The Empathy Edge

Marketing often relies on a lot of "tricks" to reach people in this noisy world. But we have an opportunity to be more intentional and responsible in our marketing  - and when we do, that leads to increased customer engagement, loyalty, and yes, profit.Today, I talk with Kat Kennan about trauma-informed marketing and how we can rethink the way we promote our offerings. We talk about what trauma-informed marketing means, why brands need to pay attention, how to avoid cancel culture, and how to rethink old marketing models and get away from fear-based messaging. We discuss how trauma can show up for your customers, where you can take a pause and adapt, and some great tips on easy ways to start infusing more empathy into your marketing to boost your customer's perception of your brand.  To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com Key Takeaways:Fear-based marketing techniques are going to continue to get diminishing returns. As businesses, we need to move beyond personas and really connect with our customers. Over 70% of people have experienced at least one major traumatic event in their lives. In thinking about the pandemic, we are now looking at 100%. Empathy is a bottom-line issue. 97% of customers say that empathy is important to their customer loyalty. You need to have a pretty nimble and agile group of decision-makers that can adapt and adjust campaigns on the fly based on real-time events. "It's encouraging marketers to just take a pause before they send something out to think about how it might feel or how it might read." —  Kat Kennan Episode References: The Cancel Culture Checklist: Go to Kat's website radicalcustomerexperience.com & use code MARIA30 to enjoy 30% off the 1st 3 months. Check the website for all details.The Empathy Edge episodes:Charna Cassel: Recognizing Trauma at Work - Yours and OthersMelina Palmer: Why Your Customers Can't Tell You What They WantBrigette Iarusso Disrupting Toxic Business Models in the Online SpaceLindsay LaShell: A Marketing Activist Blends Purpose & ProfitUncommon GoodsOreo's responsive Super Bowl campaignBrand Story Breakthrough course to help you craft a clear, compelling brand story  - includes weekly office hours with Maria!About Kat Kennan:Kat Kennan is the Founder and CEO of Radical Customer Experience™️, a groundbreaking consulting firm that encourages brands to establish genuine connections with their customers by embracing strengths-based, trauma-informed, and inclusive marketing services. With a passion for empowering individuals and driving positive change, her mission is to help brands speak up, speak out, and foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in their customer interactions. As a certified trauma-informed professional, Kat brings a crucial perspective to her work, infusing every aspect of her business ventures with a deep understanding of the human experience.Kat’s unwavering commitment to creating a more inclusive and empathic world have earned her recognition and respect within the marketing and trauma-informed community. She is leading the charge in revolutionizing the way businesses interact with their customers, leaving a profound impact on the industry and society as a whole.Connect with Kat:  Radical Customer Experience: radicalcustomerexperience.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/katkennan Facebook: facebook.com/rcxconsulting Instagram: instagram.com/katkennan 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.comLearn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.comHire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-RossTake my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with EmpathyLinkedIn: Maria RossInstagram: @redslicemariaX: @redsliceFacebook: Red SliceThreads: @redslicemariaGet your copy of The Empathy Dilemma here- www.theempathydilemma.com

