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The Empathy Edge

By: Maria Ross
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  • Summary

  • Failed product launches. Furious customers. Dysfunctional teams. Many of the problems we face in the business world (and frankly, society) stem from the same root cause: Lack of empathy. Speaker, author, strategist, and empathy advocate Maria Ross shares keen insights and inspiring interviews that prove empathy and compassion are the new paths to market-winning performance. Leveraging both inspiring stories and hard data, Ross connects empathetic leadership, cultures and brands to innovation, engagement, and bottom-line results. You’ll walk away with actionable strategies to amplify your impact, and learn how compassionate business tactics can transform your organization from the inside out. The Empathy Edge podcast provides a quick dose of motivation, wisdom, and practical actions that executive leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers can use right now. Ready to infuse YOUR organization with more empathy? Tune in to learn why cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive.
    2020-2022 Maria Ross
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Episodes
  • Jessica Swank: How Box Navigates the New World of Work

    Jessica Swank: How Box Navigates the New World of Work
    May 28 2024
    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.comKey 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 SwankAbout Jessica Swank, Chief People Officer, BoxJessica 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.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessica-venner-swankJoin the community and discover what empathy can do for you: red-slice.comPRE-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.comLearn more about Maria & 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: @redslicemaria
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    36 mins
  • Gautam Shah: Exercising with a Snow Leopard: Video Games to Engage Wildlife Conservation

    Gautam Shah: Exercising with a Snow Leopard: Video Games to Engage Wildlife Conservation
    May 21 2024
    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 ShahEpisode References: FathomVerse: https://www.fathomverse.game/ About Gautam Shah, Founder, Internet of Elephants, National Geographic and TED fellowGautam 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.comPRE-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.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: @redslicemaria
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    44 mins
  • May Hot Take: Why is Self-Care Core to Empathetic Leadership?

    May Hot Take: Why is Self-Care Core to Empathetic Leadership?
    May 14 2024

    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

    X: @redslice

    Facebook: Red Slice

    Threads: @redslicemaria
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    10 mins
Management Marketing Economics Social Sciences Relationships
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