Archives: Podcast Episodes

Do you know what your risk fingerprint is? Like your actual fingerprint, your risk fingerprint is unique to you and based on your biology, but also your experiences and environment. Your risk fingerprint shapes what you see as risk or what you don’t believe is risk. It shapes how you make decisions, connect with people, and live your life. Understanding the risk profiles of others is what my guest today, Michele Wucker, calls “risk empathy.” It’s yet another factor you will want to consider when creating a high-performing team but also helps you better understand where someone is coming from, rather than making assumptions. Today we talk about how to assess your risk fingerprint, what risk empathy means, and why the term “risk averse” is a destructive stereotype. We also talk about why ensuring you have risk diversity on your team will help you make better decisions. 

Key Takeaways:

• Taking risks is like building muscle – the more you do it, the easier it gets. 
• Risk is a perception based on your own lens.The more control you have, the less risky you see something as being. 
• You’re going to have different risk tolerances in different parts of your life. You want to set up a good risk portfolio across your life.

“We talk about gender or race when we are looking at diversity, but I think it’s very important to look specifically at risk. Generations approach risk very differently because they’ve had very different risk experiences.” —  Michele Wucker

About Michele Wucker:

Michele Wucker, Strategic Advisor & Author, The Gray Rhino and You Are What You Risk

Best-selling author and strategic advisor Michele Wucker coined the term “gray rhino” for obvious, probable, impactful risks, which we are surprisingly likely but not condemned to neglect. A former media and think tank executive, she is founder of the Chicago-based strategy firm Gray Rhino & Company. She is the author of four books including the influential global bestseller THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore and the recently published sequel, YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World.

Connect with Michele Wucker:  

Website: https://www.thegrayrhino.com

Book: You Are What You Risk: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wucker

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

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

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

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

In order to be the best leader you can be, you have to be present and attuned to what your teams are going through. That requires regulating ourselves and our own emotions. Things get even stickier when you throw trauma into the mix. You get triggered, or they get triggered, and ultimately nobody wins. But how do you recognize trauma in the workplace? And what can you do to ensure you create a safe environment where everyone can contribute and collaborate effectively? My guest, Charna Cassell, is an LMFT and a Certified Embodied Leadership Coach. Today we talk about her fascinating work with leaders and trauma survivors and how essential mindfulness, internal work, and consciousness are in being a congruent leader and communicator. We also share how you can recognize trauma in others and respond effectively. You’ll hear about the Window of Tolerance and why expanding yours as a leader enables you to more compassionately navigate traumatic situations with others. 

Key Takeaways:

• We all have our histories, and when we’re in stressful situations, those can take over unless you’ve trained your nervous system to do something different.
• If you have not addressed your own traumas and histories, it will inevitably come out in all of your relationships, both personal and professional. 
• Learning how to breathe is the most direct way to change your mood or state. 
• When the relationships have been built, you can check in with your coworkers and employees in a healthy, safe manner. But attunement is key and you want to make sure it is done in an appropriate time and manner. 

“Your own ability to feel your own emotions is directly correlated with how much capacity you have to be with other people’s experience.” —  Charna Cassell

About Charna Cassell:

Charna Cassell:  LMFT and Master Somatic Coach

Charna Cassell, an LMFT and a Certified Embodied Leadership Coach, helps people heal and find pleasure in their bodies. For over two decades, she worked as a sex educator and sex toy clerk at Good Vibrations located in San Francisco.  Then, as a Master Somatic Coach and bodyworker, and now, a trauma-trained psychotherapist.

Outside of private practice, she teaches sexuality education classes, leads body wisdom workshops, and offers trauma and resilience training in a variety of institutions, nonprofits, and therapeutic settings. 

As the host of LaidOPEN Podcast, Charna shares her own story, answers your questions, and offers practical exercises. She has conversations with inspirational survivors, trailblazers, and people just like you. Her guests are experts and authors in the field of somatics, trauma, healing modalities, mindfulness, and the arts. 

