Introduction
Emotional intelligence — EQ, the trait everyone claims to have but few consistently practice — has turned into one of the most consequential forces shaping modern academic leadership. It isn’t a soft skill, a personality quirk, or some HR buzzword. It’s the operating system that determines whether a university functions as a cohesive institution or a collection of isolated fiefdoms guarded by egos and tenure clocks.
In higher education, where intellectual autonomy often collides with administrative priorities, EQ becomes the missing translator — the connective tissue between cold policy and lived human experience. Universities that actually thrive today aren’t just funding labs, launching initiatives, or drafting strategic plans; they’re building emotionally intelligent environments where faculty lead with self-awareness, administrators communicate like humans instead of bureaucratic loudspeakers, and students feel something deeper than transactional belonging.
And the research is clear: EQ isn’t just “nice to have.” It correlates with everything institutions claim to care about — better retention, better teaching, better leadership. Strip away the jargon and it’s simple: people stay where they feel seen.
Dr. Sonia Toson and the Rise of HUMAN agement at Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw State University (KSU), sitting just outside Atlanta, offers a real-world case study in what happens when EQ becomes part of a university’s strategic spine. With more than 48,000 students and over 5,200 employees, KSU isn’t a boutique campus where culture shifts overnight. It’s a large, ambitious institution trying to grow into a top-tier public research university without sacrificing the humanity of its academic community.
At the center of this push is Dr. Sonia Toson — Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership and Institutional Development, law professor, former attorney, and, by her own admission, a recovering perfection-driven operator.
She laughs when she tells the story, but the turning point was literal and ridiculous:
A stapler flew past her head.
Not a metaphor. Not symbolic. A real stapler thrown in a real moment of real workplace dysfunction.
That was the line.
“That was the moment I decided this is not it,” she says. “I needed to be a kinder version of myself.”
What followed wasn’t a personality transplant — it was a philosophical overhaul. Toson came to believe that success measured solely by output is brittle, unsustainable, and ultimately empty. The how suddenly mattered as much as the what.
“Humans are what matter. Walking in love is what matters.”
From that belief emerged HUMAN agement, the framework she now champions across KSU. The capital letters aren’t aesthetic. They’re the point: systems exist to serve humans, not the other way around.
In her view, relationships aren’t the enemy of results — they’re the engine. “The ROI is always better when you keep humans first.”
A Strengths-Based Blueprint for Actually Growing EQ
Toson doesn’t romanticize emotional intelligence as innate talent. She treats it like a discipline — repetitive, intentional, imperfect, and learnable.
Her own CliftonStrengths profile slapped her with a harsh truth: empathy ranked dead last.
So she built it. Deliberately.
Her “strengths cocktail” — strategy, positivity, analytical, relational, and individualization — isn’t a personality label. It’s a toolset she mixes daily, pairing logic with empathy, distance with presence, clarity with compassion.
From that comes one of her most practical EQ rules:
- “I’m responsible for the energy I bring into the room. If my energy isn’t right, I don’t walk in yet.”
- Simple, but brutally rare in practice.
How KSU is Hardwiring EQ Into Its Leadership Culture
Toson’s division runs professional and leadership development for the university’s 5,000+ employees, and her philosophy is radically democratized: leadership is a disposition, not a job title. Dr. Ivan Pulinkala, KSU’s Provost, sums it up concisely:
“Leadership is not a position; it’s a disposition.”
This is how the institution is embedding that mindset:
Custom Team Interventions
When a department hits conflict, confusion, or cultural drift, Toson’s team dives in with tailored assessments, EQ diagnostics, and facilitated training. No generic workshops. No off-the-shelf slides. Each session is engineered around real tensions and real people.
Open-Enrollment EQ Workshops
Several times a year, faculty and staff can opt into high-pressure EQ training — understanding emotional triggers, decoding social cues, building relational confidence. Participation isn’t demanded; it's earned through relevance.
An Emerging Internal Coaching Culture
This is the initiative Toson is betting on. KSU is building an internal coaching system accessible to every employee, not just senior leadership. Over the next two years, the goal is clear: normalize coaching the way some institutions normalize meetings. When people learn to coach — and be coached — communication shifts, conflicts de-escalate, and leadership becomes distributed instead of concentrated.
Toson’s strategy is simple:
👉Make the programs so good people want to show up. No coercion required.
Beyond Programs: The Everyday EQ That Actually Matters
On the first day of classes, Toson tells her staff to “help students find their way.” She doesn’t delegate the sentiment — she lives it. If she sees a lost student, she doesn’t point. She walks with them.
“I don’t know where it is either,” she jokes, “but we’ll find it together.”
It sounds small. It isn’t. EQ is built on moments that cost time but build trust — and she refuses to trade one for the other. “If a student needs help, I’m going to help them. Even if it makes me late.”
Her long-term vision for KSU is unambiguously bold:
Tenure without trauma. Promotion without pain.
A university defined not just by rankings but by the emotional climate people inhabit daily.
In that future, leaders model empathy, coaching becomes a shared language, and success is measured in human well-being as much as institutional metrics.
Final Note
This organizational movement doesn’t end with workshops or slogans. It requires leaders willing to examine their own patterns first. That’s the real legacy Toson is trying to build — a culture where emotional intelligence isn’t a module but a mindset.
Kevin Kruse — CEO of LEADx and bestselling author — echoes the theme clearly: EQ is a strategic asset, not an accessory.
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