The Empathy Edge

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 author and keynote speaker Shasta Nelson. We discuss the myths around work friendships, and how encouraging friendships at work and making intentional connections leads to not only higher performance, engagement, retention, and loyalty - but less absenteeism and better health for you and your employees. We discuss the epidemic of loneliness, how to balance personal relationships with tough business situations, and why it's in an organization’s best interest to foster work friendships. Shasta shares what we learn as school age kids and how it applies to work and what healthy friendships at work look like. 

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

Key Takeaways:

• Work is to adults what school was to children. We never tell children to not make friends, yet many adults believe they should not make friends in the same type of environment. 
• Being friendly with someone is different from being close friends with someone. There should be enough safety that everyone is, at minimum, friendly with each other.
• Proactively have conversations with your friends at work about challenges that may come up, whether because of conflict, discipline, or something else. It will strengthen your relationship as you open with one another. 
• Consistency, positivity, and vulnerability are important for any healthy relationship.

"The goal isn't to pull back and only stay comfortable. The goal is to say social health is on the other side of a little bit of relational sweat." —  Shasta Nelson

About Shasta Nelson, Friendship Expert, Keynote Speaker, Author, The Business of Friendship

Shasta Nelson is a leading expert on Friendship who speaks across the country and facilitates events for connection. She’s been quoted in magazines and newspapers, online and print, including New York Times, The Washington Post, and Readers Digest, and has been interviewed live on over dozens of TV shows, including the TODAY Show and Steve Harvey Show. Plus, if you haven’t yet seen her popular TEDx talk then you’ll want to watch that later!

Her previous books include Friendships Don’t Just Happen! which is a guide for making new friends as an adult, and Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness which teaches us how to make our relationships more meaningful. But it’s her newest book that we talk about today as she takes her expertise about friendship into the workplace in The Business of Friendship: Making the Most of Our Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Time.

Connect with Shasta Nelson:  

Website and Books: shastanelson.com

Instagram: instagram.com/shastamnelson

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shastanelson

Facebook: facebook.com/shasta.m.nelson

X: twitter.com/shastamnelson

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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/

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 creative, Dave Zaboski! We talk about what Disney taught him about effective collaboration, including the idea of "plussing" to ensure the best outcome. He candidly shares how process and structure don't stifle creativity but ensure it's repeatable, and actually helps creatives get good work out into the world. We talk about the unique position we are in as humans to tell stories, the role mission plays in mobilizing a team, and how empathy is required by artists. Dave also gives his take on AI and creative technology and where the dangers and opportunities lie.

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

Key Takeaways:

• Solutions can and should be beautiful. Beauty is created when you add to others, not when you are negative to them. 
• Empathy in creativity allows bridges to be built and connections to be made between different experiences of different people. 
• Storytelling is a power - stories create our reality. What would happen if we stop telling the apocalypse stories, and start to use the technology in the stories to enable society to flourish. 
• There is process and structure, even in creativity. It is not a bad thing, it is a way to get replicable results no matter what industry you are in. Rules are necessary for creativity to flourish. 

"Creativity, innovation, the advancement of ideas and collaboration happen on both sides of the brain. In order to be able to create powerfully, it's got to be the head, heart and hands." —  Dave Zaboski

About Dave Zaboski, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Laetro.com

Dave Zaboski is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Laetro.com, a tech-enabled community of the world’s finest creatives serving enterprise customers with best in class design services. He is a classically trained painter and was an animator at Disney, Sony and Warner Bros. during the Second Golden Age of Animation. He worked on “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” “Aladdin,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Hercules,” “Fantasia 2000,” and others. He has illustrated several acclaimed children’s books, including titles for Dr. Ken Dychtwald, Dr. Deepak Chopra, finance guru Ric Edelman and actor Paul Michael Glaser.

Dave has created concept art for film and television, shown his fine art at galleries internationally, been the expedition artist in search of a lost temple in the Andes and painted for the Dalai Lama. Along with teaching workshops at retreat centers like Esalen Institute, Summit and Rancho La Puerta, Dave also contributed as a faculty member at Singularity University and NextMed Health Conferences. Dave teaches creativity, leadership, innovation and collaboration to entrepreneurs, makers and organizations around the world. He lives with his wife, Robin, and a small menagerie on a ranchette in Southern California.