Charna’s work and expertise have been featured in Oprah magazine, TeenVogue.com, InStyle.com, Psychcentral.com, and Askmen.com. Currently, Charna’s focused on writing her book, The Authentic Yes: A Guide to Passionate Living  After Sexual Trauma.

Charna is in private practice in Oakland, California.

Connect with Charna Cassell:  

Websites:http://www.passionatelife.org and http://www.charnacassell.com.

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

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charna.cassell

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

Laid Open Podcast: @laidopenpodcast – https://www.laidopenpodcast.com

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

How well do you understand your own emotions? Do your emotions ever get in the way of producing quality work or collaborating effectively? Chances are, yes. This is why social-emotional learning, or SEL, is so important for us to teach children at home and at school. For us adults, we can still master SEL skills so that we, too, can be stronger, more compassionate leaders, colleagues, and citizens. My guest today, Dr. Lorea Martinez, and I discuss the positive impact that can have on your workforce, productivity, and performance. 

In this episode, Lorea and I discuss what SEL means to both children and adults. We talk about the efforts around the world to embed this learning in our schools and how it helps kids become more aware of their emotions, leading to better problem-solving skills and collaboration. Lorea shares the psychology of emotions and how they impact our performance at work and our ability to learn. We discuss how trauma impacts learning and cognitive development in kids and adults, and finally how we create spaces where people can bring their full identities and truly belong.

Key Takeaways:

• We all have a voice and can make a difference in our communities. We all have a purpose in life and we can change the future generations as we learn, ourselves, and teach our children these social-emotional skills. 
• Emotions are part of our cognitive process – we cannot have thought without feelings and all decisions we make are based on emotions.
• One of the most important things is creating spaces where people can build their most authentic selves. 
• We are hiding from ourselves when we are not embracing the diversity in ourselves and around us. 

“Social and emotional learning is the application of emotional intelligence. It’s a lifelong process. It’s never too early or too late to start practicing and learning emotional intelligence.” —  Dr. Lorea Martinez

About Dr. Lorea Martinez:
Dr. Lorea Martinez, Author & Founder, HEART in Mind

Dr. Lorea Martínez is the award-winning founder of HEART in Mind, a consulting company dedicated to helping schools and organizations integrate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in their practices, products, and learning communities. An educator who has worked with children and adults internationally, Dr. Martínez is a faculty member at Columbia University Teachers College, educating aspiring principals in Emotional Intelligence. Her new book for educators, Teaching with the HEART in Mind, is currently available. Previously, she was a special education teacher and administrator. She frequently blogs about how to incorporate SEL in teaching practices and parenting at loreamartinez.com

Connect with Dr. Lorea Martinez:  

Website: https://loreamartinez.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/loreamart

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

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

Book: Teaching with the HEART in Mind: https://amzn.to/394f5dO

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

If you have experienced disharmony in your workplace, it might not be because other people are evil and out to get you! It may just be that there’s a clash of different mindsets and a whole host of assumptions being unfairly made. How many great ideas are you missing out on because of this friction? My guest today is author, speaker, and consultant Karen Cornwell. Her goal is to give you the ability to peel back others’ behaviors and glimpse the underlying mindset so you can work together in a more meaningful way. This is how we can leverage differences to drive more innovation, growth, and engagement in the workplace.

Today, Karen and I talk about what gender harmony means, how it impacts mindsets, and how you can assess your own mindsets to better bridge divides and unlock innovation and collaboration. You will love her fabulous example of how empathy in action resulted in multi-million dollar wins for a pharmaceutical company. 

Key Takeaways:

• Our interpretation of events and situations is already colored before we are even aware of what we are doing. This interpretation is different from person to person and is where we either clash or mesh with others around us.
• Buried in our mindsets, our beliefs, assumptions, and values are what we think is most important about both how the world works and how people work together.
• Empathetic cultures boost innovation. If people don’t feel comfortable and listened to, your company will flounder and stagnate.