My guest today, Charles Gellman, is the CEO & Co-founder of HiDO Health and he has leveraged empathy from his own health experiences into AI-assisted robotics that will alter the future of medicine and healthcare. Charles is an outgoing data scientist with a Masters in Clinical Informatics, an accomplished speaker, and one of the top voices on AI-assisted robotics, digital health, and the impact on care.Today, he shares his personal story and shocking statistics on the big and costly problem of inaccurate home health care. We discuss how AI-assisted robotics can impact emotional well-being and why empathy is not going away because of all this new technology. We even take a detour and talk about how to ensure that leaders who succeed passionate founders possess the same empathy for customers and commitment to purpose. Finally, we discuss the importance of empathy to understand both providers and patients and help them alter behaviors to improve health outcomes. To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com Key Takeaways:When selecting a successor as a leader, you want to make sure they are aligned with the vision and mission, not just capable of running the business side of things. Providers struggle to get care to everyone. Patients struggle to communicate their needs. AI can help to bridge that gap and allow for better communication. Around $300B is wasted each year on medications not being taken as prescribed. HiDO is using AI to help reduce that and make life easier for patients, caregivers, and physicians.  "One out of four patients in the US have chronic care diseases. More than 10% of the population have some type of caregiver responsibilities. We have a health care system, where we are solely dependent on people at home to care for themselves. How is that working out for us?" —  Charles Gellman Episode References: AARP, Caregiving in the United States 2020PubMed, National trends in prescription drug expenditures and projections for 2023The Empathy Edge podcast, Ron Gura: How Technology Helps People Navigate Grief and LossBrand Story Breakthrough course to help you craft a clear, compelling brand story  - includes weekly office hours with Maria!About Charles Gellman, CEO, HiDO Health:Charles Gellman, MSHI is the CEO & Co-founder of HiDO Health, where AI-assisted robotics will alter the future of medicine and healthcare. An outgoing data scientist with a Masters in Clinical Informatics, he is also an accomplished speaker with 100+ podcast interviews scheduled for 2023 from notable university professors, leading researchers, and forward-thinking podcast hosts. NIH-funded research in collaboration with Stanford and Rush Universities. He is one of the top voices on AI-assisted robotics, digital health, and its impact on care.Charles was recently featured in a full feature documentary, "AI Robotics... The HiDO Story." He publishes his analyses regularly in the newsletter, "The Future of Care."He is a former advisor for StartXMed and has worked in various executive roles at Startups as well as Fortune 500 companies. He received an MSHI degree from University of California at Davis, Medical School.Connect with Charles Gellman:  HiDO Health: https://www.hidohealth.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mshicgellman/ HiDO Summary Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljnFImTNpwg 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.comLearn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.comHire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-RossTake my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with EmpathyLinkedIn: Maria RossInstagram: @redslicemariaX: @redsliceFacebook: Red SliceThreads: @redslicemariaGet your copy of The Empathy Dilemma here- www.theempathydilemma.com

I've often said that many entrepreneurs get their business ideas from practicing empathy. From either experiencing a pain point themselves or wanting to solve a pain or provide a benefit to an audience who needs it. Today, we talk to one such start-up entrepreneur, Shizu Okusa, the Founder and CEO of wellness company Apothékary.Today, Shizu shares her entrepreneurial journey from Wall Street to wellness, and how many of  her leadership and product philosophies are inspired by her Japanese heritage. We discuss why self-awareness is key for founders to be successful for the long haul and specific examples of how Apothékary creates an empathetic culture devoted to her employees' and customers' well-being. We discuss the number one reason many leaders can't embrace empathy - to their own detriment. And Shizu shares how they gather customer feedback as well as how they make remote work more personal and collaborative. Finally, Shizu offers her advice to other leaders and entrepreneurs looking to lead with empathy.  To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com Key Takeaways:Self-awareness is key to being an effective leader. You can’t have the space in your brain for empathy, creativity, and listening if you don’t know where you are at. Rather than having a maximum number of vacation days, consider setting a minimum number of vacation days to support your team and encourage them to take care of themselves. Empathy is consumer psychology in the business world. It is sometimes seen as a soft skill, but compassion and business success are not mutually exclusive.Surveys are a great way to gather information from your customers, but if you don’t take action on that data, that data is wasted.  "The CEO’s job is to provide the healthy oxygen for your team to breathe in." —  Shizu OkusaEpisode References: The Ranch, Malibu, CaliforniaThe Empathy Edge podcast episodes referenced:Melina Palmer: Why Your Customers Can’t Tell You What They WantCarrie Melissa Jones: Building Successful CommunitiesEmily Vernon: Are You Gathering the Right Customer Insights?Aransas Savas: Forget Journey Mapping: Define a More Valuable Customer ExperienceSandy Thompson: How to Make People Fall in Love with Your BrandBrand Story Breakthrough course to help you craft a clear, compelling brand story  - includes weekly office hours with Maria!About Shizu Okusa, Founder and CEO, ApothékaryShizu Okusa is a Wall Street alum-turned-wellness entrepreneur. After leaving an intense finance career, she became inspired to live a more balanced lifestyle and revisit her Japanese roots and passion for herbal medicine. Shizu set out to help others regain their holistic health using traditions she grew up with and ones she learned along the way. Now, she proudly leads Apothékary in its mission to deliver natural herbal remedies that get to the root cause of health issues rather than masking the symptoms.Connect with Shizu Okusa:  Apothékary: https://www.apothekary.co/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shizu-okusa-87a25415 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apothekaryco/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apothekaryco/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUlZ43PITt9RsTJNZX1F6JQ 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.comLearn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.comHire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-RossTake my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with EmpathyLinkedIn: Maria RossInstagram: @redslicemariaX: @redsliceFacebook: Red SliceThreads: @redslicemariaGet your copy of The Empathy Dilemma here- www.theempathydilemma.com

