In this episode, Randy Lyman, Author of The Third Element, discusses the role of emotional intelligence and business success.
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Learn how to listen to The Hospital Finance Podcast® on your mobile device.Highlights of this episode include:
- How emotional energy can influence leadership decisions
- How healthcare leaders can manage their emotions to improve team member and patient outcomes
- How emotional awareness can help improve the decision-making process in finance and hospital management
- How healthcare leaders can prevent negative emotional energy from affecting their team’s performance
- The role emotional awareness plays in creating a culture of trust and belonging within healthcare organizations
- How leaders can balance the emotional and logical aspects of their roles to drive better financial outcomes
- Practical steps to take
Kelly Wisness: Hi, this is Kelly Wisness. Welcome back to the award-winning Hospital Finance Podcast. We’re pleased to welcome Randy Lyman. Randy, the purpose-driven leader, is a physicist and founder who has redefined what it means to create purpose-driven success in the building and growth of his multiple seven-figure companies. Randy combines decades of experience in business with a deep commitment to fostering emotional intelligence and spiritual grounding. His upcoming book, The Third Element, out March 18th, 2025, makes these complex concepts accessible and actionable and is the culmination of Randy’s insights, offering a powerful framework to unlock the full potential of the law of attraction. Randy’s entrepreneurial journey began in the technical world of physics and engineering, where he founded and grew a business that became an industry leader. Despite his professional success, he experienced the pivotal moment when he realized that stress and emotional disconnection were holding back his potential and the success of his team. This realization inspired him to focus on cultivating emotional awareness and creating a culture of belonging, which led to dramatic business growth and a renewed sense of purpose. Today, Randy shares these principles with individuals and organizations seeking clarity, purpose, and transformation. His teachings equip others to harness the power of emotional intelligence, foster meaningful connections, and turn stress into a tool for personal and professional growth. His work is a testament to the idea that when people feel acknowledged and connected, they achieve extraordinary results in all areas of life. In this episode, we’re discussing the role of emotional intelligence and business success. Welcome, and thank you for joining us, Randy.
Randy Lyman: Hi, Kelly. Thanks for having me.
Kelly: Awesome. Let’s go ahead and jump in. So how does emotional energy influence leadership decisions, particularly in high-pressure environments like healthcare?
Randy: Well, it really shouldn’t if we’re doing everything right. And what I mean by right is we need to be aware of our emotions because our emotions creep into everything. Even when we’re intelligent, even when we have a strong will, we can push down our emotions, and sometimes that’s necessary in order to operate in a boardroom, in a challenging situation. But ideally, as we become more aware of our emotions, then we learn to work through them in a way to release that energy so that when we walk into a situation, whether I’m talking with team members, whether I’m talking with upper management, whether I’m in the boardroom, then I’ve already become fluid with that energy, the negative energy, and let it go so that it does not influence my decision-making, my interactions, and such. So, if we walk into a room and we have worry – we have doubt – people sense that. They feel that. Even if we project confidence, they still feel what’s going on underneath. And every decision should be made from a place of rational judgment and thinking, not emotion. But again, if we’re not aware of those emotions under the surface, then they do creep into our decisions and our interactions.
Kelly: Almost definitely. Wholeheartedly agree with all that. So, in your book, The Third Element, you discuss how our emotions can affect decision-making. So how can healthcare leaders manage their emotions to improve team member and patient outcomes?
Randy: Well, the first step is to become aware of our emotions. So, 35 years ago, at 28 years old, I was very successful, but I wasn’t aware of what I call the third element, the emotional component of being human. So, the first element, not in any particular order, is our thoughts and information. The second is our body and the physical world around us, and the third, and what I found to be the most important, is the emotional part of being human. Now, that means how we feel in the moment, but it also means we hang on to our emotions from the past. Any emotional trauma we didn’t feel completely, that energy knows no time in space. Emotions are bigger than time and space, and that energy stays within our being. Whether it’s in our body or energy field, doesn’t matter. It’s still a part of how we operate every day. And when we can become aware of those negative emotions and work through it with different tools I outline in the book, then we can show up more clear, more confident, and be more clear in our thoughts and more clear in our interactions with others. Awareness is the first thing. So what I tell a lot of people, and what works for me because I’m still a left-brain scientist, even though I’m very comfortable with emotions and I understand how it all works, I take out a piece of paper and a pen or pencil, and I write down the things that are bothering me, and it does a couple things. First of all, it makes me aware of what I’m trying to keep track of in my mind, and I can let it go. And now I realize I’ve only got, whether it’s 5 things to worry about or 25 things– I should say address, not worry about, 25 things. Now my conscious mind says, “Oh, I could do this. This isn’t an infinite list.” The imagination always blows up our problems bigger than they are.
So then once I’ve written down what my challenges are, I can write down solutions if I know of them, and I can also write down, how does this feel to me? Am I irritated? Am I disappointed? Am I angry? Do I feel betrayed? Then, when I become aware of that emotion, that emotion won’t sneak into my personal interactions. It won’t sneak into my thoughts and distort my thinking and my communication. So, awareness is the first step, and it’s as easy as simply writing it down. Now, there’s a lot of other things we can do to move through it on the second and third step, but for me, that’s the fastest way to identify where our emotions are influencing my thoughts.