Connect with Dave Zaboski:  

Laetro.com: Laetro.com 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davezaboski/ 

Instagram: instagram.com/davezart 

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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/

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 the difference between kindness and empathy, how empathy is a superpower, and why the currency of kindness actually helps drive action and influence. Marly shares tips on setting boundaries and avoiding burnout when being an empathetic and kind leader. 

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

Key Takeaways:

• If you can be a kind leader, you are able to use empathy as your secret weapon to connect and make a difference with your team, your customers, and those in your community. 
• You must take care of yourself and check in with yourself to ensure you don’t burn out as you perform acts of random kindness to those around you. 
• You need to be aware of what your priorities are and where you are putting your focus. If you are aware of what is most important, it allows you to put your time there and unapologetically support yourself. 

"If you feel frustrated that you are too busy to focus on what actually matters to you. I'm here to kindly tell you, you are really busy being unaware and stressing yourself out!" —  Marly Q Casanova

Episode Reference:

• Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam

From our Sponsor:

GET YOUR FREE GUIDE! Teri Schmidt, Director of Stronger to Serve Coaching & Teambuilding, (Listen here to Ep 165) shares how you can craft effective team building experiences that foster connection, lock in valuable professional skills & benefit your community.  Introducing Learn By Doing (Good) – the ultimate team building events that seamlessly blend professional development with community service - and offer real ROI for all that time away from your "real work!". Download your free guide: Team Connection: 10 Activities to Connect in 10 Minutes or Less & learn more about these innovative experiences for your in-person, remote, or hybrid team at becomestrongertoserve.com/empathyedge

About Marly Q Casanova: Kindness Influencer

Marly Q Casanova 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. 

This Tedx speaker is a successful social entrepreneur and first-generation Hispanic American living her best life in sunny South Florida as a happy mom and wife to 6x EMMY award-winning musician and co-founder of PARK Project Inc; a nonprofit movement to inspire people to "PARK" (Perform Acts of Random Kindness) worldwide. 

As an inspirational speaker, leadership trainer, community-builder and host of Time to be Kind with Marly Q podcast, she’s on a quest to enrich lives with the currency of kindness, connection and community!

Connect with Marly Q Casanova:  

MARLY Q LLC: marlyq.com 

Time to Be Kind Podcast: marlyq.com/podcast/ 

YouTube: youtube.com/@marlyQ

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marlyq/ 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/themarlyq 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/marlyq 

Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/kindqrew

TEDxTalk: Kindness is Your Superpower: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu0FRPYD7aU

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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/

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 learn from them.

Today, Dr. Peter Sear & I talk about how sport leadership has changed & become more empathic over the last two decades - thus attracting a different kind of leader. We discuss how coaches manage empathic relationships & get the balance of "close but not too close" right. Peter also shares the concept of Empathic Accuracy & tips for how to help your team build empathy among each other.

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

Key Takeaways:

• It is important to find & keep the balance between coach & athlete. It is also important to maintain relationships between all players, not just one or two. The same thing goes for employers & employees. 
• Nothing beats getting to know someone on a human level - it is not about the favorites form that someone has filled in. 
• In modern workplaces, it is important that leaders model & show empathy to their teams. That has to start with awareness & shoring up their own empathy skills. 

"The ‘my way or the highway’ approach that coaches often used to apply just doesn't work with athletes of this generation. They've got different expectations and different powers." —  Dr. Peter Sear

About Dr. Peter Sear, Founder Empathic Minds

I started off as a Futures Floor Trader, trading sugar futures in London for five years. I traveled before going to University at 23, to study psychology. That led to my first Masters degree, during which I opened a property company with my parents. I continued to study, getting another Masters, in Jung, & learning some neuroscience. My PhD was at Loughborough (the best University in the world for sport related research!). Since then, I've written for Psychology Today, The World Financial Review among others. I now help coaches, leaders, organizations, consultancies, & individuals learn about the powers of empathy & how to develop them. 

