Not too long ago, I attended a business networking function at which people were asked about what their company did -- and what they did.

Being an expert in emotional intelligence, I could identify the people who spoke from their hearts, the ones who may have been selling too hard, and the ones who were painfully shy and didn't know what to do with themselves (shades of the days of junior-high dances).

You didn't need to be an emotional intelligence expert, however, to observe that the people who spoke with heartfelt and grateful (vs. boastful) pride, enthusiasm, and passion attracted the most positive attention.

That PEP -- pride, enthusiasm, and passion -- attracted something else, as well.

It became clear that the people who did not feel that same level of pride, enthusiasm, and passion felt envious.

The avid listeners were very interested in finding out more about the companies -- including their products and services -- that produced so many positive feelings.

"What a great advertisement for their company," I thought.

Contrast that effect with how you respond to people who talk about their job and their company with little pride, enthusiasm, and passion, and any of three things are happening: Someone is painfully shy and unable to manifest their feelings, they are burned out after staying in their role for too long, or they work for a lousy company.

The next day, I met with a CEO of a 200-employee children's book publishing company. I told him about my observations and asked him how his employees talk about their jobs and his company. He replied, "Why don't we ask them?"

Together we created what we call the PEP CEO Challenge. The CEO distributed a memo to all of his team members stating the following:
 

I need your help in making this a better company. Anything you say will be totally anonymous.

If you were at a dinner party and someone who was asked to describe their job and their company scored a 10-10-10 in the areas of pride, enthusiasm, and passion (1 being totally lacking and 10 being overflowing), how would you feel if you scored your feelings about our company lower?