Success is Never Accidental  EP 65

Eric Williamson: Building Respectful, High-Performing Cultures

Eric Williamson is an international leadership trainer, keynote speaker, and author of the bold and insightful book How to Work with Jerks. He has trained leaders across industries, equipping them with practical tools to navigate conflict, build emotional intelligence, and foster high-performing, respectful workplace cultures. His work blends real-world leadership experience with a deep understanding of human behaviour, making his insights both accessible and actionable.

In our conversation, we explored how to handle difficult personalities, why emotional intelligence is a cornerstone of success, and what leaders must do to set the tone from the top.

Why This Matters

Eric frames success as empowering people to challenge jerks—or jerkish behaviour—one incident at a time. He shared compelling statistics underlining the cost of toxic culture and the urgency of addressing it directly and consistently.

Core Capabilities Leaders Need

Eric supports leaders to improve workplace culture, increase retention and results, and strengthen profits by developing a focused set of insights and skills:

• Self-awareness and accountability
  Recognise when your own behaviour falls short and commit to learning new tools and strategies for engaging the workforce and leading effectively.
• Understanding the impact of negative behaviour
  See clearly how conflict affects relationships, teams, and cross-departmental collaboration.
• Clarity of values and empathy
  Be conscious of your own values and those of others; cultivate empathy for different perspectives.
• Mediation across competing priorities
  Acknowledge when priorities clash and be prepared to mediate. For example, an IT team may be driving toward a system go-live, while frontline services—already understaffed and overworked—have different immediate pressures.
• Speaking up
  Challenge inappropriate behaviour in ways that produce positive outcomes. This takes skill, practice, and reflection.

What Organisations Must Do

To sustain change, organisations should bring in coaches and mentors skilled in culture work—professionals who can help leaders actively reduce conflict, have difficult conversations, and empower others to challenge inappropriate behaviour.

Connect with Eric Williamson on LinkedIn, purchase How to Work with Jerks on Amazon, or contact him directly at [email protected]

And remember: Success is never accidental – it is always intentional.

If you’re a high-performing manager who just needs some space to think, reflect, or refocus, book your session with Lynne for a 

25-Minute Leadership Consult: Pinpoint What’s Holding Your Team Ba

For more information on CORE leadership skills please visit my website at www.lynnepeyton.com/core

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