“It’s getting over your own assumptions and into what somebody else is thinking. Often they’re not the same, and in those differences and assumptions is where the miracles lie.” —  Karen Cornwell

About Karen Cornwell:

Karen Cornwell, Speaker, Consultant, Author

Karen Cornwell spent her career in tech; she lived it, learned from it, and now wants to change the tide for future technology aficionados. She cut her ‘product management’ teeth on designing services to make nuclear power plants more efficient and easier to operate, before moving over to improve services for the semiconductor equipment industry. After years of working in tech, Karen realized that we spend a lot of time tripping over “our differences” in the workplace.

Many of these differences are often thought of as “gendered,” as some originate from stereotypical behavior. You developed your mindset based on how you think. The problem is we don’t all think alike and when we judge others’ behaviors according to our mindsets, we often come up short and have trouble understanding others’ behaviors. This is why she wrote her book: You Can’t Fix What You Can’t See: An Eye-Opening Toolkit for Cultivating Gender Harmony in Business. Her goal is to give others the ability to peel back others’ behaviors and glimpse the underlying mindset. Once you understand the mindset, the behavior begins to make sense, and so does your ability to work with the other person in a more meaningful way. This is how we can leverage differences to drive more innovation, growth, and engagement in the workplace.

Karen delivers a wealth of experience in her stories both in her book and from the stage. She demonstrates an uncanny ability to combine aspects of neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and linguistics that leave you thinking, “that makes sense, now I get it.” She has a BS and MS in Engineering and an MBA from Santa Clara University. Karen lives in Silicon Valley with her Chef husband and their three boys.

Connect with Karen Cornwell:  

Book Website (including Blog & Podcast):  https://www.youcantfixwhatyoucantsee.com/

Consulting Website: https://www.attunovation.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CornwellKarenF

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

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

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

How can poetry help a team better collaborate and connect? You’re about to find out! My guest is Michelle Kaplan, and today we talk about the important role that creativity plays in sparking conversation, breaking down walls, and building trust for better collaboration. We discuss the role poetry, and creativity in general, can play at work – and how it leads to empathy, vulnerability and trust in the workplace.  She’ll share how she uses poetry as a catalyst, even with skeptical teams. You will love the poignant original poem she reads to us, and how it helped a now-hybrid team recapture the spark they had when they were all in the office together. Finally, she’ll share some tips on how to do all this in remote or hybrid work environments. 

Key Takeaways:

• The doorway to understanding what’s important to other people and enabling them to be themselves is for you to start with yourself.
• Creativity creates empathy. While poetry works for some, creativity is a broad category – art, music, physical activity – any form of mental expansion will help to open and bring empathy to your team. 
• As a leader, it is about how you show up, and what you allow and tolerate in your group scenarios. How are you bringing everyone together?

“Incorporating poems creates a safe place where we can talk about some really sensitive, vulnerable issues in a safe way because you’re not talking about me versus you. We’re using the poem as a vehicle for having discussions that can clear the air, and create clarity about thoughts and feelings.” —  Michelle Kaplan

About Michelle Kaplan:

Michelle Kaplan, Leadership Coach, People Strategist, and Leadership Development Trainer

Known as the “Corporate Poet” Michelle Kaplan has worked for 30 years in corporate HR and 15 years as a Leadership Development and Organizational Effectiveness Coach and Trainer. Michelle incorporates her original poetry in her work with clients to foster inclusiveness, empathy and psychological safety in the workplace. This vulnerability work helps her clients to maximize their authentic leadership abilities. Michelle is the author of two poetry collections: And: A Love Story and Burst & Fleurish.

Connect With Michelle:

Website: https://www.burstandfleurish.com/

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/398016800948461

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

Two poetry collections: And: A Love Story Within and Burst & Fleurish https://www.burstandfleurish.com/author 

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

How do we shift from an individualistic culture that incentivizes power grabbing and consumerism into a more community-driven culture where everyone gets their needs met – and yes, innovative leaders can still make money and succeed? It’s possible, if we get creative, build new systems, and create new incentives for a game we ourselves invented! Today’s very philosophical conversation with Raman Frey will have you thinking about how you can be part of the solution and still achieve your ambitions. We touch on everything from how community building encourages empathy, to making creativity and the arts more accessible to everyone to sharing our random thoughts on capitalism, Western culture, and how to shift society from ME to WE without feeling like we’re missing any opportunities – and in fact, how doing so will unleash innovation and allow all people to thrive on a massive scale.  Get ready to question your assumptions about creativity and our current form of capitalism – in a GOOD way – on today’s show.

Key Takeaways:

• We are all intrinsically creative. It is important to be bold in your engagement with other people’s creativity – which will also build your muscle to be creative yourself. 
• There need be no poverty in the world – right now, poverty is a political choice of the system we live in. 
• Civilizational transformation is usually the result of upheaval and catastrophe. It is rarely the result of a peaceful opt-in solution. It is our moral responsibility to be part of building and, then offering, those peaceful transitions.

“Community is intrinsically necessary for most people, even introverted people. Community is a sense of belonging that transcends the transactional. Transactions may come out of community, but they are not the point of community.”

—  Raman Frey

About Raman Frey, Entrepreneur, Speaker and Founder of GP Dinners and Camp Earnest.

For the last 20 years, Raman has built businesses and communities in the Bay Area, bringing people together around meaningful conversations about art, technology, religion, politics and philosophy. He was a founder or co-founder of Frey Norris Gallery, Epicenter Arts, Dispatch Labs, Good People Dinners, and Camp Earnest.  Raman has served on the boards of several organizations, including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. As an event producer, public speaker, moderator, and interviewer, Raman enjoys improvisation and unscripted dialogues. Civil discourse, vulnerable conversations, and deep inquiry are common threads in all of his work.

Connect with Raman:  

Camp Earnest: https://www.campearnest.com/ Access code: earnestcampers

Ramen Frey website: https://www.ramanfrey.com/about.html

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RamanFrey

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raman.frey/

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

This might be one of my favorite podcast interviews ever. Not just because I got to interview a dear high school friend who has positively impacted the world, but because of one word: HOPE.

Today, I speak with Eric Dawson, CEO and founder of Peace First and co-founder of Rivet, about empathy for today’s young changemakers, whether younger people are more or less empathetic than prior generations, and how we can empower them to impact change in their communities and the world now, not someday off in the future. We discuss what brands need to prove to young consumers today, and how they can leverage their influence and dollars to meet their business goals while supporting and delighting young changemakers and consumers – a virtuous cycle that leads to genuine goodness and real impact.

Key Takeaways:

• Young people are the only group of humans that are talked about, almost exclusively, as potential. This is not true – young people, right now, are building the world.
• Those closest to the problems are also often the ones closest to the solutions. You cannot solve the problems of the world for others, only with them. 
• As of 2020, young people control about $3 trillion in spending. They have choices – they no longer want to be consumers, they want to be citizens. 

“It is our small acts that make a difference. Think about what are those proximal things that you can do – who and how you hire, where you send your kids to school, voting. These are the things that are going to make a difference in the future of our lives and our country. And those are the things that, at the end of the day, matter.” —  Eric Dawson

About Eric Dawson:

Eric Dawson, CEO/Co-Founder, Rivet; Founder of Peace First

Eric is CEO and Founder of RIVET, a new social impact venture that funds and amplifies youth-led social change through co-branded partnerships with leading brands and influencers. Previously, he was founder and CEO of Peace First, an organization he helped launch at 18 which now works in over 150 countries preparing young people to lead positive social action through compassion and courage.  Through a digital platform Peace First provides design tools, money and mentorship for youth to imagine and implement impactful social innovations.  A globally recognized expert on youth culture and movement-building, Eric received his degrees from Harvard University: a specialized B.A. in economics, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, and political science; M.Ed in human development psychology; and M.Div. in pastoral care and counseling. He is an Ashoka, Echoing Green, and Pop!Tech Fellow.  Besides the odd jobs of bartending, electron microscopy, TV commercials, and serving as the driver for the author of Curious George, Eric got his professional start directing a summer camp in Boston’s public housing complexes.  His book for young readers, Putting Peace First: Seven Commitments to Change the World was recently published by Viking.

