I am a global citizen, husband, son, father, brother, friend and, perhaps most importantly, a listener.
Professionally, for years I deployed financial and business strategies for organizations, but soon realized that my ability to inspire empathy became the greatest catalyst for cultural and financial success. Today, as an Empathy Strategist© my work focuses on empowering leaders to embrace empathy as a superpower to drive personal and organizational transformation.
I am not a theorist: I choose to teach from my personal experience. While navigating my professional career I have been blessed to have built, and currently lead, impactful organizations focused on inspiring empathy: EmpathifyU for the corporate world, and My Name My Story for the education space. Through this work I have had the opportunity to coach leaders and witness the positive impact that an "Empathy Strategy" has on their personal lives and the teams they lead.
Here is an article I published on LinkedIn years ago, I hope this gives you an insight into why I choose to do what I do.
Professionally, for years I deployed financial and business strategies for organizations, but soon realized that my ability to inspire empathy became the greatest catalyst for cultural and financial success. Today, as an Empathy Strategist© my work focuses on empowering leaders to embrace empathy as a superpower to drive personal and organizational transformation.
I am not a theorist: I choose to teach from my personal experience. While navigating my professional career I have been blessed to have built, and currently lead, impactful organizations focused on inspiring empathy: EmpathifyU for the corporate world, and My Name My Story for the education space. Through this work I have had the opportunity to coach leaders and witness the positive impact that an "Empathy Strategy" has on their personal lives and the teams they lead.
Here is an article I published on LinkedIn years ago, I hope this gives you an insight into why I choose to do what I do.
Find your superpower and exploit it in the service of others.
From the Archives of a LinkedIn Article
From the Archives of a LinkedIn Article
- It was really cold Southern California December evening: 56 degrees :) - my wife and I were sitting with our friends in the patio of a local gastropub talking about family, reflecting on the last decade, and then the conversation switched to work. Our friend, who has a senior HR position at a global company, shared how their company had grown exponentially, and, like most companies of their size, had a focus on diversity and inclusion. He continued that just before the holidays, one of the directors actually told him: “can you please fill this spot with a minority by the end of the year, my annual bonus is dependent on hitting that quota.” My friend was able to fill the spot as needed - and the director got the bonus! I then asked him one of my favorite questions: “with all this newfound diversity in your organization - what is the state of empathy in your organization?” That’s when he started to share stories from the last few years of unprepared, apathetic leaders that really do not know how to: work with, communicate, or understand how to lead their diverse teams...
For those of you who have always thought of empathy as a soft, mushy value - I want to clarify. I’m talking about creating a work culture that delivers a high quality work product with team members who value accountability, communicate clearly, have the skills to solve problems, and are surrounded by positive relationships that support a wholesome life - all of this while keeping empathy at the core of all their decision making.
For some of you who who always want some research behind a perspective: Daniel Goleman, in his HBR article “What Makes a Leader?” analyzed competency models from 188 companies, says that when senior managers at a company had a critical mass of certain skills, their divisions outperformed yearly earnings goals by 20%. The skills he references are: Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Motivation, Social Skill and Empathy.
My personal passion for this work comes from the actual impact that I have seen in organizations, for-profit and social enterprises, that I have have been blessed to work with throughout my career. Over the years I have also helped develop curriculum and spoken on college campuses on the topic of empathy - a skill that half of us are born with, and luckily for the other half of us, a skill that research has shown, can be acquired.
- I have been journaling for the last 20+ years and had made the decision that in this decade I wanted to “exploit my superpower in the service of the world” (paraphrased from a quote by Larry Winget.) A world that I am so grateful for, but have seen transform in front of my own eyes: the rise of apathy, workplace stories like the one my friend shared, and with the current socio-political environment, I realized, that night, under the warmth of the heat-lamp at the gastropub, that the time was now. Then fear set in! I have never shared my personal thoughts on any social media platform. Thoughts ran through my mind: What would the world think? Can I really express my thoughts in writing? What if no one reads them? What if someone attacks my point of view? How will I handle public criticism? Why would someone want to listen to me? “Don’t overthink this Dad, just be you” my son’s words cut through - and with that reassurance I continue to march forward.
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