Connect with Dr. Peter Sear:  

The Empathic Minds Organisation: EmpathicMinds.org

Book: Empathic Leadership: Lessons from Elite Sport

X: @DrPeterSear

LinkedIn: Dr Peter Sear

From our Sponsor:

GET YOUR FREE GUIDE! Teri Schmidt, Director of Stronger to Serve Coaching & Teambuilding, (Listen here to Ep 165) shares how you can craft effective team building experiences that foster connection, lock in valuable professional skills & benefit your community.  Introducing Learn By Doing (Good) – the ultimate team building events that seamlessly blend professional development with community service - and offer real ROI for all that time away from your "real work!". Download your free guide: Team Connection: 10 Activities to Connect in 10 Minutes or Less & learn more about these innovative experiences for your in-person, remote, or hybrid team at becomestrongertoserve.com/empathyedge

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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/

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 transactional experience into a transformative one.

Today, Terri Schmidt and I discuss where most well-intentioned team building goes wrong, how serving others primes your brain to learn new skills, how you can intentionally combine connection, professional development and meaning to get more ROI for your team building efforts - as well as engage and retain Gen Z talent. We have a great discussion on how to build trust and connection in a remote or hybrid workplace - including how she blew my mind with her observation of how we have always interacted with screens in the past and why our struggle to connect over screens now just requires some upskilling and re-learning!

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

Key Takeaways:

• Take the time to gather feedback on what your team is doing well, and also what skills your team needs to strengthen. 
• Serving and doing good for others primes your brain to learn and retain skills and information better. 
• Even though remotely is a new environment, you still want to build practical skills and camaraderie with your team. 

"We infuse empathy in many different ways. We want to make sure that the team is actually connecting in a way that will impact their performance when they get back to the job." —  Teri Schmidt

Episode References: 

• GET YOUR FREE GUIDE! Team Connection: 10 Activities to Connect in 10 Minutes or Less and learn more about these innovative team building and development experiences at https://becomestrongertoserve.com/empathyedge
• The Empathy Edge podcast, Rae Shanahan:The Empathy Gap: 2023 State of Workplace Empathy Report
• Maria's blog post: Can't Get Your Employees Back to the Office? Here's Why.

About Teri Schmidt, Director, Stronger to Serve Coaching & Teambuilding

Teri uses her 20+ years of experience in coaching, leadership, and performance improvement to seamlessly integrate teambuilding, leadership development, and community service.  Her workshops and coaching cultivate empowered individuals, cohesive teams, and impactful contributions to society.

Teri hosts the Strong Leaders Serve podcast inspiring leaders to make their workplaces more compassionate and just through their leadership, without burning out.

She is an Ironman triathlete and loves to be in nature backpacking, camping, and doing some occasional rock climbing.  She currently lives outside of Dallas with her three favorite people, her husband Jeff and her two teenage kids, Tyler and Megan.

Connect with Teri Schmidt:  

Stronger to Serve Coaching & Teambuilding https://www.strongertoserve.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-m-schmidt/

Learn by Doing (Good) workshops: https://www.strongertoserve.com/teambuilding 

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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 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 in a new era of converging trends: more transparency, higher ethical customer demands, and much more marketing-savvy consumers.

Today, Brigette Iarrusso shares her unique journey and how she bucked a major higher ed institution by pushing to teach a new model of business success. We talk about raising awareness of coercive business and sales practices, especially in the wild west of the coaching and online business space.  We discuss leading in ways not rooted in dominant cultures, how to shift your sales and marketing to be more consent-based, when cancel culture is and is not effective, and how to unlearn toxic and patriarchal leadership and sales approaches to create more sustainable models.

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

Key Takeaways:

• Leadership is not a binary. You do not have to lead compassionately or lead with financial success - you can have both. It is just a challenge to unlearn the things that we have been taught by society.
• You can’t create a new business model using old business paradigms. You have to rethink organizational structure, strategy, skills, finances, and everything else that goes into your company.
• All steps in the sales process should be taken with consent and curiosity, not with coersion and aggression.

"You really can't extract big, fast profits without causing harm. And so I think there are some constructs that are a hard pill for certain types of businesses to swallow." —  Brigette Iarrusso

Episode References: 

MARIA'S COURSE

Learn more about Maria's new Brand Story Breakthrough course, starting September 8. Spots are limited so grab yours before it's gone to start attracting more of your ideal customers and boosting revenue and growth: https://bit.ly/BSBcourse

About Brigette Iarrusso, CEO and Founder, Disruptive Business Coaching 

Brigette Iarrusso is CEO and Founder of Disruptive Business Coaching. She's an international speaker and social impact business coach. She is on a mission to help coaches, healers, and experts, who care about racial and social justice to scale their sales and impact with integrity, equity and inclusion.  She is committed to raising awareness around coercive marketing and sales practices in the coaching and online business space.  And, disrupting harmful practices that disproportionately affect People of Color and other people with marginalized identities.  She creates inclusive and engaging events that inspire and connect business leaders with widely diverse backgrounds from around the globe.