Kelly: No, I really like that. That’s a great idea. I’m actually going to use that. So, healthcare finance leaders often have to make tough decisions. Can emotional awareness help improve the decision-making process in finance and hospital management?
Randy: Well, the one thing about emotions is if we don’t acknowledge them, and as I said, they seep into our– they leak into our thoughts and our actions. Now, I was speaking with somebody this morning on a completely different subject, but it really applies to this well. And they said, “Well, God, I don’t like to turn down some customers because I feel bad for them.” Okay, well, yes, it’s nice to have compassion, but we shouldn’t let our feelings influence our decisions. So, if we have a situation where, say, we’ve been left out before. We’ve been abandoned or left out or stepped over, then we don’t want to do that to other people. Well, that means we might make decisions that aren’t that good for the business because we’re trying to be overly compassionate for the person involved. Now, we should always be caring. We should always be compassionate, but we should also be factual. Also, if there’s somebody on my team who they rubbed me wrong and I’m irritated by them, I need to be able to get through those emotions because that person– I’ve been in this place where they’re a great contributor but my own personal reaction to them, which is a gift to me to work through my own emotions around that, can tend to influence my decisions: how much I listen to them, how much I include them in conversation, and decision-making. So, when we become more aware of how we’re feeling, then ironically, our feelings don’t affect our decisions and our interactions.
Kelly: That’s a very interesting approach. Again, one I’m going to try. So, you mentioned the concept of emotional energy spilling into the workplace. So how can healthcare leaders prevent negative emotional energy from affecting their team’s performance, especially during challenging times?
Randy: First thing, first responsibility for us as leaders is the people that we lead. And in order to show up 100%, we need to be able to take some time away from work and say, “How do I feel about my job?” Feel is a key word. And we’re supposed to be thinking, “Well, I’m going to feel first and address the feelings first. Clear them out of the way.” And if I find I have irritations, there’s a lot of things I outline, for example, in chapter seven of the book, about how to deal with emotional pain from the past. Whether it’s journalling, whether it’s running, working out, yoga, whatever it might be, it’s up to me as a leader to work through my own personal baggage so that when I show up at work, then I’m more clear. I’m more grounded. I’m not dealing with subconscious, underlying emotions that are affecting me. Now, for me, if I go back, like I say, 30-plus years ago, I was frustrated. I felt angry because I was working hard, and I wasn’t finding success. I didn’t understand the rules of the game. The rules of the game are also explained in the book. But when I don’t understand the rules and I’m working hard, then I get frustrated, then I get angry. And that’s my own personal emotions I have to deal with. Once I got to the root of that anger and I was able to release it, then I had more compassion for people around me. I had more compassion for myself. And then when I show up to work, and I’m more compassionate and caring, and I learn to understand what people need in the workplace: they need to be acknowledged for who they are. They need to feel like they’re contributing to the cause, and they need to feel like they belong to the team.
Well, it’s hard for me to create that environment when I have tension within myself. So away from work, I work through my tension. If I show up now to a meeting because I’m relatively clear– I’m not perfect by any means, but I’m relatively clear. So, if I show up with my team and I’m feeling frustration, I tell them, “Hey, I’m feeling frustration. This has nothing to do with you.” It does a couple of things. First of all, I need to acknowledge it for myself. Second, if my team understands, “Hey, Randy’s tense, but has nothing to do with me,” they can let their guard down. Now we can interact as peers. Now we can interact as individuals working together to solve a problem. And even if I am the leader in a group, I still want to talk to people peer to peer, person to person because when they feel respected by me and appreciated by me, they bring their A game. And the only way to build a real winning team is when everybody feels safe enough to bring their A game. So again, identify my problems, my emotional challenges, work through them outside of the workplace, and then show up as clear as I can, as authentic as I can.
Kelly: No, I love all of that, Randy. That makes tons of sense, yes. So what role does emotional awareness play in creating a culture of trust and belonging within healthcare organizations?
Randy: Well, what I found is the best way to show up as a strong leader is to be willing to be vulnerable. Now, that’s, again, very ironic. But if I realize my strength does not come from my title, it doesn’t come from me signing people’s paychecks. It doesn’t come from any of that. My strength and my power comes from helping the group understand that I am truly here, committed to help them succeed. So, if we reverse this and we look at, for example, I have some team members who really support me as a leader. I’m probably going to be more favorable to those team leaders. Okay, reverse that. And now when these team members say, “Wow, Randy’s really looking out for me,” then they’re going to be favorable and listen when I talk. They’re going to do what they can to support the group without having to be– without having to have their guard up, without having to protect themselves in the group, without having to protect themselves from me. And when they can feel that I am there to support them, feel based on my actions, I listen to them. I remember what they say. I treat them with respect. I don’t always have to agree. I don’t always have to do what they suggest. But when I listen and acknowledge what they suggest, and they feel safe, and they bring their A game, now we can build a real winning team. And again, I’m being vulnerable, but at the same time, I’m also being responsible for the environment that I’m creating. And when I create an environment of cooperation and an environment of belonging with order and structure and discipline, but at the emotional level, people feel safe. Now, again, I keep saying it. It’s a winning team. And that’s how we build winning businesses.
