Gary Vaynerchuk on Emotional Intelligence and Why Most of Us Are Soft but Stressed

The man who built empires on hustle now says balance, accountability, and emotional honesty are the real flex.

There’s something paradoxical about

Gary Vaynerchuk

. He swears like a sailor, hustles like he’s allergic to sleep, and yet preaches kindness like a modern-day Mr. Rogers with a caffeine addiction.

But beneath the chaos, Gary’s message in our Passion Struck conversation is surprisingly simple—and surprisingly human: if we want better leaders, happier kids, and saner workplaces, we’ve got to start teaching emotional intelligence and accountability in equal measure.

Most of us grew up in one of two camps: the “suck it up” generation that believed emotions were weakness, or the “everyone gets a trophy” generation that believed discomfort was cruelty. Gary’s point? Both are broken.

“We’ve over-coddled a generation,” he told me. “The emotional intelligence we need to talk to kids about isn’t just kindness—it’s tenacity, accountability, competitiveness.”

He’s not saying compassion doesn’t matter. He’s saying it’s incomplete without a spine.

We can’t just raise gentle kids; we need kids who can lose without collapsing, fail without self-destructing, and win without turning into jerks.

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Listen ad-free to a vibrant, heartfelt conversation with Gary Vee on character, creativity, and the courage to meet life where it matters most.

One more thing: My upcoming children’s book, You Matter, Luma, is now available for pre-sale. It’s a story about kindness, courage, and the ripple effect of knowing you matter—lessons every adult at work could use, too.