Maria Ross: Strength in Empathy

Description

Maria Ross is a dynamic speaker, author, business strategist, and empathy advocate who’s on a mission to prove that compassion and business success go hand in hand. Maria’s latest book, The Empathy Dilemma, and her acclaimed podcast, The Empathy Edge, explore how leaders can balance performance, people, and personal boundaries to achieve radical success. With a career-spanning keynote at TEDx and The New York Times as well as workshops for companies like Salesforce, Maria is here to share how empathy can transform leadership and fuel growth.

In this episode, Wendi and Maria discuss:

The transformative role of empathy in careers and leadership
Impact of near-death experience on researching empathy
Empathetic leadership during layoffs and tough decisions
Addressing employee issues through active listening and compassion
Communicating expectations and managing performance with empathy

Key Takeaways:

Empathy emerges as a transformative leadership tool, enabling tough decisions while maintaining compassion, ultimately fostering trust and connection within teams.
The pandemic heightened the demand for empathetic, human-centric cultures, demonstrating its role in enhancing employee engagement, innovation, and workplace adaptability.
By addressing underlying challenges rather than surface-level incidents, leaders can defuse tensions and drive team success through active listening and support.
Empathy's impact on business extends beyond interpersonal relationships, influencing customer loyalty, retention, and overall brand reputation, especially with Gen Z and millennials.
Intentional leadership requires balancing empathy with goal-setting and boundaries, ensuring resources and clarity are provided without emotional overreach.

“I think recognizing and acknowledging that empathy is a strength, not a weakness, and making sure that we take care of ourselves so that we can be there for other people. It's not selfish to know your boundaries. Express your boundaries. It's not selfish to take care of yourself. Like we're saying, take a time out because you're going to show up better for people if you do.” - Maria Ross

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/bDbJpjhVodA

Connect with Maria Ross:

Website: https://www.red-slice.com

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

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

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@redslicemaria

Twitter: https://x.com/redslice

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Redslice-MariaRoss

TEDx Talk: https://bit.ly/MariaRossTEDx

Podcast: https://www.red-slice.com/podcast/

Maria’s Books: https://www.red-slice.com/books/