Benbiga Ilham, participant in the "Surround Yourself Well" workshop, 10/10
“A very interesting workshop with a theoretical component but also practical exercises and real-life case studies. Thank you to Thierry Daher for his passion for sharing and teaching.”
Workshop - Surrounding yourself with the right people when starting a business: emotional intelligence and AI
YOU...
80% of the qualities investors look for in a founder are related to emotional intelligence—not IQ. Passion, resilience, adaptability, communication, creativity, and decision-making under uncertainty: these are all interpersonal skills that are developed.
In the age of AI, a question arises with new urgency: what skills must you master that machines cannot do for you? The answer: everything related to deep human relationships. Knowing how to surround yourself with the right people, building trust, managing disagreements, and inspiring a team.
“47% of our waking hours, our mind is elsewhere—even during important moments.” — Killingsworth & Gilbert, Harvard, 2010
You are an entrepreneur and you feel like you are carrying too much on your own.
You have trouble delegating, trusting, or finding the right partners
Do you want to better understand the relational dynamics within a team or board?
Are you looking to develop your human skills at a time when AI is taking over technical tasks?
Why choose this path?
A pragmatic approach that radically transforms your relationship with everyday life.
Understanding the 4 levels of emotional intelligence and their impact on your entrepreneurial relationships
Developing operational empathy: perceiving the motivations and emotions of those you are speaking with
Identify your relational strengths and blind spots — and how to address them
Create psychological safety within your team or with your co-founders
Improve your team's performance through better emotional intelligence within your teams
Step 1 — The social brain: surrounding oneself with others is a neurological skill
Matthew Lieberman (UCLA, Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, 2013) demonstrated that the human brain's default mode network (DMN)—the one that's active at rest—is a social processing network.
We are wired to think about others, anticipate their intentions, and build relationships. This isn't a distraction; it's the most sophisticated form of intelligence that evolution has produced.
Yet in the entrepreneurial environment, this intelligence is often the last to be developed. The quality of the relationships you build—with partners, investors, team, mentors, and clients—is one of the strongest predictors of your trajectory, even before technology or product.
Step 2 — What AI cannot do for you
As artificial intelligence takes over analytical, technical, and even some creative tasks, the skills that remain are precisely those involving deep human connection: reading someone's emotions, building trust in the face of uncertainty, navigating disagreements without breaking the bond, and inspiring a shared vision.
These are the domains of emotional intelligence—and they can be learned. A meta-analysis of 24 studies shows an average improvement of 58% in EI scores after targeted training. In the age of AI, investing in these skills is not a luxury: it is the most sustainable differentiator.
The 4 levels of emotional intelligence and their entrepreneurial application
* Identify your relational strengths and blind spots — and how to address them
* Develop operational empathy — perceive the motivations and emotions of those you interact with
* Create psychological safety within your team or with your co-founders
* Understand what AI can and cannot do for you — and strengthen your human skills accordingly
* Psychological safety: what it is, why it changes everything, how to create it
* 4 concrete applications for building a strong network: choosing partners, managing your board, convincing investors, inspiring your team
* AI as a catalyst: which human skills become strategic?
* 2 guided practices: physiological sigh + mindfulness meditation (3 min)
Formats:
90-minute to half-day workshop — in-person or online
Target audience: entrepreneurs in incubators, accelerators, or support programs (up to 40 participants) | Available in French or English
Terms :
Contact us for a quote.