Improving our Ability to Read People with Lee Povey

Jul 10, 2025

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How can we improve our ability to read people? Being able to accurately interpret the people we are leading so that we can see things from their perspective helps us with decision making and problem solving. It can also help us to build trust and to recognize when their needs are not being met.

In this episode, Lee Povey joins Chris and Jordy to discuss how we can al improve our emotional intelligence so that we can better empathize and understand others.

Lee Povey is a high-performance leadership coach specializing in working with founders and start-ups. As a lifelong entrepreneur, a former elite cycling athlete, and Olympic Development Program Coach for USA Cycling, Lee has a deep understanding of what it takes to lead at the highest levels.

Through coaching hundreds of World, National, and Olympic champions, Lee has gained invaluable experience in developing World-Class leadership and people.

In this episode of Delivering Adventure, Lee shares practical advice and strategies developed through years of coaching high performance athletes.

Key Takeaways:

How can we improve our ability to read people:

Lead With Curiosity: Often we want to make assumptions by guessing or anticipating the feelings or thoughts of others. Instead, we should be asking questions with an open mind as to what the answers might be.

Ask the Right Questions: When we do ask questions, we need to make sure they are structured to reveal what we are looking to learn. Using a number system to identity how someone is feeling is one way. Another way is asking questions that are designed to generate discussion.

Learn the Person: Everyone is different. Approaching each person as an individual and learning their tendencies, needs and how they react in certain situations can help us to recognize patterns of behaviour. This can allow us to interpret what they may be telling us more accurately.

Training Them to Self-Analyze: When people can self reflect they can understand what is going on themselves.

Check for Understanding: Often we give people instructions, explanations or feedback and assume they understand what we want them to take away or to do. What we really should be doing is to get them to tell us in their own words what they understood.

Reading Body Language: This makes up a large part of how people communicate. Recognizing the behavioural patterns in the people we are interacting with can greatly enhance our ability to empathize and to interpret the thoughts, feelings and behaviours in others. Like every skill, improving our emotional intelligence so that we can better read others, takes purposeful practice.

Guest Bio:

Through coaching hundreds of World, National, and Olympic champions, Lee has gained invaluable experience in developing World-Class leadership and people.

Lee helps leaders and high-achievers understand how to motivate, lead, give feedback, and empower their teams to incredible growth and performance. He breaks down the human experience in a relatable way, sharing tips, skill sets, and valuable mindset insights, allowing us all to perform like Olympians while retaining a strong focus on happiness and long-term fulfillment.