Leading With Humanity: Suicide Prevention, Connection, and Growth in High-Stress Environments with Eli Embleton

What does it really take to build trust and connection in one of America’s toughest industries? In this episode, leadership coach Eli Embleton shares his powerful personal story, from crisis and survival instincts to the transformative power of vulnerability in high-stress environments. Tune in to find out why connection isn’t just good for culture, it’s a true lifeline.

Eli Embleton is the Leadership Development Coach at Zachry Construction Corporation, where he champions trust, dialogue, and psychological safety across large, distributed teams. A dedicated mental health advocate and former safety trainer, Eli is the co-author of the forthcoming book The Instinct Beyond Instinct and is actively involved in a documentary project focused on suicide prevention in high-risk industries. His work centers on building deeper connections and supporting mental well-being in the workplace and beyond.

Below are the key takeaways from this episode:

• Connection is Essential: Building genuine connections at work isn’t just “nice to have”, it’s crucial for well-being and high team performance, especially in high-risk, high-stress industries.
• Time, Space, and Language Barriers Exist: Major obstacles to team cohesion include time pressure, physical distance across distributed sites, and language/cultural divides (like a largely Spanish-speaking workforce).
• Move Beyond Instinct: Eli’s framework encourages moving past basic survival instincts (fight, flight, etc.) to intentionally choose empathy, collaboration, and vulnerability for better outcomes.
• Vulnerability Strengthens Teams: Openness, especially among men and in male-dominated industries enables deeper connections, trust, and ultimately, stronger, more effective teams.
• Frequent, Simple Check-Ins Matter: Brief, regular “connects” (not just standard one-on-ones) significantly improve engagement and connection, sometimes all it takes is a sincere, two-minute check-in.

Todays guest, Eli Embleton, can be found online at:

Website: https://eliembleton.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliembleton/

Your host, Dr. Bobbi Wegner, can be found online at:

Groops: https://www.joingroops.com/

Harvard Extension School Faculty Spotlight: https://youtu.be/zwLai-lu-pk?si=GpKNhtxVvTrS3-pu

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbiwegner/