The Empathy Edge

According to the NIH, an estimated 6.7M Americans 65+ are living with Alzheimer's dementia. This number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060 barring the development of medical breakthroughs. Today, you'll learn why dementia is not a disease, but a symptom, and what caregivers go through, experience, and need - especially from their managers and workplace colleagues.

I talk with Barbara J. Huelat about what dementia is, how emotional interventions are more effective than cognitive ones, and how to create more healing environments in hospitals and workspaces. You’ll gain empathy for your colleagues who are dementia caregivers, as Barbara shares her personal experience caring for her mother and husband, and she talks about what workplaces can do to better support caregivers in the office to help them continue to perform and do their best work.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com

Key Takeaways:

• Emotional memories are those with our senses - these memories can reach a person with dementia where language or cognitive memories cannot.
• It is critical to prepare your helpers and part-time caregivers if you are away to give everyone the best chance for success, much like having a disaster plan.
• Be flexible, don’t try to change reality, and give information rather than asking questions. You can go far with that, even when there are mistakes and challenges.

"Be understanding of what they're going through. There's a very large emotional drain on the person. The caregiver is often considered the second patient as their health risks skyrocket while taking care because it’s long-term chronic stress that doesn’t go away like acute stress." —  Barbara Huelat

About Barbara J. Hiuelat

Barbara J. Huelat is a prominent Human Centric Healthcare Designer, author, and speaker. She has created healing environments and solved health challenges for more than 300 healthcare organizations and serves as a healing environment consultant to healthcare facilities, product manufacturers, academia, institutions, and the architectural design community. By placing humanity at the core, her pioneering mindset proves that human-centric designs impact healing, improve the human experience, affect health outcomes, and are cost-effective.

Ms. Huelat’s latest work, Taming the Chaos of Dementia: A Caregiver's Guide to Interventions that Make a Difference, provides a compassionate and insightful guide to those facing the tumultuous journey of dementia, offering solace, support, and practical strategies to navigate this challenging path. Currently, she shares human-centric designs globally via lecturers at international conferences, universities, and organizations and through research collaborations with government agencies and universities, contributing to white papers and research articles. Always fascinated with the beauty of science and the science of design, she believes human-centric design experiences can mitigate human misery.

Connect with Barbara Huelat

Website: barbarahuelat.com

X: x.com/huelat92456

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/barbara-huelat-fasid-aahid-edac-89061213

Facebook: facebook.com/barbarajhuelat

Instagram: instagram.com/bhuelat

Book: Taming the Chaos of Dementia: A Caregiver's Guide to 9 Interventions that Make a Difference

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria:

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/

Download "The Human Middle" Your free guide to resolving workplace conflict from JLG Lawyers- https://thehumanmiddle.ai/

Today we're diving into Pillar Four of the 5 Pillars of Effective Empathetic Leadership featured in the new book coming September 10, The Empathy Dilemma - Decisiveness. 

Yes, factoring in various viewpoints is the way forward for empathetic leaders - and enables us to see more opportunities and avoid more risks. But we must combine that with swift and decisive action to make a call. Leaving your people in limbo or avoiding difficult conversations is unkind. And leaves your people paralyzed, unsure of what to believe, do, or expect next. 

In our dive into decisiveness today, I talk about what decisiveness is and why it is important. And I’ll hone in on six strategies that you can start using today to be more decisive. More details, examples, and tactics to try can be found in The Empathy Dilemma, so don’t forget to snag your presale copy now at TheEmpathyDilemma.com.  

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com 

Key Takeaways:

• Avoiding employees until you have something to report isn’t empathetic - get in the habit of giving status updates, even if it is just “we’re working on it.”
• Dithering over your decision does not demonstrate empathy. Not knowing what decision to make, no matter how you mask it, demonstrates fear and insecurity.
• Learn to be clearer more quickly. Talk openly about the choices you’re making whenever possible.
• Put a deadline on your thoughts. It’s not about making good choices, it’s about making good choices in a timely manner. 

"Perfection isn’t the goal, even when it comes to high-stakes choices. Don’t succumb to analysis paralysis. Instead, gather input, decide, and move forward with a sense of curiosity and experimentation." —  Maria Ross

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! https://bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria: 

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/

What does it mean to tap into empathy and reimagine the life and experiences of someone only mentioned in a few sentences in history, whose story remains untold?

My guest is Esther Goldenberg, educator and author of the Biblical fiction novel, The Scrolls of Deborah. We discuss how a few lines in the Bible sparked Esther's curiosity to imagine this woman's entire life story and perspective, how seeing historical events from other points of view can be so valuable and fill in gaps or change hearts, and how books and stories help us nourish empathy and relate to others from a safe distance. We also talk about how writing can be a lonely endeavor and what creating something for the world that only exists in your head feels like.

Esther even reads us a passage from the novel that is a shining example of an empathetic conversation so pay attention to that debrief as well!

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com

Key Takeaways:

• Build a practice of engaging in literature, music, documentaries, movies, and other media created by people and about people who have different life perspectives than you. It will build and foster empathy.
• As human beings, we can become numb to large numbers surrounding tragic events. By bringing it into the story of one person or one family, such as in historical fiction, it can remind the readers that it is about the one, even among the many.
• Scenes in books and movies can model empathy for those who do not necessarily see it in their daily lives.

"Through fiction, people get to really see themselves in the characters and see the characters as people who they get to know. And that really creates fertile ground for empathy." —  Esther Goldenberg

Episode References:

• Shira Guru and the unSTUCK method
• The Empathy Edge podcast: Chris L. Johnson: When Leaders Pause, They Win

About Esther Goldenberg, Educator and Author, The Scrolls of Deborah

Esther Goldenberg is a native Chicagoan, author, educator, and mother. Once a reluctant reader, but always someone who enjoyed a good story, she developed a passion for writing.  Her much anticipated Biblical fiction novel, The Scrolls of Deborah, is available in paperback, e-book, and audio formats. Esther continues to write and teach students of all ages, with most of her workshops now tying in with themes from her book.

Connect with Esther Goldenberg: 

Website: EstherGoldenberg.com

Book: The Scrolls of Deborah: amazon.com/Scrolls-Deborah-Esther-Goldenberg/dp/195590541X

Facebook: facebook.com/EstherGoldenbergAuthor

Instagram: instagram.com/EstherGoldenbergAuthor

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria:

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/

Download "The Human Middle" Your free guide to resolving workplace conflict from JLG Lawyers- https://thehumanmiddle.ai/

How do you get analytical, process-driven people like engineers, lawyers, and doctors to see the value of empathy and human connection? It's not that they CAN'T embrace it. It's just that they see the world and how to solve problems differently.

My guest, Dr. Nicole Price believes two things: 1) everyone wants to do a good job and 2) empathetic leadership is critical to helping to leverage that desire. Today we talk about how she became an empathy revolutionary, how to open up a broader path to empathy, and why diversity doesn't work when saddled by apathy. Dr. Price shares how a traumatic event opened up her capacity to connect through emotion and better impact performance - and why she now helps others understand that those who are emotional can also be logical. We discuss how to link accountability to commitment and why her role as a translator helps logical thinkers understand they don't have an empathy deficit, but that there are multiple roads to empathy that are a better fit for the way they experience the world.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at TheEmpathyEdge.com

Key Takeaways:

• When people understand people better, it transforms them from the outside in. They don’t need to be practicing empathy for the right reason initially, but it will change most people eventually.
• It is not unusual for doctors, lawyers, and engineers to think they are better than those who are not at the same level as them. This is a barrier to empathy, but one that can be overcome.
• Empathy is a method of information gathering. For some, they will be attracted to that rather than the emotions of empathy. There is no wrong way to begin your practice of empathy.

"Engineers are taught to listen for accuracy. But when I'm trying to be empathetic, listening for accuracy is not helpful to me. I'm supposed to be listening for understanding." —  Dr. Nicole Price

Episode References: 

• Rhonda George-Denniston: Why Betting on Your People Leads to Market Domination
• Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Dr. Nicole Price, CEO, Lively Paradox and author of Spark the Heart: Engineering Empathy in Your Organization

Dr. Nicole Price believes two things: 1) everyone wants to do a good job 2) empathetic leadership is critical to helping to leverage that desire. She is an empathy revolutionary who teaches leaders how to build more empathy in organizations. Her clients range from manufacturing facilities to school districts. She is the author of seven books centered on being an exceptional leader—most notably Spark the Heart: Engineering Empathy in Your Organization.

Connect with Dr. Nicole Price:

Email: [email protected]

Lively Paradox: drnicoleprice.com

X: twitter.com/DrNicolePrice

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicoledeniseprice

Facebook: facebook.com/nicole.denise.price

Instagram: instagram.com/drnicoleprice

Threads: threads.net/@drnicoleprice

Book: Spark the Heart: Engineering Empathy in Your Organization

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria:

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/

Download "The Human Middle" Your free guide to resolving workplace conflict from JLG Lawyers- https://thehumanmiddle.ai/

We talk a lot about the importance of self-awareness and self-care in helping you be a more empathetic and effective leader. In fact, those are two of my five pillars in my book, The Empathy Dilemma because they are vital to being a more effective leader and human. You may think of the traditional modalities, but have you considered hypnosis?

Today, my guest is Amy Koford. We discuss how Amy got into this work, the power she's discovered in how hypnosis works, why it transforms lives, and she busts some myths about hypnosis. Amy talks about how trauma can show up, how to take traumatic memories and replace the associated emotions, how people show up as work based on who they are and what they've been through, and how you can embrace forgiveness through empathy to rise above past trauma. She'll share how you can show up as the leader and colleague you want to be.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com

Key Takeaways:

• Everyone can be hypnotized, it may take different forms for some people, but it does not negate the potential benefits.
• Insecurities are a bigger deal than many realize. Many successful people are extremely insecure and those insecurities push them to prove themselves to others and fill the void of the insecurities, but still be in turmoil inside.
• A lack of empathy often causes many social misunderstandings and team dysfunctions, but the root of that is usually fear.

"People don't want to grow up to be a jerk or to be an annoying person at the workplace. That's just not what they really want to be…When we're in the workplace, it's important to understand that people are the way they are for reasons and very good reasons. And that helps you have empathy." —  Amy Koford

Episode References:

The Empathy Edge episodes on trauma:

Katharine Manning: How Trauma Impacts Performance – And What Smart Leaders Can Do

Charna Cassell: Recognizing And Regulating Trauma At Work – Yours And Others

About Amy Koford, the Happy Hypnotist & author of Hardwired to Rise

Amy, The Happy Hypnotist has been a professional hypnotist, public speaker, hypnosis show performer and more for several years to transform the lives of numerous people. She’s the creator of The Trauma Protocol which takes individuals from traumatized to optimized in just weeks. Amy is the author of, Hardwired to Rise: Eye-Opening Truths about How Fear Holds You Back, Causes Suffering - and How to Liberate Yourself to Have the Thriving Life You Deserve.

She has traveled the world to attend hypnosis conferences and has been trained, mentored, certified, and taught mastery skills from the top hypnotists on the planet. Amy specializes in happiness and peace with various techniques that are effective in helping people resolve and let go of the past and change their center to become positive, confident, empowered individuals who know their amazing abilities to live their best lives.

Connect with Amy:

Amy the Happy Hypnotist: amykoford.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amy-koford-012637184

Facebook: facebook.com/amythehappyhypnotist

Instagram: instagram.com/amythehappyhypnotist

Threads: threads.net/@amykoford

Book: Hardwired to Rise: Eye-Opening Truths about How Fear Holds You Back, Causes Suffering - and How to Liberate Yourself to Have the Thriving Life You Deserve

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria:

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/

Download "The Human Middle" Your free guide to resolving workplace conflict from JLG Lawyers- https://thehumanmiddle.ai/

The book is coming! September 10 is the day that The Empathy Dilemma: How Successful Leaders Balance Performance, People, and Personal Boundaries hits shelves to help leaders dedicated to people-centered practices to get the best performance possible and balance the demands of the business with the needs of their people.

I am so excited to share this with you! For the next 5 months, I'll be devoting a Hot Take episode to one of the 5 core pillars of EFFECTIVE empathetic leaders, outlined in the book. Because the reality is that we want a more human-centered workplace culture. But we have to get actual work DONE!  You can do both, but only when you are able to show up fully and have the capacity to take in other perspectives without fear, stress, or defensiveness. So today we're diving into Pillar Three of the 5 Pillars - clarity. 

Clarity is the key to being an empathetic leader while also still holding people accountable. Learn more about why this is such an important pillar to creating an empathetic - and high-performing - culture.

Today, I share are five strategies to try to be more clear. More details, examples, and tactics to try can be found in The Empathy Dilemma, so don’t forget to snag your presale copy now!

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com 

Key Takeaways:

• Five strategies (though not a comprehensive list) include: 
• Revisit Purpose and Values
• Clarify Roles and Expectations
• Link Clarity to Accountability
• Tell People Why
• Ask Better Questions
• Lacking a reason why can create an empathy gap between leaders and the rest of the team. Even if they don’t like the reason, people want to know why they are being given tasks or goals. 
• Without clarity, there is no accountability. People cannot be appropriately held to standards that they know nothing about. 

"Resentments build where misunderstandings thrive…Clarity helps people feel seen, heard, and valued, reduces the likelihood of conflict, and enables everyone to work together more effectively." —  Maria Ross

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! https://bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria: 

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/

The research is clear: investing in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging contributes to your bottom line. I hate to be so crass about a topic that should just be something we care about as humans connecting with other humans, but with all the recent backlash about diversity and equity initiatives, we have to get executive attention somehow.

