The Empathy Edge

In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans can feel, do, and be — and why that's our greatest competitive advantage. Enjoy this limited subseries on The Empathy Edge. Mortality, Impermanence & Why It Drives Everything We may be the only species that lives with the conscious knowle...

What if the future of leadership isn’t about scaling faster or competing harder, but about finding empathy and remembering what it truly means to be human? Aubrey Morgan Yee invites us into a radically different way of thinking about leadership, collaboration, and the futures we’re actively creating. She is a cultural strategist, narrative practitioner, and empathy-centered futurist whose work bri...

In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans can feel, do, and be — and why that's our greatest competitive advantage. Enjoy this limited subseries here on The Empathy Edge. Self-Awareness, Consciousness & the Brain That Knows Itself What does it mean to be aware that you exist? In...

What if I told you that the most powerful force in business isn’t strategy, innovation, or tech:  it’s love? Every great leader you admire already practices it. They might call it something else: respect, compassion, trust, purpose. Yet, underneath it all, it’s love, the energy that connects us, motivates us, and reminds us we’re human first. Today’s guest, author, executive leadership coach,...

Join this deep conversation about what empathy really looks like in our institutions, our communities, and our leadership—especially at a time when empathy feels both urgent and under pressure. Dr. Terri Givens has been doing this work long before it became a headline or a corporate initiative. Terri is a Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia, and from 2021 to 2024,...

If work feels harder than it should—more exhausting, more fragmented, more misaligned—it’s probably not because people are failing. It’s because the system is.  Meghan French Dunbar has spent her career studying organizations like an anthropologist, looking beneath policies, perks, and performance metrics to understand why modern work so often isn’t working for the humans inside it. Meghan is...

The data proving empathy is smart business has always been there, it's all we talk about here - but now it's bigger, broader, and more impossible to ignore than ever. Dr. Robert Coleman is Director of Research and Thought Leadership at Dale Carnegie and Associates, where he leads ongoing research into the issues facing leaders, employees, and organizations worldwide. He comes bearing serious recei...

What if the biggest thing holding leaders back isn’t a lack of ambition or skilL but outdated operating systems we’ve never questioned? Mitch Shepard lives at the intersection of truth-telling, leadership, and systems change. She’s an Applied Behavioral Scientist, Chief Truth Teller, and CEO of HUMiN, Inc., and a trusted advisor to leaders at some of the world’s most influential companies. In this...

Most leaders think they're doing fine. Their teams think otherwise. And that gap - hiding in plain sight across organizations everywhere - is exactly what my guest today has spent his career trying to close. David Grossman is one of America's foremost authorities on leadership and change communication inside organizations. He's a six-time author, and his latest book is The Heart Work of Modern Lea...

What if business wasn’t just about profit, but about creating mutual value across stakeholders and communities that would actually DRIVE more profit? That’s the question driving today’s guest, Dr. Jay Jakub. J ay is the Executive Director of the Economics of Mutuality Foundation. Jay is no stranger to transforming big ideas into practice. He spent years as Senior Director of External Research at M...

Dr. David Bray is one of those rare humans who has done so much, across so many high-stakes arenas, that his bio almost reads like fiction. David is Chair of the Accelerator at the Loomis Council and a Distinguished Fellow with the Stimson Center. He is a Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures, and was previously the Executive Director of a bipartisan National Commission on R&D. At 15 years old, he...

America is about to turn 250 years old. My guest today believes this moment is asking something from all of us. Not a celebration or parade, but a reckoning, a chance to find our way back to each other. Brandon Peele is a bestselling author of 6 books on purpose and civic leadership, is Executive Director of the National Pilgrimage, and a trusted keynote speaker and consultant. His work sits at th...

The power of being seen can change everything. We see it in the workplace and in our world.  And one way to strengthen empathy and build that connection is through photography.  A single photograph—placed in someone’s hands—can affirm dignity, spark connection, and grow empathy on both sides of the lens. That’s the heartbeat of Print the Love, the nonprofit founded 15 years ago by today’...

