The Empathy Edge

What is strategic empathy? It’s ensuring you embed empathy into your business model - operationalize it, reward it, model it, and hold others accountable. Just as with any other brand value, when you’re all talk and no action, you can never truly reap the benefits that empathy can bring to your team and organization. In this episode, Daniel Murray and I discuss just this topic. As one of the world...

Being a purpose driven organization is not just a nice-to-have, it actually leads to more revenue, higher performing teams, and better engagement and retention. When salespeople are able to reframe their thinking from how to simply “close more deals” to how they can improve a customer’s life, they find more success and more satisfaction and happiness in their work. In my conversation today with sa...

Burnout is costing us more than we think, but new research has emerged that shows empathetic leadership can help prevent burnout. My guest today, Davida Ginter, helps leaders and organizations prevent burnout so they can scale impact. We talk about how leaders can better sustain themselves and set boundaries to avoid burnout. We discuss how you can start building a practice of emotional resilience...

How does a company lead with their values and, as a result, achieve phenomenal success for itself and its customers? Today, I talk with Nate Smith, the CEO and co-founder of Lever, a leading talent relationship management solution that makes it easy for talent teams to reach their hiring goals and to connect companies with top talent. Lever leads by example by leading with their values, both inter...

Empathy is more than just how we live and interact with one another.  It is also related to technology, products, and our stewardship of the environment. Today, I speak with James Ehrlich, whose extraordinary innovation in neighborhood design fits in with this empathetic style of living. James talks about his “smart neighborhood” that nourishes itself and lives in harmony with the environment to c...

We can all think of quotes or books that have instantly ignited something inside of you - inspiration or desire to take action - but what about sales and marketing copy? Messages that touch something deep inside of you and give you chills when you read them? My guest today, Alexandra Franzen, is a gifted writer who writes words that speak to your heart and make you stop in your tracks. It doesn’t...

Is it really possible to balance purpose and profit? My guest, Phil Preston, the business purpose guide, talks about how it’s not only possible, it’s profitable! On today’s show, we discuss exactly what purpose is (and what it isn’t), and the criteria for a great purpose statement. We’ll talk about how modern business mindsets are evolving with some examples of how purpose-driven organizations ben...

Right now, our interactions feel prickly and pointed so maybe it’s time to come back to our human roots and embrace humanity’s oldest leadership trait: empathy. That’s what today’s guest, Mimi Nicklin, has devoted her work to advocating. Mimi and I discuss what softening the edges means in practice and how empathetic leaders show up. We also talk about finding empathy across generations in the wor...

What makes a great leader? The leader everyone is dying to work with, the leader whose team is so engaged, motivated, and high-performing that others in the company wonder how the heck they make it happen? My guest, Val Ries, believes everyone can be that kind of leader - a leader who serves as Chief Inspiration Officer, no matter how big or small their team. In today’s episode, we discuss what ex...

Nearly every high performer has something that keeps them from fully stepping into their confidence of ownership around their finances. But did you know the key to not only being successful with money yourself, but understanding your spouse, colleagues, or employees is empathy? Today, I get to speak with Michelle Arpin Begina, a financial advisor who believes we all need to examine the money stori...

Success is not easy; it's hard work. That might seem obvious, but many experts have made a fortune selling “secrets” to hungry entrepreneurs to make them think the road will be easy. While super rewarding, entrepreneurship is definitely not easy. No one knows this better than my guest, John Lee Dumas. Today, John and I talk about his first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon...

Innovation is such a buzzword in many companies and organizations, but how often do we think about innovating our organizations and t he way they run ? What if your organization had no managers? What if everyone was committed to a mission, stepped up to lead, and collaborated effectively, with honesty, to get things done and move forward? It's not a pipe dream. It's possible and many organizations...

Many of us would agree that a more diverse organization creates a more thriving organization. And research has proven that more diverse leadership teams and employee groups are more innovative and creative, perform better and also make better decisions. The questions become, how do you create a more diverse team? How do you catapult diversity within your own organization? In our conversation today...

When we think of empathy, we don’t often think of the finance industry. In fact, anything to do with money seems to be the antithesis to an empathetic way of doing business. My next guest is leading a revolution to change that and tells us how money was, actually, created to be empathetic. We’re talking today with Holly Ruxin who shares her very personal experience with seeing the impact on custom...

How do we even start creating a more empathetic society? Even more specifically, what is our own personal role and responsibility in enriching the world?  These are just two of the questions that I talk about with my guest, community builder, innovation expert and author Amy Wilson on today’s episode. Creating a more empathetic society starts with all of us taking action, but it also requires lead...

In today’s episode, I get to welcome back attorney, DE&I strategist and executive leadership coach M.E. Hart for  an important conversation about how to have honest conversations in our personal and professional lives. We are living in a time of difficult, long overdue conversations around racism, social justice, gender equality, and so much more that have a real impact in the workplace and in our...

In today’s episode, I talk to Don Mamone, whose long career in hospitality instilled in him the importance of customer service and relationship marketing. Don and his wife, Emily, run a successful photography studio based on the people first, then profit philosophy. Throughout this episode, we discuss what people first, then profit really means, and practical ways in which you can implement it in...

How do you actually use your assumptions, experiences, and messaging to create a brand that truly connects with and speaks to people? Today Dava Guthmiller and I are going to tackle that very question. Dava is a believer in connections - what connects people with brands, eaters with foods, businesses with environments, creativity with the process, and communities with each other. We talk a lot abo...

In our world with so many diametrically opposed beliefs regarding politics, or policy, or religion, or anything else, is it possible to have too much empathy? Is it possible to connect with those who believe things that appear to be drastically different from our own beliefs? My guest today, Edwin Rutsch, and I talk about how the answer to what we need is, in fact, more empathy in the culture and...

If you’re curious to hear what spycraft, leadership, and building strong relationships have in common, keep listening. Author, speaker and former FBI agent Robin Dreeke used to recruit spies for a living so he knows how to create a relationship and build trust with all kinds of people! Today Robin and I talk about how to shift the focus from yourself to others, the 6 signs to predicting behavior a...

Do you ever wish you were a communications rockstar and the kind of person who can persuade, inspire, delight, and motivate in any given situation? Well, my guest today will share how it’s not a magic trick or something you have to be born with - you can learn to be a great communicator and feel like you have developed a superpower. On the show today, Bronwyn Saglimbeni and I discuss the essential...

Isn't it funny how we see certain professions as more empathetic than others? When you think of empathetic jobs, health care workers, counselors, or teachers come to mind; when you think of jobs that may result in a lack of empathy, you may believe that it could be a tax attorney, or someone that works for the IRS, or perhaps a divorce lawyer. Well, my conversation with today’s guest, Christopher...

How do some people become master connectors? How can you create more meaningful connections for your life and your work? And, especially, what role does empathy play in forming meaningful connections, particularly in the business world? We're going to talk about all of that and more today with my guest, Michelle Tillis Lederman. Michelle is known for helping people work better together and advance...

We have so much work to do in this country, in organizations, higher education, and our world at large around empathy, and bridging - healing - racial divides, inequity, and injustice. Today, I talk with Terri Givens about her own personal story and her experience researching and addressing racial inequity. She's got so much great information to share with you today about how to start taking actio...

Can we come together? You may ask yourself this within your team, organization - or perhaps in your community at large. We’ve had so many tough, but necessary, conversations this year about diversity, racial equity, social justice - but some folks still may believe these issues don’t impact their daily lives. In my conversation with Hart today, he shares why we’re all impacted by the social constr...