respect and assistance:

“If you are empathetic and you ask for support, some people are more inclined to help you find that next role because you treated them well and they remember that.”
— Jevon Wooden [29:59]

The episode wraps up with Jevon expressing gratitude for the insightful conversation and Vince emphasizing that change is not only possible but contagious, encouraging listeners to embrace emotional intelligence to unlock unprecedented personal and professional growth.

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Chief Change Officer offers a profound exploration of how personal trauma can be transformed into a powerful tool for leadership and organizational change. Jevon Wooden's journey underscores the necessity of emotional intelligence in today’s corporate world, highlighting that genuine empathy and self-awareness are critical for sustainable success and meaningful human connections.

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Follow on LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube @chiefchangeofficer.

Transcript

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[Vince Chen]

Hi everyone. Welcome to our show. Chief Change Officer, I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist humility for change. Progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today's guest is Javon Wooden, army veteran, leadership coach and someone who story grabs you from the very first moment. At 17, he was facing prison time. A few years later, he was leading soldiers in combat. In this two part series, Javon shares how trauma shaped his purpose, how empathy became his strategy, and why he now helps leaders build emotional intelligence like the careers depend on it. Because they do. Let's jump in. So you stayed in the army for over 10 years, is that right?

[Javon Wooden]

Yep, yep. I was in there for 12 years and my last deployment was probably not. Probably it was the hardest thing because. And this is one of the reasons why I knew, like, my body couldn't handle it my mentally and emotionally, and I just couldn't do it. So I was in Afghanistan in 2016, 2017, and there was a suicide bombing that happened where I was stationed on Bagram Hairfield. And the suicide bombing was on Veterans Day. So Veterans Day traditionally has been a very hard time for me since then. We lost. I think we lost six or seven people, and then 18 others at least got injured, got injured physically. But, of course, mentally and emotionally, those of us who survived or who wasn't harmed physically, that. That plays a toll on you. And then I was a part of the remains cleanup team, where that's what mentally really hit me hard, because I'm like, I'm treating the bomber with the same respect of my friends and my comrades and my colleagues that he killed. And that was another inflection point for me, because when I got home from that deployment in 2017, I just was not the same. And it hit me, like, six months later, here I am. Like, after that, I took some time to just, like, travel and get back into the space of civilian life, and it just didn't work. Six months later, I struggled severely with depression and ptsd. Kept having the same nightmare over and over again. And at the end of that nightmare, it was a red flash. I just remember the red flash. It was the detonation from the bottom. And I had to go to therapy. And the therapist once asked me, she said, what happens at the end? I said, I don't know. It doesn't end. Once the flash happens, I wake up. And she was like, I want you to see that as something that's saying that there's something unfinished in your life. So she gave me this whole exercise to find what was unfinished. And this ties back into my childhood, because what was unfinished was my relationship with my father. And I hadn't been in touch with them. He actually got arrested while I was with him. So that was weird. Trying to establish a relationship. SWAT team jumps out while we're at the gas station, and they put me down on the ground. I thought it was something I did, but it wasn't, so it was him. So fast forward, I had to reestablish that relationship with my father. And that nightmare stopped since then. And what. In another change, my daughter was born on Veterans Day. So it went from the worst day to the best day. And that's just how things happen, right? That's serendipitous moments that I really leaned into now with all the change and adversity that has gone through throughout my life.

[Vince Chen]

From what I know, the military really shaped you, taught you leadership, exposed you to all kinds of people and pressure. Most of us never experienced that. We work in stable, quiet and peaceful environments. You didn't just learn resilience, you lived it. These days, a lot of people talk about resilience, but few have actually walked that path. I've had my own struggles, including three episodes of depression, but nothing like what you've gone through physically or mentally. So I'm curious, was that what led you to become a coach and speaker on emotional intelligence? Did all of that push you to help others this way?

