Client Case studies
Real Stories, Real Impact: How Our Clients Thrive with Us
Cristian Graunte
Client Overview
Cristian is an experienced IT professional, project manager and entrepreneur whose career began with a natural passion for design and coding. His love for creating digital products quickly turned into a professional path that saw him rising through the ranks into leadership roles. “I started with design and coding… it was just something I loved doing,” Cristian shared. Over time, his technical strengths and calm, structured approach led him into project management and eventually into leading full teams responsible for complex IT deliveries.
With his reputation, skillset, and growing confidence, Cristian took the leap into entrepreneurship, founding his own IT firm where he built and led a team delivering digital projects for clients. Running the IT company gave him valuable insight into human behaviour, team dynamics, emotional pressure, and the challenge of balancing leadership with personal wellbeing.
Only later, after years of running the IT business, did Cristian begin exploring coaching, leadership development, and psychological models such as PCM and Emotional Assertiveness. Inspired by his own growth journey, he eventually started a second business dedicated to personal development, emotional intelligence, and leadership training.
Challenges and Issues Before Emotional Assertiveness Training
Despite his achievements, Cristian recognised gaps in the way he processed and expressed emotions, particularly vulnerable emotions such as sadness or fear. “As a man, I wasn’t really taught to express sadness,” he admitted. “You learn to suppress those things.”
Throughout his IT career and even during early coaching work, Cristian found himself shutting down or withdrawing emotionally when he felt overwhelmed. Though highly self-aware intellectually, he could see that his emotional patterns were still impacting his relationships and wellbeing.
“I realised I wasn’t always aware of the impact that my unexpressed emotions were having, on myself and others,” he said. This showed up especially in personal relationships, where he would retreat internally rather than communicate openly about how he was feeling.
Professionally, he also sensed a gap: while he was aware of the general emotional intelligence concepts, he didn’t yet have a model that could offer a clear and practical framework for working with emotions in a day-to-day, real-world way.
How Emotional Assertiveness Training Solved the Problem
Cristian describes discovering the Emotional Assertiveness model as “eye-opening” and “transformative.” What stood out to him was its simplicity: “It’s simple and elegant, but incredibly powerful and practical,” he said. Unlike abstract theories or general emotional intelligence concepts, EA gave him something practical, structured and immediately applicable.
A major breakthrough came from understanding authentic emotions as data. “Learning that each emotion sends an alert and has some information that can be decoded… changed everything. I could clearly see the logic of the emotions and how to decrypt them.” Cristian shared. Instead of suppressing or hiding these feelings behind frustration or withdrawal, he learned how to sit with them, understand their meaning, and express them honestly.
The shift showed up first in his personal life. One evening, after a long and emotionally draining day, Cristian felt himself slipping into the familiar pattern of shutting down. But instead of disappearing inward, he paused, acknowledged what he was feeling, and shared it openly with his partner. That simple, honest moment opened a completely different kind of conversation – slower, more connected, and grounded in mutual understanding rather than assumptions.
This was a powerful shift away from old patterns of emotional retreating. EA’s practical model gave Cristian the confidence and emotional permission to express how he truly felt and that honesty created a deeper connection with others..
Professionally, Cristian began integrating EA into his leadership development and coaching work. “Now I bring Emotional Assertiveness into my work sessions. It gives people a language and framework to identify hidden tensions that often get overlooked or dismissed.” Clients and collaborators benefited from applying the model because of it’s clarity and real-world relevance.
Opportunities and Growth After Training
Cristian now sees Emotional Assertiveness as a core part of both his personal evolution and his leadership development business. It complements all the other tools he uses, especially PCM and enhances the emotional depth of his sessions.
“It just fits,” he explained. “Whether I’m working with a founder, a leader, or someone going through a personal transition, it helps them navigate the emotional landscape of work and life.”
Even in technical environments like IT teams, Cristian sees the value. “Miscommunication, burnout, frustration, it’s all driven by emotions people don’t talk about. This model helps bring those things to the surface safely.”
On a personal level, Cristian feels more grounded, more emotionally available and more at peace with himself. “There’s something really powerful about knowing I can manage my emotions openly and model that for others,” he said. It has strengthened his relationships, improved communication and helped him grow into a more authentic leader and coach.
Conclusion
Cristian Graunte’s journey through Emotional Assertiveness training highlights the model’s ability to transform emotional understanding across both personal and professional contexts. From leading IT teams to guiding clients through emotional growth, Cristian now brings a depth of emotional awareness that enhances every relationship he touches.
“Emotional Assertiveness didn’t just help me understand my emotions – it helped me understand myself and then the people around me. It help me have better and healthier relationships, both personal and professional.”
By integrating Emotional Assertiveness into his life and leadership work, Cristian empowers people to move beyond emotional suppression and towards honesty, connection and resilience. His story shows how Emotional Assertiveness equips individuals from any industry, even the highly logical and technical world of IT, with the tools to communicate authentically and lead with emotional clarity.
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