Dean Lee Newman and Daniel Goleman spotlight the power of team emotional intelligence at WOBI New York

Lee Newman, Dean of IE Business School at IE University and Trustee of IE New York College, joined psychologist and bestselling author Daniel Goleman in a session on team emotional intelligence and how leaders can build it at WOBI New York. World Business Forum 2026 is a two-day event curated by WOBI and designed for senior executives and innovators. The Forum brings together leading minds across business, technology, and the creative industries to spark new ideas and actionable strategies.

Dean Newman reflected on what makes some teams extraordinary and others dysfunctional, and why the difference matters now more than ever. In a business environment defined by disruption, teams must turn friction into critical thinking, creativity, and innovation. 

In his introduction, Newman highlighted the central role that teams play in today’s organizations and in IE’s own educational model. He noted that IE brings together highly diverse talent, with students from around the world (160 countries) working in teams on demanding projects under tight deadlines, in an environment that mirrors the realities faced by businesses navigating constant change and transformation. This reflects IE University’s purpose of educating leaders who create positive impact in a globally connected world.

"Organizations hire individuals, but what drives their results is what happens when that talent comes together in teams. Talent alone doesn’t guarantee a great team. The same friction can produce magic or dysfunction, and the difference is a team’s emotional intelligence, which is something leaders can shape," said Lee Newman.

Newman welcomed Daniel Goleman, whose pioneering work on emotional intelligence has transformed leadership thinking worldwide. Goleman’s keynote explored the concept of team emotional intelligence and how organizations can build it to create extraordinary teams and improve performance.

In the conversation that ensued, Newman put several timely questions to Goleman, including how much team emotional intelligence depends on the leader versus the team itself, whether hiring should take into account the emotional intelligence of an existing team, and how team norms travel across cultures in increasingly international workplaces.