Burnout is one of our biggest workplace challenges. Turnover and lost productivity due to burnout cost businesses $322B globally. Voluntary turnover costs 15+% of a company’s payroll annually. Most employees will seek out workplaces that support mental health in the future, showing the importance of these benefits in employee retention.Today, I chat with Amy J. Wilson. We talk about how burnout is the biggest obstacle blocking us from empathy, what burnout is and its symptoms, where it comes from, and how it is especially a challenge in traditional care professions but can impact any of us in any organization. We discuss the difference between compassion fatigue and empathic distress. Amy also shares the Four Rs framework for healing from and preventing burnout. To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com Key Takeaways:Burnout is preventing people from feeling empathy. It applies blinders that keep people from connecting with those around them. Modeling is more effective than telling. You can model empathic behavior even in the face of adversity. Curiosity is the first step in empathy. Burnout stops us from making that connection with someone else’s and their story. "People think of burnout as a mental health condition, but it isn't defined as a mental health condition as currently in the DSM. I think it has an origin in our own personal abilities and conditioned responses,  but at the same time, it is a product of the system around us that often prioritizes profit over people." —  Amy J. Wilson Episode References: The Empathy Edge: Amy J. Wilson: Leadership’s Larger Duty And Avoiding Empathy Deficit DisorderJamie Greenwood: Why Empathy for Others Starts with Compassion for YourselfArticles on empathic distress:Rob Volpe: “Which Is It? Empathic Distress or Compassion Fatigue?”Adam Grant: "That Numbness You're Feeling? There's a Word for It"Amy J. Wilson: “What Makes Us Human”Brand Story Breakthrough course to help you craft a clear, compelling brand story  - includes weekly office hours with Maria!About Amy J Wilson, Founder and Guide, Healing for WorkAmy J. Wilson believes in the power within each of us to shape the future we want to have—a future with more awareness, compassion, connection, and love. They specialize in building and sustaining compassionate cultures that can hold change so that individuals and the organization can thrive. They have challenged the status quo and redesigned systems centered on empathy and equity in action at more than a dozen organizations with thousands of people within the private and public sectors. Amy is the bestselling author of Empathy for Change: How to Build a More Understanding World with language and frameworks to evolve individuals and organizations to meet the realities of today and reimagine a better way forward. Amy founded Healing for Work, a community and program rooted in scientifically-proven ways for individuals to overcome burnout and improve workplace well-being. Through the Empathy Action Lab, they work with ambitious, purpose-driven organizations or entrepreneurs to design communities & movements with more empathy, to tell powerful stories, and to advance collective action.Connect with Amy J. Wilson:  Empathy for Change | Healing for Work: healingforwork.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/healing-for-work Instagram: instagram.com/healingforwork/ Learn more about Amy’s FREE Burnout Support Sessions at: healingforwork.com/join 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.comLearn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.comHire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-RossTake my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with EmpathyLinkedIn: Maria RossInstagram: @redslicemariaX: @redsliceFacebook: Red SliceThreads: @redslicemariaGet your copy of The Empathy Dilemma here- www.theempathydilemma.com

Alain Hunkins, CEO and author of 'Cracking The Leadership Code,' dives into the evolution of modern leadership. He highlights the vital shift from command-and-control styles to empathetic approaches. Alain discusses how prioritizing people over numbers can lead to transformative outcomes, sharing a compelling story of a leader's turnaround. He also addresses the barriers to empathy in leadership and offers a practical communication trick. The conversation emphasizes how transparency and connection are essential for fostering trust and effective teams.