[Javon Wooden]

That's a component of it for sure. Vince is everything that I've seen and gone through and realizing that tech was just not. It wasn't my thing. I didn't feel like I was making an impact in that. So I wanted to really help people. And so that was one catalyst. And then the other one is when I look at, When I look at the world from this lens that I've. I have see that the biggest cause of all the issues we are facing is connection. Like human is going out the window for a lot of leaders. Whether that's in the country level, whether it's in the corporate space, it doesn't matter. It's like going away. I mean, yes, we can blame technology, but it's not. Technology can be absolutely a force multiplier, so to speak, because we can, we can do this right? I can see you no matter where you are. We can have these conversations, but that's just a scapegoat that I see people use what it really is. People are not taking the time, they're not putting in the effort to make genuine connections. And so what have you done for me lately, society and say, oh, I'm going to blame this thing and that thing, instead of taking accountability and taking ownership for what I can do to improve the situation in my company, those types of things. So that's really what sparked me to really dig into this and research all of this stuff and start speaking on the topic and coaching and everything else. And the reason why I focus on like leaders specifically and is because that that trickles down. So if you have a leader that is not emotionally intelligent, that does not show empathy, that does not care, take care of those people. I've seen the cause of that and the cause of that. A lot of people are like, oh, you just leave a job, you just do this and then you go to your normal life. That's not what happens. Right. That is impacting people's lives, that is causing people to take their lives. Opioid addiction is at an all time high. Substance abuse is out is crazy right now in a lot of industries. So that's really what has caused me to do this. Like, I've lost a lot of friends to suicide. And when I look back at it, a lot of them didn't show any signs because in the military you're just taught to, you show this facade like, I'm good. They say if you're in the pain, you break your leg, you drink water. And that's the, that was the mentality. Even the military has had to change their culture because they realize that what they were doing just does not work. Because we are humans, we have emotions. And when you get weighed down and you go into that darkness, it's very hard to get out of it. As you. I don't want people to get into that darkness or when they start to feel like the light is leaving a little bit, I want them to realize that they can get support, that they don't have to walk that walk alone, that they are people who really care and support genuinely. That love is not just a business strategy, but it's a human thing. So all these things really just drive me and keep me going and have caused me to want to double down on this emotional intelligence thing.

[Vince Chen]

You've worked with a lot of corporate leaders without naming names. What kind of issues are they facing? You can give me a general overview or if there's one story that really captures it, feel free to share that too. A lot of us were taught to show strength, to always act like we've got it together. And many think resilience means just powering through. But we both know that it's only part of the picture. So I'd love to hear what are these leaders struggling with and how do you help them shift their mindset or approach?

[Javon Wooden]

