The Empathy Edge

Welcome the final Hot Take of 2023! In this final Hot Take of the year, I'll share a bit about how to find joy in what can feel like a dark, bleak time in the world and what empathy calls us to be for others. And I share an anecdote from my 9-year-old son that prompted me to think about how some leaders are being a bit lazy when it comes to reaping the benefits of empathetic cultures. Have a wonde...

How does trauma impact the workplace and organizational performance? If you're a human being, then yes, trauma impacts you and your team. Trauma doesn't care whether you're at work or not. Everyone experiences trauma differently in their brain and body. The solution is to create a safe and trusting environment for leaders to get curious about their people and for someone in distress to be able to...

A military historian walks into a company and transforms their customer engagement strategy to increase revenue and retention. While this might sound like the start of a very strange joke, it's a true story. When searching for frameworks on how to better engage your customers with empathy, look no further than my guest today, John Southard.   Backed by more than 10 years of research buil...

Parenting has so many parallels with team leadership and after today's episode, you'll be better equipped to raise healthy, emotionally connected kids AND be a stronger leader that enables your team to collaborate and perform more effectively. Today, my guest parenting coach Sarah R. Moore shares insights from her new book Peaceful Discipline: Story Teaching, Brain Science, and Better Behavior.&nb...

Your customer is the lifeblood of your company. We hear this over and over again. Yet, companies don't do a great job of crafting a customer experience that actually meets our needs, values our time, and helps us achieve our goals.  Customer experience is all the rage - why do so many companies get it wrong? Today, Aransas Savas and I discuss the myths of customer experience strategy: where c...

The reports are in. Unless you've been living under a rock, you are hearing more and and more about how having an attitude of gratitude enhances our lives - and our performance. In this November Hot Take episode, Maria shares about how embracing gratitude will not only strengthen your empathy, but how it can help you to improve your life.  To access the episode transcript, please click on the...

When we think of making big asks that will catalyze us into a new role, more funding, or higher pay, we tend to ask small for fear of hearing a dreaded NO. But today's guest, Dia Bondi, explains the role empathy plays in making big asks - and why you actually want to reframe the value of getting a YES by actively seeking out the NO so you can achieve your goals. Today, Dia shares her incredible jo...

Much of the AI you hear about these days is about large language models trained to look for commonalities and best next guesses. This causes a lot of fear around how AI will be abused - Will the bots take over? Are the inputs unbiased and accurate? Will my teenager cheat on his school essay?  But we can take a more thoughtful and opportunistic view of AI, specifically in areas where we can te...

Leaders are crunched right now. Many are valiantly trying to adopt empathetic and Compassionate Leadership models to adapt to what employees on the market demand new models of leadership that are more human, but some still struggle to balance that with making tough business decisions, setting boundaries, and achieving high-performance standards - serendipitously, the subject of my next book. ...

You may not know this, but you possess a superpower.  One that helps you connect and engage with almost anyone and become a stronger leader, create a thriving culture and build business value.  And the great news is, this superpower is innate to us as humans. But sometimes, for some of us, well, the power atrophies - but it can intentionally be strengthened if you know how. It's called e...

If you've been with me a minute, you know that leadership paradigms are changing. Yet it's causing an unspoken crisis for male leaders in particular. Being empathetic and showing vulnerability are not consistent with how men have been socialized or how many women leaders were advised to lead . But that ain't gonna fly anymore in today's market or with today's talent! Leaders disrupting this status...

1- Old School leadership thinking claims that work is work and personal is personal and never the two shall meet. However, how many of your friends resulted from work relationships? How much more joyful is the work when you know friends have your back? How much more engaged are you? After all, you often see coworkers more often in a given week than your partner or children! My guest today is autho...

There is a lot of talk about how creativity and collaboration "should" be done these days. Some say processes are stifling. Others say you have to all be in the same office to collaborate effectively. Today's conversation will offer you a different take on how collaboration can actually lead to the most creative solutions on the planet. Today, I speak with Laetro co-founder and firmer Disney creat...

