Lead from the Inside — Emotional Intelligence & Presence ⏱ Up to 120 min · Max 12 participants
Emotional intelligence & active listening
Before we can lead anyone else, we need to know where we are. This session opens with a short guided meditation — not to relax, but to arrive: to notice what's actually alive in us before we layer…
Active Listening
Attentive Work
Communication Skills Practice
Empathy Exercises
Group Activity
Meditation
Workshop
Description
Before we can lead anyone else, we need to know where we are. This session opens with a short guided meditation — not to relax, but to arrive: to notice what's actually alive in us before we layer on the professional mask. From there, the group collectively constructs its own definition of emotional intelligence — no textbook answers, just lived experience and honest observation. We then go deep on what it truly means to listen: not waiting to speak, not problem-solving, not performing attention — but actually being present to another person. Participants practise active listening in pairs, noticing what gets in the way, and what opens up when it doesn't. The session ends with each person naming one concrete intention for how they want to show up differently. Quietly powerful.
Benefits
A grounded, embodied understanding of emotional intelligence — not as a concept, but as a daily practice. The ability to read their own emotional state with honesty and use it as information rather than noise. A fundamentally different relationship with listening — one that makes people around them feel genuinely seen, and opens up conversations that actually matter.
Hosted by Vanessa Defournier
About the Host
I'm Vanessa Defournier, a global leadership coach and facilitator based in Morocco, working worldwide.
I've spent over 20 years helping people and teams connect more deeply — with themselves, with each other, and with what they're actually here to do. I've lived and worked in 10 countries, coached in four languages, and held space for leaders navigating some of the most demanding environments on the planet: from McKinsey consulting rooms to international development institutions tackling climate, inequality, and systemic change.
What draws me to this work isn't the frameworks — it's the moment when something shifts. When a team that was talking past each other suddenly starts listening. When a leader drops the performance and gets honest. When a person realises they already knew what they needed to do, they just hadn't let themselves see it yet.
My style is warm, direct, and deeply human. I create experiences that feel safe enough to be real and engaging enough to matter. People often tell me they came in expecting a workshop and left feeling something more like a reckoning — in the best possible sense.
I bring cultural fluency, emotional depth, and a genuine love for the complexity of people. Whether I'm working in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese, the invitation is always the same: show up as you are, and let's do something meaningful with that.
Focus Areas
Development/Coaching
Location
Rabat, Morocco
Languages
English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Travel Locations
Brussels ; Paris; Lisbon; Madrid: London; Tunis; additional cost based on real expenses (flights/stay)
Corporate Experience
Significant
Session Types Offered
Interactive (eg. improv, group-art, yoga etc.)
Past Experience Doing Sessions
Yes - Interactive
Client Requirements
Inspiring room/space; flip charts and markers; speakers; large post its
Past Clients
Prose; Inter American Development Bank; Swagelok; Green Climate Fund;
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