Absolutely. In the US the construction space has been. That's one of the industries that is going through all these issues that I just mentioned. Now with corporations and leaders, typically they're focused on like the bottom line. So everything I do has to tie into that, right. Profitability, right. Employee engagement, retention, et cetera. So everything I do is under the guise of those. Right. And so I'll come in and I'll speak about emotional intelligence. I let them know that's, that's a byproduct of taking care of your people. So results over people is no longer the way. Right. It's not going to work. People aren't going to stay in places that they don't feel valued, et cetera. But what I like to do is I like to take statistics. I like to show them statistics of how, if they continue on this path, how it's going to impact their people, them and their companies. So that statistic I mentioned of suicide, right, Construction industry is second only to the mining and oil and gas industry here in the United States to suicides and opioid addiction. So that's one of the first things I want to show. And then once I do that, it shows them, like, empathy. And all these things that I'm talking about is relevant, right? So that's the first thing I. Second thing is I show them what it looks like because there's a misconception that being empathetic is weak. They're like, oh, if I'm empathetic, then I'm just going to get walked all over. So I have to dispel that myth. So I have to show them like, empathy is actually the opposite. Because empathy is holding yourself and that person accountable. It's the ability to see and understand their perspective and standpoint and get to the point where you can ask them questions, questions that clarify what's going on. What do they need to feel supported? What do they need to succeed, to have foresight to say, they're going to need these resources, Put yourself in their shoes to get these things done. They're going to need support from you. And a lot of leaders just don't have that type of vision. So I really help them to see how empathy taps into their daily operations, how it can improve, for instance, supply chain. If you're not. If you don't have an inclusive space, you're skipping over people who may have better ideas than you do. As the leadership committee, you're not giving people their voice. You're not able to see the diamonds that you have within your organization because they don't look like you. So all those things, right, all those things are part of emotional intelligence. Like I mentioned earlier, realizing my biases, looking in the room and seeing, okay, everyone looks like me, so how are we getting the best diverse perspectives? All those things tie into emotional intelligence. So if you're going to really create the spaces that organizations have been talking about, especially now with DEI initiatives being rolled back, we have to say, what exactly were those initiatives for? Because the work was not about hiring unqualified people into roles. It was about Amplifying, giving people opportunities who deserve those opportunities. And that's really what emotional intelligence is. But to see it, you have to listen, you have to take a step back and not feel like you have to have all the answers. You have to be willing to try different things and take calculated risks, right? You have to be willing to invest in your people and realize that the whatever result you want, it will not happen if you don't take care of your people. Because if your people are not at your at their best, you cannot get the best results. So these are a lot of things that I work on, but it's always tied to the bottom line initially until I come in with them. Same thing with coaching. Leaders are under the perception that they cannot be empathetic and that they need to make decisions fast. And all these other things, I show them case studies on what that looks like. So if you think about Microsoft, for instance, when Satya Nadella became the CEO, right? He didn't just go in there and make sweeping changes. He actually listened to his people, saw what they thought, right? Went to different locations and all this other stuff. The CEO of Best Buy did the same thing. He went to different stores, got ideas from them for the people who were doing the work. Everything. That's empathetic leadership, that's transformational leadership, they're really synonymous. So that's how I do the work these days.

[Vince Chen]

Let me ask you this. Empathy. You've mentioned that word a few times already and I want to zoom in on it for a moment. We all say it's important. We know it matters. But the truth is empathy is hard. Hard to develop, hard to sustain. Because at the end of the day, we are wired to look at the world from our own lens. We are naturally self focused. It's just how we're built. And sometimes people even confuse empathy with sympathy. So I'd love to hear your take. How do you help leaders who struggle with empathy? Can you share an example? Maybe a CEO or someone in senior role who came to you stuck and how to help them really understand and practice empathy in a meaningful way in a business setting.

[Javon Wooden]

And I'm glad you're bringing this up. So if you've been having your McDonald's sausage McMuffin with an iced coffee from somewhere else, now is a great time to reconsider.

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[Will]

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[Javon Wooden]