People often confuse empathy and kindness so I spend many a keynote or leadership training session debunking the myths of empathy. My guest today, Marly Q Casanova, or Marly Q as she is known,  is “Miami’s Top Kindness Influencer” whose talks and events have inspired thousands of people of all ages to be more kind to themselves, each other, and the world since 2010.  Today we talk about...

Athletes & legendary coaches from sport are often cited by leaders to motivate, inspire, & pull together as a team. But how many leaders actually practice & use the skills these high-achievers leverage to be successful? In today's sports landscape, coaches who have embraced emotional intelligent approaches are scoring points & building dynasties. And corporate leaders have a lot to...

When I say "team-building" or corporate training, do you say….ugh! Maybe you imagine sitting in a windowless conference room, or enduring an interminable video call that takes you away from the pile of work you need to get done - without offering anything of lasting value? There's a better way. And yes, it involves empathy as the key ingredient for turning a team-building event from a one-off tran...

We are not tied to harmful business and workplace practices. In fact, history shows us that we, as humans, work to improve things over time - look at laws against child labor, unsafe working conditions, and safety and truth in advertising regulations. Yes, capitalism and business have been rooted in toxic and inequitable practices for a long time because people can make a lot of money. But we are...

What do collaboration and empathy look like when lives and liberty are on the line, not just workplace culture? Today, you're going to hear what happens when people come together across cultures to support each other - amidst a backdrop of World War, racism, fear, and segregation in 1940s America. Janice Munemitsu shares her family's inspiring story of kindness, collaboration, and empathy. Her boo...

Captains of industry and political pundits who believe the free market economy will save us all love to cite 18th-century social thinker Adam Smith and his book The Wealth of Nations . In it, he championed self-interest and a free market as a catalyst for societal improvement. But he also assumed those with the power and privilege would consider the needs of others within that free market system....

We are too often sleepwalking through our lives. Rushing from here to there, where people we come in close contact with become mere extras in the screenplay of our day. But what if you could take some time and find a way to connect with someone over a shared joy, or frustration, or cool coffee drink - or gaudy pink flamingo earrings? What if you could do this with the people you see and interact w...

A beloved economy. Doesn't that just sound like an economic ecosystem you want to be part of? Well, it can be. There are organizations out there who have innovated HOW they do work and broken out of business as usual - to stellar results. And the great news is that everyone can contribute to practicing a beloved economy - reorienting how we work to share power and unlocking well-being, meaning, an...

Want to save the world - & build a healthy profitable business? You can. My guest today, Lindsay LaShell, and I talked about everything purpose & profit! What is a marketing activist, how impact organizations can better leverage marketing to achieve goals, where folks go wrong when leveraging social media, & the marketing lies that detract all of us, for-profit & nonprofit - from a...

In this special episode, I deconstruct Ted Lasso's cultural impact and golden lessons on leadership and empathy with one of my favorite people, Elisa Camahort Page. You may recall her from a past episode - she is a leadership and business expert, as well as a devoted empathy and pop culture fan, like myself - and we both enjoy finding lessons to apply to leadership and life in our favorite stories...

Leading with your heart might be a scary phrase to some old-school leaders out there. But my guest today knows a thing or two about leading a fast-paced, successful company - without sacrificing human connection. Claude Silver believes showing up with heart and humanity is the key to unlocking greatness in people. Today, she shares her incredible personal story, what a Chief Heart Officer does, ho...

In 2021, Gallup found that unprecedented numbers of young people identify as LGBTQ+. Why should you as a leader or hiring manager care?  Basically, Gen Z is the queerest, most gender-diverse generation  - and they are under attack on a daily basis which distracts them mentally and emotionally from innovating, delivering, and contributing their vast talents to the team. If you want to fue...