Shows / The Empathy Edge
The Empathy Edge
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…
Episodes
- The Empathy Edge
Rachael Kelly: People-First Systems and Models That Break Limiting Cycles
We've long been told that compassion and profitability can't coexist. My guest today challenges that idea, building her business, people systems, and…
- The Empathy Edge
Peter Swimm: Stop AI-ing the Wrong Things — Put Your Humans First
We're all so busy "AI-ing" everything that nobody stops to ask — are we actually solving the right problems for the real humans on the other end? Peter Swimm…
- The Empathy Edge
October Hot Take: On My 54th Birthday, I Have Something to Say
On her 54th birthday, Maria gets personal, fired up, and a little cheeky. She shares the story behind her brand-new speaker reel - three minutes, eighteen…
- The Empathy Edge
Claire Mia Burnett: Your Energy Is Money and Most Leaders Are Overdrawn
What if your energy worked exactly like money? My guest is Claire Mia Burnett, a coach and currently the Director of Operations and Effectiveness at McKesson…
- The Empathy Edge
Maria and Rob: Is Empathy an Emotion, Skill, Interaction, or Choice?
Maria Ross and Rob Volpe are back! Today, we talk about empathy like it's an emotion: something that washes over you, or doesn't. But what if you don't feel…
- The Empathy Edge
Dan Cosgrove: The ROI of Dignity - Disrupting Broken Employee Benefits for Good
Here is a stat that should make every leader uncomfortable: most companies are overpaying for employee healthcare while their employees are still underserved…
- The Empathy Edge
Rebecca Dhrimaj: How to Lead Teams Through Change with Empathy
Most leaders are promoted because they’re excellent at strategy, operations, or delivering results. But very few are ever taught how to lead people or give…
- The Empathy Edge
Alex Tieu: How Empathy as Policy is Disrupting a Cutthroat Industry
Today we get to see what it actually looks like when a leader builds an entire organization around empathy and people - operationalizes it, measures it, and…
- The Empathy Edge
Carlo Odicino: How People-Centered Leaders Get Big Sh*t Done!
Warning: We're getting a little spicy today! What if caring deeply about your people was actually the fastest way to get big sh*t done? I’m talking with Carlo…
- The Empathy Edge
Hot Take: What the Fire Horse Has Taught Leaders About Reinvention
We are living in the Year of the Fire Horse. And if you know anything about Chinese astrology, you know that the Fire Horse is not a gentle, meandering kind of…
- The Empathy Edge
Nada Lena Nasserdeen: Why Expertise Isn’t Enough to Lead High-Performing Teams
We’re entering a leadership era where charisma without self-awareness falls flat, expertise without empathy stalls out, and confidence isn’t a personality…
- The Empathy Edge
Scott Stirrett: Why Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty Is a Core Leadership Skill—and How to Build It
What if uncertainty isn’t something to fear or even survive, but a skill you can train and a competitive advantage you can build? Scott Stirrett has spent more…
- The Empathy Edge
Dr. Ute Liersch: How Resilient Leaders Bend Without Breaking
What if resilience isn’t about powering through, pushing harder, or staying unbreakable but about knowing how to bend, recalibrate, and return to center…
- The Empathy Edge
Hot Take: You Are Your Decisions, Not Your Intentions
While many leaders want to lead with empathy, they often fail to translate that desire into actionable decisions. Today, Maria discusses the distinction…
- The Empathy Edge
What Does It Mean to Be Human? Ep 6: The Whole Messy Thing We Want to Protect
In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans…
- The Empathy Edge
Florence Ann Romano: Build Your Village
They say “It takes a village.” But how do you build it? For all our technology, tools, and ways to stay “connected,” many of us are feeling more isolated than…
- The Empathy Edge
What Does it Mean to Be Human? Ep 5: Morals, Ethics, and The Stories We Tell
In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans…
- The Empathy Edge
Dr. Adam Dorsay: The 4 Types of Connection That Transform Your Life and Leadership
What if the secret to a more fulfilling life (and a more effective leadership style) isn't productivity or strategy, but connection? My guest today is Dr. Adam…
- The Empathy Edge
What Does It Mean to Be Human? Ep 4: Dream Forward, Remember Back
In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans…
- The Empathy Edge
Dr. Tracy Brower: Why Community Is the Cure for the Loneliness Epidemic - at Work and in Life
We are more connected and lonelier than ever. That paradox is shaping not just our personal lives, but our workplaces, our leadership, and our long-term…
- The Empathy Edge
What Does It Mean to Be Human? Ep 3: Feeling Everything
In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans…
- The Empathy Edge