Connect with Eric Dawson

RIVET: https://joinrivet.org/

Peace First: https://peacefirst.org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peacefirstorg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-d-dawson/

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

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

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

What does empathetic marketing even look like in today’s digital age, where everything seems to be done over email or social media? And what are some principles to help marketers embrace and turn it into action? Today’s guest, social media marketer Pat Timmons, wrote a great book called Feel Something: How to Embrace Empathy and Build Trust with Your Audience. As a frontline marketer, Pat has learned a lot about how to leverage social media to create strong customer relationships.

Today we talk about what empathy marketing is and some of the principles highlighted in the book. We also discuss how to leverage social media to cultivate empathy and why frontline marketers have a responsibility to be empathetic in their work. He’ll give us examples of brands that are marketing with empathy – and why empathy is vital beyond the sale in the  post-purchase experience – something marketers often forget about. 

Key Takeaways:

• Be constantly curious about your audience and listen in full, saying “Yes! 100%.”
• You can tell the emotions of your clients by the style of memes that are being posted. Listen to what your customers are saying, and how they are saying it, and utilize that in your own posts. 
• You can’t just stop once you get the money. They’ve made a commitment to you, now you need to continue your commitment to them. 

“The only way you can really market to someone that will make them feel something is to feel what they’re feeling. The way you can do that is by being curious about them, and really leaning into that.” —  Pat Timmons

About Pat Timmons:

Pat Timmons, Social Media Expert and Author

Pat Timmons is a social media marketer with experience in tech, the music business, advertising, and PR. His journey in marketing began at Emerson College with his major in marketing communications and entrepreneurial studies. Since starting and finishing at Emerson, Pat has had roles in all forms of marketing and is a “swiss-army knife” in the discipline, working for companies such as Webflow, Chartmetric, and Drift.

While marketing is a strong passion for Pat, so is getting to know people and understand why people do things. Ever since he could remember, he has been constantly curious and relentlessly empathetic. Pat is the author of Feel Something: How to Embrace Empathy and Build Trust With Your Audience.

Connect with Pat Timmons:  

Website: https://www.feelsomething.co

Book: https://www.feelsomething.co/book

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pattimmons_

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

Imagination and resilience are the hallmarks of successful leaders, those who can envision the goal before they even know exactly how to get there, and those who can bounce back and learn from failure rather than let it discourage them. Imagination and resilience are what we need, now more than ever, to create a more peaceful, harmonious world. That’s how we’ll tap into new ideas for how to work, collaborate, and perform. Today, my guest, Michelle Sherman, and I talk about the role of imagination and resilience in creating empathy. We discuss how most innovative leaders imagine the outcome they want before anyone even thinks it’s possible. We discuss cognitive replenishment and the role it plays in original thinking – and in coping with modern life challenges, and how original thinking is the result of intentional choices on a daily basis. Finally, we discuss how positive imagination is a skillset you can master, through small decisions you make every day.

Key Takeaways:

• Empathy and imagination go hand in hand because people need to know that when they give their best, it is valued.
• In order to imagine possibilities, the first step is cognitive replenishment so that you can be a better thinker of divergent thinking and become more optimistic naturally.
• We need to think in a new way to solve the problems we have been solving for thousands of years. We created the models, we can change them and think about things in a different way.
• What we lack is not goodness, what we usually lack is imagination.

“If you want to live an authentic life, be yourself. Be an original thinker, and you will be a much happier, healthier cell in the body of humankind. Only good can come of that.” —  Michelle Sherman

About Michelle Sherman:

Michelle Sherman, Transformational Leadership Coach & Founder, VAST Institute

Renaissance woman. International business strategist. Inspirational speaker. Published author. Transformational coach. Leadership mentor. Citizen diplomat. Visionary pioneer. Spiritual companion. Proponent of World Peace. These are just a few titles earned by the founder of VAST Institute, Michelle Sherman. With a vibrant background in a myriad of industries, Michelle’s vast experience allows her to connect with clients from all walks of life—from C-suite executives to individuals simply seeking direction and a deeper meaning in life. Michelle is also the author of Kindling the Flame:The Art and Science of Cognitive Replenishment, an uplifting guide to optimism, inclusion, resilience and awakened leadership genius.