Today, you will hear about what’s driving that backlash and how we can fight against it through empathy and understanding. And why quite frankly, exclusion is bad for business.

My guest is the charming Michael Bach. Michael shares how he got into this work, the stereotype of DEI practitioners, how to think about disability, the more dangerous role of apathy in fighting back against exclusion, the difference between diversity and inclusion, and he gives us a short primer on the Alphabet Soup of LGBTQ2+ initialism.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com 

Key Takeaways:

• If you’re trying to create any change, you need to understand how the organization operates from the inside.
• Disability is not one thing - there are hundreds of disabilities under the umbrella term. It needs to be considered as a range, not just one form of accessibility.
• It is not a competition. If we’re creating safer environments for everyone, regardless of how they identify or what they need, it creates a safer more inclusive environment for everyone.
• There is a big difference between having diversity and being inclusive. The company is the soil that needs to be right for the seed of talent to thrive. 

"It's very difficult to quantify, but if you just look at it simply you can figure out that exclusion is just bad for business. And the reality is that most employers have figured that out." —  Michael Bach

About Michael Bach, CEO. IDEA Hub Consulting, IDEA thought leader

Michael Bach is an author, speaker and thought leader in inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA). He has worked globally in the IDEA field, including as the Deputy Chief Diversity Officer for KPMG International. He is the founder of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI), CCDI Consulting and Pride at Work Canada.

He is the author of the best-selling and award-winning books Birds of All Feathers: Doing Diversity and Inclusion Right and Alphabet Soup: The Essential Guide to LGBTQ2+ Inclusion at Work.

In 2023, he was named as one of the 10 Most Influential DE&I Leaders Revamping The Future by CIO Views Magazine.

Connect with Michael:

IDEA Hub Consulting: michaelbach.com

Books:

Birds of All Feathers: Doing Diversity and Inclusion Right

Alphabet Soup: The Essential Guide to LGBTQ2+ Inclusion at Work

New book: All About Yvie: Into the Oddity

X: twitter.com/themichaelbach

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/themichaelbach

Facebook: facebook.com/themichaelbach

Instagram: instagram.com/themichaelbach

Threads: threads.net/@themichaelbach

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria:

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/

Download "The Human Middle" Your free guide to resolving workplace conflict from JLG Lawyers- https://thehumanmiddle.ai/

Post-pandemic leadership can be challenging. With the current market and increased expectations workers, leaders, and mid-level managers are squeezed, balancing the needs of the business with the demands of their people. This is why I'm excited to talk to a Chief People Officer of a global organization that is doing the work, navigating the journey, and experimenting with ways to better support their people.

Today, I talk with Jessica Swank about how her company's leaders are navigating the challenges and still taking care of themselves and their people. We discuss the importance of clarity and support when setting high expectations, and how transparency, communication, and listening are vital with hybrid and remote work experimentation. We discuss specific ways Box integrates values into their decisions and develops and enables their managers to be more successful. Whatever your culture, Jessica offers her best advice on where you can start supporting your leaders.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at TheEmpathyEdge.com

Key Takeaways:

• In your organization, you cannot be clear enough. Hold high expectations, but also give a clear understanding that you’ll be supporting your team and that you’re available for that support.
• Actions speak louder than words and other people notice. You continue to show your empathetic culture every time you talk about caring for each other and empathy in service and follow it up with actions.
• Setting boundaries is both self-care and empathetic. It gives you space to recharge and be more present in the difficult conversations that need to be had in business.
• Work-life balance is not real. You need to understand priorities and boundaries to ensure you’re healthy with your life in the season you’re in.
• It is a journey to understanding and managing the needs of your team. Be willing to take that journey and gather information from your employees on what is working and what is not.

"It's not just up to the business to say, ‘Here's what I need from you.’ It is incredibly valuable for every person to have that open dialogue with their managers, ask them when they need support, clarification, feedback, not just sitting back and waiting to be told, but also engaging in that dialogue." —  Jessica Swank

"It's all about juggling, and you're going to drop some balls, just make sure that the balls are going to bounce versus shatter." —  Jessica Swank

About Jessica Swank, Chief People Officer, Box

Jessica has a proven track record helping companies define and amplify their people and culture strategy (including diversity, talent development, employee experience, workforce planning, people analytics, and internal communications). She has been with Box since December 2018, and currently leads all People (HR), Belonging, Community (including Box.org), Places (workplace services and real estate), and Internal Communications. Prior to Box she led the People team at Blue Bottle Coffee, a high-growth global coffee company. Previously, Jessica led HR for Aruba, a fast-growing subsidiary of HPE, and spent ten years at HP/HPE in a variety of global HR roles. Her early career included executive search and recruiting for CEO's, CFO's and other key leadership positions.