July 2026 Hot Take: Connection, Hope
Connection isn't a nice-to-have. It is the thing - the whole thing. And right now, in a world that seems to be working overtime to divide us, finding our…
- The Empathy Edge
What Does It Mean to Be Human? Ep 2: We Know We're Going to Die
In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans…
- The Empathy Edge
Aubrey Morgan Yee: Radical Collaboration to Create Alternate Futures
What if the future of leadership isn’t about scaling faster or competing harder, but about finding empathy and remembering what it truly means to be human?…
- The Empathy Edge
What Does It Mean to Be Human? Ep 1: The Aware Animal
In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans…
- The Empathy Edge
Moshe Engelberg: Leading with Love Leads to Success
What if I told you that the most powerful force in business isn’t strategy, innovation, or tech: it’s love? Every great leader you admire already practices it…
- The Empathy Edge
Terri Givens: Reckoning: Creating Positive Change through Radical Empathy
Join this deep conversation about what empathy really looks like in our institutions, our communities, and our leadership—especially at a time when empathy…
- The Empathy Edge
Meghan French Dunbar: Work Isn't Working for Anyone Right Now
If work feels harder than it should—more exhausting, more fragmented, more misaligned—it’s probably not because people are failing. It’s because the system is…
- The Empathy Edge
Robert Coleman, Ph.D: Only 14% Get Empathy Training — and It's Costing You Everything
The data proving empathy is smart business has always been there, it's all we talk about here - but now it's bigger, broader, and more impossible to ignore…
- The Empathy Edge
Mitch Shepard: Unfiltered! The Leadership Gender "Rules” That Hurt EVERYONE
What if the biggest thing holding leaders back isn’t a lack of ambition or skilL but outdated operating systems we’ve never questioned? Mitch Shepard lives at…
- The Empathy Edge
David Grossman: Why "Good Enough" Leadership Is Your Biggest Risk
Most leaders think they're doing fine. Their teams think otherwise. And that gap - hiding in plain sight across organizations everywhere - is exactly what my…
- The Empathy Edge
Dr. Jay Jakub: Economic Mutuality and the Empathy of Purpose
What if business wasn’t just about profit, but about creating mutual value across stakeholders and communities that would actually DRIVE more profit? That’s…
- The Empathy Edge
Dr. David Bray: From Bioterrorism to AI — Why Empathy Is Your Best Strategy in a Chaotic World
Dr. David Bray is one of those rare humans who has done so much, across so many high-stakes arenas, that his bio almost reads like fiction. David is Chair of…
- The Empathy Edge
Brandon Peele: What America's 250th Birthday Is Really Asking of Us
America is about to turn 250 years old. My guest today believes this moment is asking something from all of us. Not a celebration or parade, but a reckoning, a…
- The Empathy Edge
Ceallaigh Smart: The Power of Being Seen
The power of being seen can change everything. We see it in the workplace and in our world. And one way to strengthen empathy and build that connection is…
- The Empathy Edge
Dr. Jaime Goff: How Secure Leaders Rewrite Unhelpful Stories to Find Success
What are the hidden, unconscious forces that shape how we lead—why we react the way we do, why some situations knock us off center, and how we can build the…
- The Empathy Edge
Kevin Perlmutter: Sparking Brand Desire with Empathy
Do you know that customers who are highly emotionally connected to your brand are 53% more loyal than those who are merely satisfied with your products and…
- The Empathy Edge
April Hot Take: How to Practice, Prove, and Hire for Empathy in the Age of AI
How do you actually practice empathy? How do you prove you have it — to employers, to clients, to the people you lead? And if you're building a team, how do…
- The Empathy Edge
Dr. Joel Pérez: Becoming an Exceptional Leader Through Cultural Humility
Teams today are more diverse than ever—and within that diversity lies the potential to unlock innovation, performance, and belonging. But only if leaders…
- The Empathy Edge
Ashley Jones: How to Courageously Lead and Support Through Grief
Some conversations linger long after the recording stops; the conversations that deepen your humanity and reshape how you think about leadership. This episode…
- The Empathy Edge
Conny Kalcher: How Zurich is Making Empathy Pay Off by Closing the Gap
For years, empathy was treated as a business nice-to-have—important, but secondary to speed, scale, and efficiency. The data now tells a very different story…
- The Empathy Edge
Claude Silver: Be Yourself at Work for the Ultimate Leadership Advantage
Too many leaders are still trying to succeed by becoming someone they think they’re supposed to be—quieter, tougher, more polished, less human. And in the…
- The Empathy Edge
Dr. Claire Yorke: Can Empathy Fix Broken Politics?