Empathy is really counterintuitive to our normal human condition, right? Because you really have to stop and pause and say, you know, I'm going to go out on the limb. I don't feel safe doing this action, but I know I need to do it. For instance, like giving someone delegation. Delegation is a part of empathetic leadership, and a lot of leaders struggle with letting go of that control. So that aspect is counterintuitive to what they're used to. So, for instance, I have a leader. He's a CMO for a company and I've been coaching him. And he comes off just brash. Quite frankly, they say he's an asshole at work. And his leader came to me. She said, you know what? This is his last shot, really. Or else I have to find someone else. I don't want to because he does great work, but he's really making it hard for everyone else. Like the culture is just suffering because of the way he comes at it. He's apathetic. He doesn't give a dang what his people care. He just wants the job done. All right? But When I coach him, he says, I actually really care about them, I want them to do well, but I don't know how to communicate that. I don't know how to say, like when they make a mistake, oh man, how can I support you? How can I make sure that you have what you need so that in the future you have success? Instead he comes out and he says, what the didn't I just explained to you what needs to be done? So that's the thing. Placing that interrupt between how we normally react, filtering it, and understanding we can get the same message across without being that way with taking the other person's perspective into account. And sometimes that starts with a question. Sometimes as a leader, instead of saying, why the heck did you do this wrong, I gave you everything I need. I thought I told you exactly how to do it. You can say, okay, let me ask you this, right, because this isn't what I expected to see. What I would like to see from you is this thing, what can I do to help you get there? Sometimes that's the best thing that you can do. That communication shift says the same exact message, but gets the point across differently and helps that person feel like they're supported versus feeling like they're a little kid when they're an adult? So you have to be willing to think that way and pause for a minute because a lot of people are not taking that pause to really hit the cognitive mind. They're letting their emotions get the best of them. And a lot of people say, I'm not emotional. Yes you are. Yes you are. And that's what's driving the way you're reacting and responding. And the key to that is I mentioned react versus respond. A lot of people are reacting, they're just knee jerk, they're just not taking a break, they're not taking that moment. So we have to get to the point where we're responding intelligently to things. And then the other component is relinquishing that control, realizing that you are better off as a team than as a solo unit. So a lot of them leaders, they feel like they have to have the right answers. But I always challenge them to create like feedback forums so they can get new ideas, innovation from their people, near real time feedback on how they could be a better leader. What people need, those are some of the easiest wins, but they're hard because again, they're not what they're used to doing. They used to coming into a little siloed environment with their leadership team. They make a decision up here and then they trickle it down here and then they wonder why it fails. We have to get it where it's bottom up. We have an idea, but we want to co create it with the people that's actually creating the impact that's really working to get the outcomes that we're getting. So there's a lot there and we can have a whole nother conversation on it. But that's really the real key is showing them the difference between empathy. Not really caring, just focusing on the bottom line. Sympathy, saying, oh, I'm sorry that you had to go that, get it done anyway, you're looking on the outside in. Whereas empathy is putting yourself person's perspective and saying, you know what, how can I support them better? Because I understand that it may be something that I can do to help them out. And even if you have someone who's just not performing at the level, you also have the opportunity to see if maybe that's not the fit for them first before you get rid of, before you fire them. Right. So a lot of times a job rotation could be a part of your solution. So that's a part of empathy, giving people the opportunity to show that, showcase their various skills, even though that's not what their resume said. Because I've seen it where I've come into an org for a cultural transformation consultation and people showcase the skills. But because the leader is not seeing it, they're not looking at it. They just see them as a role that fit in this role. They don't understand that they can actually be better over here. So we really have to open our eyes as leaders and slow down a bit to understand what's happening and get the diverse perspectives of our people. And that's how we're going to be firing on all cylinders.

[Vince Chen]

You focus a lot on emotions and emotional intelligence. And of course we're human, we have emotions. But being able to understand them, manage them and work with them, that's what makes someone a better leader, a better teammate, a better person. So here's my question. What are some of the emotional blind spots we need to watch out for? Maybe it's fear, maybe ego, maybe something else. I asked this because it's not just about learning what to do, it's about knowing what to look out for. These hidden villains, if you will, can pull us back into old habits or reactive behavior. And if we can name them, we can manage them better. So from your work, what are those few things we should all be more mindful of whether we are leaders or, or just trying to grow as human.

[Javon Wooden]

