“Emotion skills are the key to unlocking the potential inside each one of us. And in the process of developing those skills, we each, heart by heart, mind by mind, create a culture and society unlike anything we’ve experienced thus far— and very much like the one we might dare to imagine.”  -- Marc Brackett Today it's great to have Marc Brackett on the podcast. Dr. Brackett is founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and professor in the Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine at Yale University. His research focuses on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, health, and performance. Marc is the lead developer of RULER, an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL that has been adopted by over 2,000 preschool to high schools across the United States and in other countries. He has published 125 scholarly articles and received numerous awards, including the Joseph E. Zins award for his research on social and emotional learning. He also is on the board of directors for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Marc consults regularly with corporations like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google on integrating emotional intelligence principles into employee training and product design and is co-founder of Oji Life Lab, a digital emotional intelligence learning system for businesses. His research has been featured in popular media outlets such as the New York Times, USA Today, Good Morning America, and NPR. He is the author of Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help our Kids, Ourselves, and our Society Thrive, published by Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan, which has been translated into 15 languages. In this wide-ranging episode we discuss: How Mark is feeling Mark’s rough childhood and how he felt “trapped in his feelings” Negative outcomes that can ensue when you don’t feel you have the permission to feel Some harrowing statistics about how depression and anxiety are on the rise How does the original Salovey and Meyer model of emotional intelligence differ from Daniel Goleman’s model? The emotion scientist vs. the emotion judge Skills of the emotion scientist How Marc’s Uncle changed Marc’s life forever by giving him permission to feel The main components of the RULER framework The many factors that influence how we express our emotions authentically and honestly The mood meter poster and app that allows you to track your emotions over time and look at patterns The malleability of emotional intelligence The difference between temperament and emotional intelligence  The most important thing Marc learned through teaching emotional intelligence How more emotional intelligence can bring world peace (at least according to a 3rd grader) Why we need to spend more time cultivating emotional intelligence