In this engaging conversation, leadership coach and best-selling author Michael Bungay Stanier discusses the superpower of empathy in the workplace. He differentiates between leadership and coaching, stressing the importance of curiosity and genuine connection. Michael unveils six leadership styles and shares the dangers of rescuer behavior. He introduces the concept of Keystone Conversations, offering five questions to help improve challenging relationships. With insights from his journey, Michael emphasizes self-awareness as key to effective leadership.

Resilience might be eligible for word of the year. You hear it everywhere you go. We talked a lot about resilience during the Pandemic. How do we bounce back and adapt?One definition of resilience is “The capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.”Clearly, we need to embrace resilience as human beings. In a chaotic, unpredictable world where the only constant is change, you might drive yourself mad if you cannot adapt.But more importantly, how is the skill of resilience strengthened, taught, or learned?Today I share two examples from my childhood on how I learned resilience that I hope will not only enlighten you, but entertain you. (HINT: One involves my theater geek high school days!) To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com Key Takeaways:Practice having a growth mindset - it is not about being externally praised, it is about your innate desire to practice and improve and look at what can be tweaked to change the outcome on your next attempt. Learn from those losses in your life. You can process the grief of losing but still embrace the opportunities in front of you. Try anyway! Even if you don’t have all of the boxes checked for whatever you’re aiming to do, try anyway, you may surprise yourself with what you do accomplish.  I learned from moments like that to process my grief over what I'd lost, but embrace what was in front of me - and make it my own. —  Maria Ross Episode References: Dinah Manoff from Grease: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001503/ Growth Mindset: https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means#Hypewomen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hype-women/id1704488532Greater Good, Five Science-Backed Strategies to Build Resilience: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/five_science_backed_strategies_to_build_resilience Brand Story Breakthrough course to help you craft a clear, compelling brand story  - includes weekly office hours with Maria!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.comLearn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.comHire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-RossTake my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with EmpathyLinkedIn: Maria RossInstagram: @redslicemariaX: @redsliceFacebook: Red SliceThreads: @redslicemariaGet your copy of The Empathy Dilemma here- www.theempathydilemma.com

