Is EQ the Real Tech Skills Gap? Interview with Jen Brown of GoTo

As technology accelerates innovation, emotional intelligence (EQ) stands out as an indispensable skill in bridging the human-technology divide. Research reveals that 90% of top performers demonstrate high EQ, showcasing its value in fostering collaboration, driving team performance, and strengthening professional relationships. In an AI-driven era, EQ enables leaders to navigate complex dynamics, adapt strategies, and maintain human connection. As workplace transformation unfolds, EQ may prove essential for sustainable success in the tech landscape. 

Why is emotional intelligence (EQ) such an important skill?  

“Emotional intelligence (EQ) is part of being human: an innate sensitivity that allows us to understand people as individuals. In the business world, this skill is essential for anyone to thrive, as highlighted by research which indicates that 90% of top performing employees score highly on EQ. It’s also especially important when you’re a senior leader striving to help others perform at their best. 

No matter how technology-driven your approach might be, the requirement for deep emotional consideration can’t be substituted. To provide exceptional leadership, you must be an empath who can apply constant discernment; adjusting your management style based on deep knowledge of how each member of your team thinks, feels and works — and crucially, what empowers them.

Fundamentally, EQ is integral to relationship building at a professional and personal level, which makes it vital across industries and particularly key for areas that are heavily focused on human connection, such as customer service. In fact, EQ is expected to be more important to this sector over the next few years than core support abilities such as problem solving.”

How can businesses better implement EQ in day-to-day operations and increase awareness?  

“EQ initiatives should come from the top down to ensure they are effectively rooted into company culture and can be seamlessly embraced throughout organisations. While significant time is often rightly spent on honing the capabilities of individual employees and contributors, it’s essential to remember that leaders need guidance too, especially given their role as the main champions and drivers of change. 

This means the crucial starting point is developing executive-level grasp of EQ’s value and its core elements: self-awareness of our emotions and how to manage them, alongside social awareness that allows us to recognise the feelings of others and refine the way we interact with one person to another.

Combining practical training and the chance to liaise with cross-functional peers will enable leaders to learn by sharing experiences, ideas, and advice.

Ensuring training around these abilities is both comprehensive and effective will involve partnering with Chief People Officers and human resource specialists from the get-go. The expertise of CPOs and their teams will be crucial to build skills frameworks for leaders that go beyond refining their general business acumen and strategic skills by enabling them to successfully operationalise EQ. 

For example, mapping out what EQ looks like at a day-to-day level will provide actionable guidance, including structures for interviews and staff reviews, as well as how to spot when workers are struggling and need support. Additionally, combining practical training and the chance to liaise with cross-functional peers will enable leaders to learn by sharing experiences, ideas, and advice.” 

What is the role of AI in this discussion? 

“As AI evolution and adoption races ahead, leaders face both new possibilities and challenges. On the positive side, smart technologies are creating opportunities for employees to take charge of their own EQ journey. 

By leveraging the insight produced by granular evaluation, individuals can now gain a clearer view of exactly how their interaction approach needs fine-tuning to fuel mutually beneficial outcomes — be that internally or externally — as can team and company leaders. 

The latest breed of AI-assisted analysis is able to assess human emotion based on nuanced factors such as choice of words, tone, and facial expression. By leveraging the insight produced by granular evaluation, individuals can now gain a clearer view of exactly how their interaction approach needs fine-tuning to fuel mutually beneficial outcomes — be that internally or externally — as can team and company leaders. 

Similarly, rising automation has brought greater scope to super-charge efficiency by shouldering more laborious tasks. McKinsey infamously predicted that generative AI will power productivity gains that add $4 trillion to the global economy, in addition to automating work that currently absorbs up to 60-80% of employee’s time. 

However, this rising shift towards augmentation is also sparking questions about how increased use of smart machines will affect employees, which will need to be handled carefully to provide reassurance and maintain both motivation and job satisfaction.”  

Going into 2025, are there any additional skills gaps in tech which businesses should look to address and provide more training around?  

“Amid the fast-mounting interest in AI, it’s no surprise that strengthening AI talent has been listed as the number one priority in recent must-have IT skills lists. However, I would argue that communication is even more important.   

While many industry leaders see the benefits of leveraging intelligent technologies to streamline lengthy processes, many haven’t yet grasped the need to highlight these advantages to their teams and explain exactly what the rising use of AI will mean in practice.  

It’s increasingly important for leaders to emphasise that AI implementation will allow employees to elevate their performance, rather than replace them. In the technology and IT space, one of the best examples of this are conversational knowledge interfaces. By making it easy to run live searches for relevant information about specific system issues and even automate certain fixes, these tools empower workers to both quickly tackle problems themselves instead of calling in specialist support and free up time to focus on completing more fulfilling tasks.  

In essence, leaders improve their ability to convey that AI empowers teams to bolster their output by cutting down on busywork.”

Executive Profile

Jen Brown  is Senior Director of International Marketing with over 20 years of experience in delivering product and service marketing programmes and has been managing pan-EMEA marketing programmes for nearly a decade. Well-versed in the B2B technology industry,  Jen previously held leadership roles at Sprinklr and Tealium, where she achieved unprecedented engagement metrics and demand generation for regional marketing. 

Jen is a passionate advocate for diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) and early careers, and believes that encouraging more women to pursue rewarding careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) will be crucial to solving the industry’s gender gap.