Connect with Brigette Iarrusso:  

Disruptive Business Coaching (formerly Embrace Change): 

Website: https://www.disruptivebusinesscoaching.com

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brigette.iarrussosoto/

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

Take her high impact challenge: https://go.embracechange.us/highimpactchallengeevergreen

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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/

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 book, The Kindness of Color, is the true story of multicultural collaboration between the Mendez and Munemitsu families, two immigrant families who came to Southern California for better lives, only to face their own separate battles against racism in the midst of World War II. 

Today, Janice shares this story with you - why she wrote the book, how children and young people have responded, and most importantly how kindness leads to a brighter future that lifts everyone up.

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

Key Takeaways:

• All children are born with empathy. It is an exercise to continue to keep it strong.
• Kindness isn’t done for fame or accolades. Kindness is done because of character, honesty, integrity, and desire to help a friend.
• DEIB is about more than just strategy and benefits. There is an ethos that comes when groups come together in collaboration with each other - and it is kindness.

"It’s not a Mexican and Japanese story. It's a multicultural story, of people doing what they could, given the circumstances, and not just thinking of themselves, but of thinking more of the whole." —  Janice Munemitsu

MARIA'S COURSE

Learn more about Maria's new Brand Story Breakthrough course, starting September 8. Spots are limited so grab yours before it's gone to start attracting more of your ideal customers and boosting revenue and growth: https://bit.ly/BSBcourse

About Janice Munemitsu, Author, The Kindness of Color

Janice Munemitsu is the author of The Kindness of Color.  This is the true story of two immigrant families who came to Southern California for better lives, only to face their own separate battles against racism in the midst of World War II. One family came by land from Mexico and the other by sea from Japan. Little did they expect their paths would meet and lead to justice and desegregation for all the school children of California in Mendez, et. al v. Westminster (1947) - seven years before Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

Janice is a third-generation Japanese American Sansei. A native of Orange County, California, she worked on the family farm from age five through high school. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California and Biola University. Janice’s book may be purchased on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Connect with Janice Munemitsu:

Book: The Kindness of Color: https://www.thekindnessofcolor.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaniceMunemitsu

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janice-munemitsu/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekindnessofcolor

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

References Mentioned:

• Silvia and Aki
• Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation
• Separados No Somos Iguales (Spanish Language version)

Don’t forget to download your free guide! Discover The 5 Business Benefits of Empathy: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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

Twitter: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

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/

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. Somewhere along the way, his ideas around empathy and moral obligation got stripped away from his economic philosophy. See, back then, the lines were blurred between economists, social thinkers, and philosophers. 

Today, I talk with Sam Fleischacker, an expert on Adam Smith, to clarify what Smith really thought about a free market and our responsibilities to society within it. We also talk about what is distinctive about Smith's conception of empathy in his own time and how it squares with today. Sam shares how empathy affects Smith's proposals for economic policy, what he had to say about our tendency to empathize more with people we already know and care for than for people very distant from us, and the big question: Should we try to empathize with people we think are evil?

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

Key Takeaways:

• Judgment isn’t always negative and, in some cases, it can be used to form connections - such as admiring strength of character or showing sensitivity.  
• Consuming art, literature, documentary and other stories of people that have different lives from you is a way to stretch your brain and think more empathetically. 
• You must empathize with people you don’t agree with, even those who you consider evil. If you want to have any hope of changing them, you need to do that. You don’t have to approve of it, but you have to at least try to understand them. Empathy and criticism are not incompatible. 

"Smith is very much about thinking about what everybody wants, from their own perspective, that is to say, empathizing with them. And I think that's gotten badly lost on both the left and the right in public policy." —  Sam Fleischacker

About Sam Fleischacker, LAS Distinguished Professor of Philosophy

Sam Fleischacker is LAS Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois in Chicago.  He works on moral and political philosophy, and the philosophy of religion. He is the author of nine books, including Adam Smith, Being Me Being You:  Adam Smith and Empathy, A Third Concept of Liberty:  Judgment and Freedom in Kant and Adam Smith, and On Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations:  A Philosophical Companion.  He was President of the International Adam Smith Society from 2006 to 2010.