Kelly: Yeah, I love the idea of creating a safe environment for your team members. That’s very, very, very cool. So Randy, in your experience, how can leaders balance the emotional and logical aspects of their roles to drive better financial outcomes?
Randy: Well, we still always have to turn back to logic, what makes sense for the business. And a few things that we can do to help build an environment that people really enjoy is first listening. Listening, I thought I was a good listener. And then, along the way, I learned some more listening techniques. One of them is pause. Give that person a chance to say more, or even ask them, “Is there any more you want to say?” When we talk as humans, we ping pong back and forth. I talk, you talk, I talk, you talk. And the whole time you’re talking, I’m thinking of how I want to respond. And the person that I want to listen to me, if they haven’t let all their ideas out, all their feelings out, all their ideas, all their justification for who they are, and where they are and what they want, then they’re hanging on to that, ready to ping pong, talk back after I finish speaking. So I learned to provide longer pauses, and I learned to ask questions. What else are you thinking? What else do you think could work? Then I can reflect back, “Oh, this is what you’re telling me. Is that correct?” They say yes. Now they feel heard. Now I can say two ways. I can say, “That’s a great idea. Let’s implement that,” or I say, “That’s a really interesting idea. We can’t do that now, but thank you for sharing.” And just simply acknowledging them for what they shared, even if I disagree, suddenly the tension is gone. They feel heard.
I had a guy named Robert who, when I was first learning this 30 years ago, in a meeting. He shared an idea, and I disagreed. But I said it in a way that I heard what he said. And he said, okay. And he said okay like, “Okay, I’m calm. Okay. I can accept that.” I said, “Wait a minute, Robert. You usually like to disagree, and you told me okay. Why?” Robert said, “Because you listened to what I had to say.” And now that’s simple, but at the time, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Like, “Holy cow, I haven’t been listening as well as I could.” And then, from then on, when I came up with an idea and asked Robert, what do you think, he would tell me, and he knew I was going to listen. And then he listened to me. And we have to get our teams to listen to us and follow our direction. Even if we decide together as a team which direction we’re going, which is a great idea if we can orchestrate that, we, as leaders, are responsible to make sure that those decisions are carried out, and we need people to listen. So, it’s a back and forth that we can come to a place of investing a little extra time in listening, and suddenly now people can hear our message. They get on board with what we need. They’re on track with our goals, and we find success.
Kelly: I think listening is key in every relationship and certainly very important in the workplace. So how can healthcare professionals benefit from embracing emotional release and emotional healing in their life? And what practical steps can they take?
Randy: The benefit is when we release old emotional trauma, small or large, it can be something small. It can be we’re in the eighth grade and the teacher cuts us off, and we’re sitting next to a girl we got a crush on. Well, that’s nothing. Now, as an adult, we say I can push that away. Well, when I’m in eighth grade, that’s important. And so, I didn’t feel it. I hang on to that. And there’s a lot of techniques we can use to let go of those old emotional traumas. Again, even the small ones. Another one that’s good for me is EFT tapping. I cover that on my website, and that’s in the appendix in the book. For anybody working out, if they can focus on their frustration– this is, again, ironic. This is an interesting dichotomy. But if I’m working out and I’m lifting weights or I’m running on the treadmill and I can invoke the feelings of frustration while I’m in the middle of physical activity and I can be aware of how that physical frustration feels in my body, it will release. It’s automatic. It happens. And then when I show up at work again, I’m more clear. I’m more confident, and my cognitive reasoning is better.
Kelly: Well, I can certainly relate to the working out thing. That definitely helps for me. So, thank you so much for joining us today, Randy, and for sharing your insights on the role of emotional intelligence and business success. We really appreciate all these insights.
Randy: Well, it’s been a lot of fun talking with you. I love your questions, Kelly.
Kelly: And if a listener wants to learn more or to contact you to discuss this topic further, how best can they do that?
Randy: The easiest way to find me is at my website, thethirdelement.com. They can find tips. They can find some free information, links to YouTube and social media and such. And my goal is to help people live a better life, find more success financially and personally. So, take a look at the site, click on some of the links on the how-to and books and such, and I hope it’s helpful.
Kelly: Thank you for sharing that with us. And thank you all for joining us for this episode of the Hospital Finance Podcast. Until next time…
[music] This concludes today’s episode of The Hospital Finance Podcast. For show notes and additional resources to help you protect and enhance revenue at your hospital, visit besler.com/podcasts. The Hospital Finance Podcast is a production of BESLER | SMART ABOUT REVENUE, TENACIOUS ABOUT RESULTS.
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