It’s easy right now to believe that the divisions we see are simply too deep to repair. That empathy has become a liability. That listening has been replaced…
- The Empathy Edge
Joris Merks-Benjaminsen: Managing Without Power to Balance Humanity and Performance
Balancing performance with human leadership can be tough for some leaders. The goal is to strike a healthy balance, while always remembering that taking…
- The Empathy Edge
Kasey D'Amato: Making High-Stakes Decisions Requires Empathy and Self-Compassion
What happens when you’re standing at a pivot point — the kind where your next move could shift everything for your business, your team, or your career? In…
- The Empathy Edge
Rebecca Geshuri: When Good Moms Feel Bad and Why Supporting Them is a Leadership Imperative
What if the problem isn’t that moms are failing—but that we’ve built systems that quietly ask them to do the impossible and then blame them when they struggle?…
- The Empathy Edge
February Hot Take: Leading Humans in a Hurting World
In today’s timely hot take episode in this heavy world, Maria discusses the importance of empathy in leadership during challenging times, emphasizing that…
- The Empathy Edge
Michelle Feferman: How Leaders Create Psychological Safety When Employees Are Afraid
I had to get this urgent episode to you sooner rather than later, given the climate of fear in the U.S. in current times. For many employees right now, work…
- The Empathy Edge
Amy Mosher Berry: Beyond Coffee Runs: Turning Interns into Impact
Internships have changed a lot since COVID, and if done well, they can be powerful tools for both attracting top young talent and fueling your organization’s…
- The Empathy Edge
Donzel Leggett: Designing Success When the Odds Are Not In Your Favor
What if creating championship-level performance has far less to do with the team you inherit and everything to do with your own mindset and how you lead…
- The Empathy Edge
Sam Daley-Harris: Reclaiming Our Democracy
What if everything you believe about advocacy is incomplete? What if the real work of changing the world isn’t just about fixing problems, but about…
- The Empathy Edge
Ed Kirwan: The Most Effective Way to Build Empathy
What if empathy wasn’t something we talked about, but something we actually trained, practiced, and scaled? My guest today, Ed Kirwan, is doing exactly that…
- The Empathy Edge
Julia Armet: Solving the Double-Empathy Problem to Harness Neurodiversity
Did you know that 53% of Gen Z, the rising workforce, identifies as neurodivergent? If that’s the future of work, what does it mean for how we lead…
- The Empathy Edge
Catherine Ducharme: Managing Up for Two-Way Empathy
Managing up is one of the most powerful career accelerators you can master—and it all starts with empathy. Not just empathy flowing downward from leaders to…
- The Empathy Edge
Jen Marr: Own the Awkward to be a Better Leader
Technology has always been a double-edged sword. As the workplace and culture shift, we as humans are seeing more collaboration, access, and the ability to…
- The Empathy Edge
Jamie Lee: Rewire Your Brain with Empathy to Better Stand Up For Yourself
What if the key to self-advocacy wasn’t being louder—but rewiring how you think, feel, and connect with empathy? Today, I’m joined by executive coach and…
- The Empathy Edge
Annalee Hagood-Earl: A Founder's Masterclass in Values-Driven Velocity
If you’ve ever wondered what it really looks like to lead a fast-growing business or team with heart, humor, and humanity, today is your masterclass. Annalee…
- The Empathy Edge
Scott Trumpolt: Beyond the Paycheck: Strategic Compensation Through an Empathetic Lens
When it comes to empathy at work, there are a hundred different ways to infuse empathy into your operations and systems - in real, practical, non-emotional…
- The Empathy Edge
Heather R. Younger: The Art of Self-Leadership
What if the key to leading others with empathy… is learning how to lead yourself first? Today’s guest, Heather Younger, is here to show us how self-leadership…
- The Empathy Edge
Sharon Steed: Empathy in Communication and AI
Many leaders come to empathy in their style and communication based on their own challenges. Today's guest shares how vulnerably sharing her story led her down…