References Mentioned:

Edwin Rutsch, The Empathy Edge podcast: How Empathy Circles Can Change the World

David Weissman, The Empathy Edge podcast: From MAGA to Jewish Liberal Progressive

MARIA'S COURSE

Learn more about Maria's new Brand Story Breakthrough course, starting September 8. Spots are limited so grab yours before it's gone to start attracting more of your ideal customers and boosting revenue and growth: https://bit.ly/BSBcourse

Connect with Sam Fleischacker

University of Illinois at Chicago: https://phil.uic.edu/philosophy/people/faculty/fleischacker

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sam.fleischacker.7

Books: 

Adam Smith (Routledge, 2021)

Being Me Being You:  Adam Smith and Empathy (University of Chicago Press, 2019)

Don’t forget to download your free guide! Discover The 5 Business Benefits of Empathy: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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

Twitter: @redslice

Facebook: 

Red Slice

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 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 with every day - your co-workers?

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

Key Takeaways:

• Story is up to 22x more memorable than just facts alone.The best approach for data retention is to incorporate it into a story. 
• Story touches hearts and changes minds in a way that data, facts, and figures cannot do alone.
• Stories unite us and connect us, across any perceived barriers. They can touch, delight, provoke, anger, move, or propel us into action.

"If you want people to remember you - or your business, cause, or movement - and take action, the best way is to tell your story." —  Maria Ross

Episode References: 

• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• John Millen blog, 4 Reasons Stories are So Memorable

MARIA'S COURSE

Learn more about Maria's new Brand Story Breakthrough course, starting September 8. Spots are limited so grab yours before it's gone to start attracting more of your ideal customers and boosting revenue and growth: https://bit.ly/BSBcourse

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

Connect with Maria: 

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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, and connection. 

Joanna Cea and Jess Rimington are co-authors of Beloved Economies: Transforming How We Work. They spent seven years researching the common traits of successful beloved economies across diverse teams and enterprises. Today Joanna  shares what is a beloved economy and how to transform business as usual in a "loveless" economy. We discuss the role of "bad actors" in breakout innovation, and Joanna digs into two of the seven practices - seeking difference and trusting there is time - and explains why they work and how they can be applied. 

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

Key Takeaways:

• The way we work together matters - and it is a potent force for change, not just making the work environment a warm and fuzzy place.
• We need leaders to step up and take ownership of doing something different than what has been done before. People want to be doing things in a different way but are often too afraid to speak up.
• The rules are created by society. If we don’t like them, we can work together to change them.

"The economy is something we all make and remake every single day. Yes, there are big structural forces at play, but there's also the accumulation of 1000 little decisions and actions that we each make every day." —  Joanna L. Cea

About Joanna Levitt Cea, Co-Author, Beloved Economies

Joanna Cea is dedicated to reimagining investment and funding practices to lift up the well-being of all. She has worked in community-driven efforts to stop destructive investments that threaten local livelihoods and ecosystems, and she has also helped launch solutions that enable communities to determine our own economic futures. Joanna led the human rights organization International Accountability Project for eight years, and served as founding director of the Buen Vivir Fund with Thousand Currents. 

About Jess Rimington, Co-Author, Beloved Economies

Jess Rimington is a next economy strategist focused on the design and ethics of emerging post-capitalisms. Her practice and research is grounded in historical analysis, accessible truth-telling, and present-day experimentation. Jess’s work is informed by over a decade of experience leading two global organizations–as both an Executive Director and Managing Director–building cross-cultural staff teams with innovative work cultures rooted in power-sharing.

Connect with Joanna L. Cea and Jess Rimington: 

Beloved Economies Website: https://www.belovedeconomies.org/

Book: Beloved Economies: https://www.belovedeconomies.org/book

MARIA'S COURSE

Learn more about Maria's new Brand Story Breakthrough course, starting September 8. Spots are limited so grab yours before it's gone to start attracting more of your ideal customers and boosting revenue and growth: https://bit.ly/BSBcourse

Don’t forget to download your free guide! Discover The 5 Business Benefits of Empathy: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

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

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