Leading to Win

S2 E9: Lauren Cruz

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This week on the Lead to Win Podcast, we visit Lauren Cruz. Lauren graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2006 and spent the following 5 years as a Naval Flight Officer on board the P-3C Orion aircraft, hunting submarines and Somalian pirates (including those who took Captain Phillips captive in 2009), and flying surveillance and reconnaissance missions in the Persian Gulf.  She then served for 3.5 years at the White House as a communications officer (alongside Atlas Aultman, another guest of the show).  In 2015, Lauren left the Navy and began a career in Financial Crimes Compliance and Fraud Prevention in NYC.  She has worked for EY (Ernst & Young), PayPal, and recently accepted a position with Goldman Sachs. Throughout her career, Lauren has enjoyed great success employing what she now knows is called “compassionate leadership”.  In short, she makes it a point to be curious about and empathetic toward the individuals she works with.  Not only does she find work much more enjoyable this way, but the results she has gotten have been overwhelmingly positive.


Episode Takeaways:

  • Compassionate leadership involves being curious and empathetic towards employees, which leads to happier and more loyal team members.
  • Leaders should balance compassion with accountability and drive results by being curious about their employees' lives and experiences.
  • The five Cs of compassionate leadership are consciousness, compassion, curiosity, competence, and courage.
  • Leaders should be aware of biases, such as the fundamental attribution error, and strive to avoid judging others unfairly.
  • Leaders should practice active listening and empathy to better understand the people they lead.


    • Lauren's Links:

    Atlas Aultman's website - https://leaders-kit.com/laurencruz

    Lauren's LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-cruz-cams-74819ab4?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

    Email - [email protected]


    *Music by Alex Grohl on Pixabay



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    Leading to WinBy Bo Bergen