Connect with Michelle Sherman:

Website: https://www.vastinstitute.com

Her book: Kindling the Flame

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vastmatters

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vast-institute/

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

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

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

Do you have to choose between a successful corporate career and humanitarian work? Or can they live in harmony? Today’s guest proves that you can not only do both, but that you can engage your team and such work can make you a better, more empathetic leader! It’s a beautiful cycle and one I’m thrilled to talk about with Woodson Martin. Today, Woodson shares how he achieves that balance, and offers advice on how you can do both as well. We talk about how his community work has benefited him as a leader, helped engage his team, and how he bounces back and forth between these different worlds. He also shares great stories about how his tech teams have been able to use their unique talents to solve non-profit challenges, hopefully sparking some ideas for you!

Key Takeaways:

• It doesn’t require travelling the world to do humanitarian work. There is a lot of need for it within the borders of your own country. 
• Any kind of change requires courage. If you don’t ask, you will never know what kind of reaction you will get.
• Seeing leaders engage in humanitarian work frees employees to feel that they can, too. It also helps to build relationships, not only with your employees, but with your customers and partners. 
• Values create value. Committing yourself, your company, and your employees to giving back to your community is an investment in your business. 

“Do not underestimate the power of giving back and developing a corporate commitment to do that.” —  Woodson Martin

About Woodson Martin:

Woodson Martin + EVP & GM, Salesforce AppExchange

Woodson has been with Salesforce for over 15 years, and has had the opportunity to wear many hats in roles ranging from marketing, including serving as CMO of Marketing Cloud, to recruiting. Prior to his current role, Woodson was GM of Salesforce IoT. Woodson also spent nine years at Business Objects, where he led the purchase and implementation of Salesforce as their CRM system in the early 2000s and got hooked on the potential of the cloud. Woodson balances and blends his work at Salesforce with community service through several non-profit organizations focused on humanitarian and legal assistance for people seeking asylum in the United States.

Connect with Woodson:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/woodson_martin

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

Sales Force: http://www.salesforce.com

AppExchange: http://www.appexchange.com

Team Brownsville: http://www.teambrownsville.org

Mobile Pathways: http://www.mobilepathways.org

FROM OUR EPISODE SPONSOR: VAST INSTITUTE

Our guest today will be talking all about how you can balance corporate success with being a humanitarian leader. Business professionals listen up! The world needs more “conscious” leaders and the great news is that operating in this way is goodness for all parties involved: you as a leader, your team, your organization -and yes, the world!

On our next episode, you’ll hear from Transformational Leadership Coach and founder of the VAST Institute, Michelle Sherman. So it’s perfect to mention her work and her fabulous book Kindling the Flame:The Art and Science of Cognitive Replenishment. The book is an uplifting guide to optimism, inclusion, resilience and awakened leadership genius.

Backed by science and psychology, Michelle’s book really opened my eyes to how we can create the world we want, if we simply stop burying ourselves under layers of outdated business models, inauthentic interactions, and toxic media! What we imagine, we can create. What we consume, impacts our frame of mind. What we believe is possible, defines our life.

The VAST Cognitive Replenishment practice outlined in the book Kindling the Flame offers professionals a simple set of tools “to mentally recharge your life, heighten problem solving capabilities, reset to healthier boundaries and tune up your leadership skillset”.

Seriously, I loved this book. It’s so helpful and full of insights that will make you a better, stronger and more mindful leader.

Purchase Kindling the Flame: The Art and Science of Cognitive Replenishment

Learn more about VAST Institute and their leadership programs and resources:

https://www.vastinstitute.com

Connect with VAST:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vastmatters

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vast-institute/

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

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

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’s brand strategy work and books: 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

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