Connect with Jessica Swank:

Box: box.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessica-venner-swank

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, or yourself and GET 30%! bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria:

Get the podcast & book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria & her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/

Download "The Human Middle" Your free guide to resolving workplace conflict from JLG Lawyers- https://thehumanmiddle.ai/

Visiting snow leopards in their natural habitat or hanging with penguins in Antarctica is a life-changing way to engage with nature but it's not within the grasp of most people. So how can we leverage technology to offer that exposure and foster empathy for wildlife conservation? My guest today, Gautam Shah, figured out a way to combine his passion with entrepreneurship to connect people with wildlife in fun, unique ways. 

Today we talk about why public engagement with wildlife is so important, and how using games can be more effective than current conservation tactics. Gautam shares some very cool examples of work they've done with partners such as Adidas and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We talk about empathy vs. caring, how "behavior change" is not the primary goal of this work, and why many current conservation messages can derail efforts to engage everyday people by not having empathy for them. Toward the end, he candidly discusses the challenges entrepreneurs face to balance purpose with profit and the hard choices that one has to make to keep the organization alive and sustainable for the long haul. 

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com 

Key Takeaways:

• If everyone had the opportunity to sit with an endangered animal, how many people would it change in favor of the planet? Though that’s not possible, there are ways people can engage individually in the change. 
• Compassion is empathy in action. Empathetic people don’t suffer from a lack of caring, but often from not knowing how to take action. 
• Internet of Elephants is using modern, creative ways to engage people in the story of conservation and making the stories told by the data gathered on the animals personal. They are making the stories of these animals personal to the individual. 

"It's a holistic process of thinking about the person and understanding their life before you can have any opportunity to think that you can introduce empathy for animals that might be very, very far away." —  Gautam Shah

Episode References: 

• FathomVerse: https://www.fathomverse.game/ 

About Gautam Shah, Founder, Internet of Elephants, National Geographic and TED fellow

Gautam is the founder of Internet of Elephants, a social enterprise that develops groundbreaking digital tools to engage people with wildlife. He believes that engaging the public with nature and its conservation is the most important thing we can do for the long-term health of the planet and that we need to find modern mediums to tell stories and foster that engagement. Video games are the defining media of our time, so Internet of Elephants tells nature and wildlife stories through thoughtful combinations of mobile games, augmented reality, and data visualizations that use GPS and other data gathered about animals and the planet. In doing so, they hope to catalyze whole new approaches to engaging the public with wildlife. Gautam is both a National Geographic and TED Fellow.

Connect with Gautam Shah:  

Internet of Elephants: http://internetofelephants.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/internetofelephants/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ioelephants 

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! https://bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria: 

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

X: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

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Self-care is more than just manis, pedis, and massages. It is vital to helping leaders embrace empathy while also making tough business decisions, holding people accountable, and setting high-performance standards. It matters because depleted leaders are ineffective leaders.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com 

Key Takeaways:

• Empathy requires fertile soil to take root. If you’re stuck in self-preservation and not feeding your own soil, you won’t be able to meet others with curiosity and empathy.
• Use pillar one, Self-Awareness, to start taking better care of yourself so you have a greater capacity to look outward. 
• Check out more about the book at TheEmpathyDilemma.com. 

"It can be tempting to shoulder additional burdens in the name of empathy, but, in the end, you are doing yourself and your team a disservice." —  Maria Ross

Episode References: 

• Enjoy special pre-sale and launch bonuses: http://theempathydilemma.com/book-offers
• Check out more about the book here: www.TheEmpathyDilemma.com
• Sign up for the FREE Masterclass: The 4 Step Framework to Craft a Captivating Brand Story that Attracts Your Right-Fit Clients: https://bit.ly/4StepBrandStory
• April Hot Take: Why Empathy Starts with Self-Awareness: https://red-slice.com/the-empathy-edge/april-hot-take-why-empathy-starts-with-self-awareness 

Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com

PRE-SALE SPECIAL! Pre-order 1 to 99 copies of Maria's new book, The Empathy Dilemma for your leaders, exec team, (or yourself?!) and GET 30%! https://bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale Offer ends August 27, 2024!

Connect with Maria: 

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

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Facebook: Red Slice

Threads: @redslicemaria

Check out this offer from our sponsor, Better Benefits USA: Are You Overpaying for Employee Benefits Without Knowing It? Take the free 10-minute benefits audit at https://findbetterbenefits.org/