Can allyship be fun? Or do you envision every inclusion or diversity training as a slog? It doesn't have to be so heavy-handed!Today, Jeannie Gainsburg shares why, as a cisgender woman, she became a strong ally. We tackle how to get over the heaviness and blame of allyship and focus on having conversations with an open heart. We discuss pronouns and why sharing your pronouns (even if they seem obvious) is a great ally action. She also offers the best ways to gather pronouns from others without making it awkward. We talked about what being out and authentic at work looks like. Finally, Jeannie shares a few concrete tips and policies for creating a more LGBTQ+ inclusive workplace.Her encouraging, passionate, and warm-hearted approach will surely jumpstart even the most tentative ally.To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com Key Takeaways:There are many causes to fight for - just pick one and start going. Fighting for rights for one, is fighting for rights for all.People want to learn, so encouragement, not judgment, is critical.We all use pronouns all day, every day. It doesn’t only affect those who are transgender.  "Being an ally is an ongoing journey of messing up. We need to get comfortable with and understand that. Don’t let the fear of messing up or not knowing the right word stop you from having conversations, and know how to apologize. Just have the conversations with an open heart." —  Jeannie Gainsburg Episode References: Daniel Jahn, The Empathy Edge Podcast: Racial Solidarity and the Psychology of RacismLeo Caldwell, The Empathy Edge Podcast: Why Anti-Trans Laws and Homophobia are Anti-BusinessWe Can Do Hard Things podcast with Glennon DoyleBrand Story Breakthrough course to help you craft a clear, compelling brand story - includes weekly office hours with Maria!About Jeannie Gainsburg, Founder, Savvy Ally ActionJeannie Gainsburg is an educational trainer and consultant in the field of LGBTQ+ inclusion and effective allyship. She is the founder of Savvy Ally Action, a small business that offers fun, accessible, and encouraging workshops and videos on how to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. Before forming the company, she spent 15 years working for the Out Alliance, the LGBTQ+ center in Rochester, NY.Her book, The Savvy Ally: A Guide for Becoming a Skilled LGBTQ+ Advocate, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2020, with the revised 2nd edition published in March 2023.Jeannie has a BA in psychology from Brown University and an MA in social work and social research from Bryn Mawr College. She is the recipient of the Empire State Pride Agenda’s Community Champion Award and the Rochester LGBTQ Community Appreciation Award. In 2019, Jeannie also received a citation from the New York State Assembly for Distinguished Educational & Human Rights Services for her work in promoting LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion.Connect with Jeannie Gainsburg:  Savvy Ally Action: savvyallyaction.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeannie-gainsburg Facebook: facebook.com/savvyally Instagram: instagram.com/jeanniegainsburgauthor Book: The Savvy Ally: A Guide for Becoming a Skilled LGBTQ+ Advocate (2nd Edition)Bonus: 100% of royalties from 1st-year sales of the 2nd edition are donated to LGBTQ+ nonprofits working to create a more inclusive world!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.comLearn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.comHire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-RossTake my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with EmpathyLinkedIn: Maria RossInstagram: @redslicemariaX: @redsliceFacebook: Red SliceThreads: @redslicemariaGet your copy of The Empathy Dilemma here- www.theempathydilemma.com

Leaders, listen up: Have you ever heard the improv maxim, "Yes, and….?"In my work researching, writing, and speaking to audiences about the power of empathy, a magnet has pulled me to one notion that gets in the way in almost every dysfunctional workplace or societal conversation.Let me explain… To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com Key Takeaways:Our brains both defend us and hold us back due to cognitive dissonance. We want only one thing to be true because it is more simple, but simplicity is not always the answer. Either/or thinking is broken and got us, as a society, into our current mess. Dialectics is understanding we can hold two, seemingly contradictory things, to be true at the same time. It is a concept that will strengthen our businesses and our lives outside of work.  "In our world and workplaces today, it no longer serves us to focus on either/or thinking. We must embrace BOTH/AND." —  Maria Ross Episode References: Improv's famous "Yes, and…"Discover more about the power of empathy and how to apply it to make a difference in your work and life at your organization or event!Psychology Today, Cognitive Dissonance: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/cognitive-dissonance Seeing things differently: Red Slice blog, Representation Matters: https://www.red-slice.com/representation-matters/ Red Slice blog, What Leadership Success Requires in Today's World: https://www.red-slice.com/what-leadership-success-requires-in-todays-world/ Behavioral Psych Studio, What the heck is a dialectic? https://behavioralpsychstudio.com/what-the-heck-is-a-dialectic/ Brand Story Breakthrough course to help you craft a clear, compelling brand story  - includes weekly office hours with Maria!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.comLearn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.comHire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-RossTake my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with EmpathyLinkedIn: Maria RossInstagram: @redslicemariaX: @redsliceFacebook: Red SliceThreads: @redslicemariaGet your copy of The Empathy Dilemma here- www.theempathydilemma.com

Mara Glatzel, an author dedicated to advocating for personal needs and sovereignty, dives into the importance of acknowledging our needs as humans. She discusses how high-performers can combat burnout by embracing their 'needy' side. Mara shares practical insights on self-awareness and self-partnership, emphasizing that taking care of ourselves allows for more empathetic leadership. The conversation also tackles the balance between meeting personal needs and avoiding selfishness, offering a kinder perspective on self-care in today’s demanding world.