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. See, I emphasize EFFECTIVE because it’s not just about being empathetic – you have to actually perform, deliver, and get results, too. You as a leader can and must balance empathy with accountability. And today we’re going to talk about the first pillar to accomplish that…Self-Awareness.
To access this episode transcript, please scroll down below.
Key Takeaways:
- Humility and empathy go hand in hand. You have to let your ego go and embrace your curiosity to learn and grow.
- Some ways you can become more self-aware include: requesting input from teammates and colleagues, leveraging self-assessment tools (such as the Enneagram, DISC, or Myers Briggs), and learning to listen deeply.
- You can pre-order now through August 27, 2024, to get 30% off your copy of The Empathy Dilemma for stories from leaders, and recommendations for tactics to try to put these strategies into practice and benefit from the results.
“Self-reflection is not woo-woo; it’s a smart strategy. You need to cultivate a deep and ever-evolving understanding of your people, as well as of yourself.”
— Maria Ross
Episode References:
- Check out The Empathy Dilemma pre-sale for 30% off until August 27, 2024: https://bit.ly/TEDSpecialPresale
- Find out more about the book and (soon) download a free chapter sneak peek: http://www.TheEmpathyDilemma.com
Join the community and discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com
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
FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Welcome to the empathy edge podcast the show that proves why cash flow creativity and compassion are not mutually exclusive. I’m your host Maria Ross. I’m a speaker, author, mom, facilitator and empathy advocate. And here you’ll meet trailblazing leaders and executives, authors and experts who embrace empathy to achieve radical success. We discuss all facets of empathy from trends and research to the future of work to how to heal societal divisions and collaborate more effectively. Our goal is to redefine success and prove that empathy isn’t just good for society. It’s great for business. Hi, everyone, and welcome to this month’s special hot take episode, where I’m going to start outlining some content from the book for you because the book is coming September 10, is the day that the empathy dilemma how successful leaders balanced performance, people and personal boundaries, hits shelves to help leaders like you dedicated to people centered practices, get the best performance possible, balance the demands of the business with the needs of your people. And I am so excited to share it with you. So for the next five months, I’ll be devoting a hot take episode to one of the five core pillars of effective empathetic leaders outlined in the book. See, I emphasize effective because it’s not just about being empathetic, you have to actually perform, deliver and get results to you as a leader can and must balance empathy with accountability. And today we’re going to talk about the first step or the first pillar to accomplish that. This is a hurdle that gets in many leaders way they think they have to choose between empathy, or high performance, compassion or ambition. They don’t, it’s both and not either, or, and they never realize sometimes that empathy is the catalyst when it’s actually being shown, that leads to engagement, innovation and results. And speaking of the new book, there’s a special presale offer that I will tell you about at the end where you can purchase copies at 30% off until August 27. So stay through to the end. And I’ll tell you how you can get those discounted copies for your team, you’ll get special launch swag, a special VIP launch event. And you can have me crash your next meeting for an empathy discussion. So stay tuned till the end. But I wanted to share with you today what I loved about writing the book, my favorite part was interviewing so many leaders who are actually doing it. They are being authentic, empathetic and tuned into their people, while never losing focus on why they’re there. And what they’re being tasked to do. As one of my interviewees shares in the book, their number one goal is to make the business successful. That’s their job. But that does not mean it has to be at the expense of not showing empathy and humanity for their team. In fact, because they do show those things, their teams are loyal to a fault and would go through fire for them. But how right how can leaders balance performance people and personal boundaries? It’s sometimes a delicate question. My new book offers guidance on the healthy and productive ways that leaders can deal with the unique challenges they’re facing in trying to balance it all. And that’s where the five pillars of effective empathetic leadership come in. These are common traits and behaviors I see over and over again, in the successful empathetic leaders I interview, speak to and advise even those who truly are empathetic, but don’t label themselves as such. The five pillars are a result of hundreds of podcast interviews, extensive research data, and I found them to be the common threads across all those who are empathetic and high performing at the same time. So let’s dig into the very first one pillar number one self awareness. Now what do I mean by self awareness? This is understanding your own strengths, your blind spots, your emotions, your leadership style, and your emotional triggers, and helping your team members understand theirs. Now, you might be saying to yourself, hang on Maria, isn’t it more important for me to understand my team members and not myself? Do I really have to do a bunch of woowoo self reflection? And my answer to this is that both are crucial. self reflection is not woowoo. It’s a smart strategy. You need to cultivate a deep and ever evolving understanding of your people, as well as of yourself. It’s not about navel gazing or ego trips, but having a very honest, clear picture of where you shine. And we’ll see where you fall short. Humility goes hand in hand with empathy. So you can recognize that someone else may have a different or better perspective. And that means being real. about how you show up, as well as how you can better connect with others. In fact, letting go of your ego and being curious enough to learn and grow is a sure sign that you’re truly tapping into your empathy. Self awareness is an important success skill for leaders because no one leads in a vacuum, your style preferences. Your pet peeves your needs, your strengths as a leader will influence every single interaction you have at work. And yet, many leaders don’t take the time to understand themselves fully and completely. Self awareness helps you to understand complaints and constructive feedback, know when you might need help navigating a situation and take accountability for your actions. So how do we become more self aware? Some strategies include requesting input from teammates and colleagues, leveraging self assessment tools such as the Enneagram disc or Myers Briggs, and learning to listen deeply? But what are those strategies actually mean? To better understand them to become more self aware, I hope you’ll check out the empathy dilemma for stories from leaders and recommendations for these tactics that go along with putting these strategies into practice and benefiting from the results. The results in how your team engages and performs, and how they innovate. And in the loyalty they will show to you and your customers. And speaking of the book, as I mentioned, there’s a special pre sale offer, you can purchase one to 99 copies of the book at porch light, buy amazing bulk distributor and get 30% off from now until August 27. You’ll get the book in September. Plus you’ll save some chatter. And if you’re interested in helping your favorite podcaster out which hopefully that’s me all pre sales go towards my first week’s sales numbers, which could help get the book on the bestseller list. Check out the deal at the link bit.ly/t E. D, that’s Ted special presale and I will definitely put that link in the show notes. And by the way, when you preorder, please save the receipt to email me because you’ll get some goodies you’re gonna get a VIP invite to an exclusive virtual author q&a and launch party, you’ll get some swag to be determined. And if you order 25 or more books in presale or at launch, you’ll get a free 30 minute virtual author q&a discussion for your team or organization for a limited time. Let me crash your event. Do you want to order more than 99 copies there are tiered volume discounts for that too. Just DM me on Instagram at Red slice Maria or go to my website contact page at the empathy edge.com You’ll be able to check out more about the book and very soon download a free chapter of it at WWW dot v empathy dilemma.com Thank you so much for listening to this week’s heartache. I can’t wait to share the empathy dilemma with you and help you through it. And if you liked this podcast, you know what to do you hear me say it every week. Please share it with a friend or colleague rate and review it and make sure to follow or subscribed. In the meantime, until our next time together. Please remember that cash flow creativity and compassion are not mutually exclusive. Stay well and be kind. For more on how to achieve radical success through empathy, visit the empathy edge.com. There you can listen to past episodes, access shownotes and free resources. Book me for a Keynote or workshop and sign up for our email list to get new episodes insights, news and events. Please follow me on Instagram at Red slice Maria. Never forget empathy is your superpower. Use it to make your work and the world a better place.