Beings, the first step is to master you. So I see a lot of leaders who really don't take time to just be with themselves to get to discover who they are, what are their values, all these types of things. And a lot of people say it's fluff. It's really not. Because what happens is they're so busy, they have meetings back to back, they're always on, they're always thinking, once they're done with that, they have to do things with their family or be social, all this, all these things they get to do, but they now feel like they have to do because it's just, it's just a job. So I recommend for everyone to just take some time daily, Even if it's 15 minutes, to just be right, put some time on your calendar to just focus, to disconnect from tech, to disconnect from meetings, to just recenter yourself. That's the first step to get to know who you are, what are your thoughts, even saying, what are you saying to yourself? That's the first thing. That's the self awareness component. The second thing is understanding your behavioral patterns. Because once we get the pattern recognition down now, we can make some changes. So if you understand your behavioral patterns, how do you typically operate in a given situation? What are your triggers? What's frustrating you? If you notice that there's always. You have the best day and then one person comes in and that just throws you off for some reason, what is it about that person? Right. That's really the thing that's triggering you. So we have to get into the perspective of looking at it from that lens by understanding who we are first and then being able to pause and really filter our emotions before we respond or make a decision. Because if you make it from your emotions, chances are it's not really that rational. We may try to justify it and say it's rational, but it's probably not. So you have to recognize and be able to name the emotion that you're feeling because the name allows you to say, am I in the space to be making these key decisions right now? Do I need a moment? Do I need some more information? Whatever the case is, it's really about taking ownership of you, being accountability of you, and then identifying who can be your support system to make sure that you're in the best position to be your best self. And then you can move into talking about the social and relationship side of things. So from that perspective, I want leaders to just identify one way that they feel like they can interact a little bit better, communicate a little bit better, just in general. So for me, I had to focus more on listening to understand and coaching really helped me with that. So I would be the person, I'd be like, uh huh huh, right? And say my, I wanted to get my point out there because naturally I'm a very assertive person, I'm a very direct person, etc. But I realized I could still do that, but understand that I can respect the other person's point. And now I'm very curious about what other people think and why they think that way. So I recommend that leaders look at their behavioral patterns and then see how that kind of shows up when they're interacting with various people and then seeing if they can identify how they can just communicate with that person just a little bit better. Sometimes you can ask, sometimes you can ask the person like, hey, what's the best way to communicate with you? If I wanted to get you, give you feedback, what would be the best way to do that? We can be proactive with our conversation. So when we do get into that moment, that's a little bit more heated. We've already trained as we fought at, so as the military says, because that's really what's going to make us better.

[Vince Chen]

So emotional intelligence starts from within, starts with us. I couldn't agree more. I'm a big believer in self awareness and honestly, I've seen this so often. People go through life all the way to retirement and realize they never really got to know themselves. They just follow the playbook, check all the boxes, did what was expected, and maybe they did it well, made money, built a career. But deep down they don't feel fulfilled, they don't feel happy. That's why self awareness matters. When you know who you are, it helps you build empathy and resilience. Losing a job, for example, is hard. But that doesn't mean you've lost yourself, you haven't lost your skills, you haven't lost your value, you haven't lost who you are. Resilience is remembering that empathy includes self empathy too, which is self love, supporting yourself the way you will support others. That's one of the biggest lessons I've taken away from our conversation today.

[Javon Wooden]

Absolutely. And when you think about that example of job loss, if you are empathetic and you ask for support, some people, they are more inclined to help you find that next role because you treated them well and they remember that.

[Vince Chen]

Is this anything you'd like to add? Something you really want to share with the audience? Please go ahead. The mic is yours.

[Javon Wooden]

Oh, no. I really appreciate you. I think you're a phenomenal host. You got it down to a science man. So I appreciate you having me. It was a great conversation. I really appreciate you.

[Vince Chen]

That's the end for our series on Javon Wooden. Javon shows us that mistake isn't weakness is the work. If you're trying to lead, to build or just grow as a person, his experience is proof that change isn't only possible, it's contagious. Thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, don't forget, subscribe to our show. Leave us top rated reviews. Check out our website and follow me on social media on this Chan, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.

[Nordstrom Rack Advertiser]

Great brands, great prices. Everyone's got a reason to rack because they have framed jeans.

[Vince Chen]

Nike.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

Yes, just so many good brands.

[Nordstrom Rack Advertiser]

Vince, Kurt, Geiger, London, Rag and Bone and more are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. You never know what you'll find but you know it's going to be so good. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack.

[Javon Wooden]

If you've been having your McDonald's sausage McMuffin with an iced coffee from somewhere else, now is a great time to reconsider.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

In the Pacific Northwest, it's never too cold for an iced coffee in the morning. Grab yourself a medium caramel, French vanilla or classic iced coffee for just $2.29. Morning beverage may cause craving for McMuffin or or hash browns. Prices and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer or combo meal.

[Nordstrom Rack Advertiser]

Try Angel Soft for your tushy. It's made by Angels soft and Strong. Budget friendly. The choice is simple.

[Javon Wooden]

Pick up a pack today. Angel Soft and strong.