What are the hidden, unconscious forces that shape how we lead—why we react the way we do, why some situations knock us off center, and how we can build the internal security to lead with more empathy, clarity, and connection? My guest, Dr. Jaime Goff, is an executive coach, leadership strategist, and founder of The Empathic Leader, where she now works full-time helping leaders “lead from security...

Do you know that customers who are highly emotionally connected to your brand are 53% more loyal than those who are merely satisfied with your products and services? Today I’m talking with Kevin Perlmutter. We explore why traditional brand strategies often miss the mark, how branding has evolved beyond surface-level connections, and Kevin’s concept of Limbic Sparks—those moments when emotional mot...

How do you actually practice empathy? How do you prove you have it — to employers, to clients, to the people you lead? And if you're building a team, how do you hire for it? Because here's the uncomfortable truth: most of us can't answer any of those questions well. And in the age of AI, that gap is getting more expensive by the minute. In this episode, Maria answers these questions as she discuss...

Teams today are more diverse than ever—and within that diversity lies the potential to unlock innovation, performance, and belonging. But only if leaders practice cultural humility. It’s not just about competence or checking boxes; it’s about fostering safety, trust, and transformation. Dr. Joel Pérez equips leaders to navigate today’s instability with empathy and authenticity. He has partnered fo...

Some conversations linger long after the recording stops; the conversations that deepen your humanity and reshape how you think about leadership. This episode is one of those conversations. Ashley Jones knows grief in its most devastating form. When her daughter Skylar died from a terminal illness just before her second birthday, Ashley was thrust into a darkness no parent should ever face. But th...

For years, empathy was treated as a business nice-to-have—important, but secondary to speed, scale, and efficiency. The data now tells a very different story. In this conversation, Maria and Conny, the Chief Customer Officer at Zurich Insurance Group, dive into Zurich’s new global study, Addressing the Empathy Gap , which surveyed more than 11,000 consumers across 11 markets. The findings are stri...

Too many leaders are still trying to succeed by becoming someone they think they’re supposed to be—quieter, tougher, more polished, less human. And in the process, they’re leaving their greatest strengths at the door. My guest believes that’s exactly backward. Today, we welcome back Claude Silver to discuss her latest book, Be Yourself at Work: The Groundbreaking Power of Showing Up, Standing Out,...

It’s easy right now to believe that the divisions we see are simply too deep to repair. That empathy has become a liability. That listening has been replaced by winning. And yet, I still believe, perhaps more than ever, that empathy remains our greatest tool for healing even the most jagged fractures in our world, not as a naïve ideal, but as a courageous, strategic choice. And that choice has the...

Balancing performance with human leadership can be tough for some leaders. The goal is to strike a healthy balance, while always remembering that taking thoughtful care of your people, recognizing their unique contributions, and creating an environment where they can thrive can lead to the stellar performance results you seek. But how would you lead if your title or position didn't give you any po...

What happens when you’re standing at a pivot point — the kind where your next move could shift everything for your business, your team, or your career? In those high-stakes moments, success doesn’t come from spreadsheets alone. It requires empathy, emotional intelligence, and even self-compassion. Kasey D’Amato knows this firsthand. A keynote speaker, executive coach, and strategic advisor, Kasey...

What if the problem isn’t that moms are failing—but that we’ve built systems that quietly ask them to do the impossible and then blame them when they struggle? My guest today, Rebecca Geshuri, sits at the intersection of motherhood, mental health, and compassion in a way that feels deeply needed right now. We talk about why so many moms feel like they’re failing even when they’re doing everything...

In today’s timely hot take episode in this heavy world, Maria discusses the importance of empathy in leadership during challenging times, emphasizing that emotional connection at work is crucial. She highlights how unaddressed employee emotions lead to disengagement and reduced performance, and offers 3 practical ways for leaders to connect with their employees, regardless of how high their discom...