Gallup research shows that only 31 percent of U.S. employees feel engaged at work, and worldwide that number drops to 21 percent. A major driver of disengagement is the absence of empathy in leadership. When people don’t feel heard or supported, they disengage, trust erodes, and cultures weaken.

On The Bliss Business Podcast, Katharine Manning, President of Blackbird and author of The Empathetic Workplace, joined us to discuss why empathy is not optional for leaders — especially in the wake of trauma and uncertainty. With more than 25 years of experience, including 15 years at the U.S. Department of Justice supporting victims of tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombing and the Pulse nightclub shooting, Katharine brings deep perspective on the human side of leadership.

Redefining Empathy in Leadership

Many leaders mistakenly believe empathy is a sign of weakness. Katharine challenged this view by reframing empathy as a core leadership skill: the ability to understand what others need to thrive. This doesn’t mean giving in to every request; it means listening, observing, and providing the conditions where people can succeed.

She reminded us that employees don’t all need the same things. Sometimes thriving requires adjustments to roles, environments, or responsibilities. True empathy is the willingness to identify those needs and respond with clarity and compassion.

Recognizing When Empathy is Needed

Change and disruption often amplify the need for empathy. Katharine explained that leaders should proactively provide support during organizational changes like office moves, industry shifts, or layoffs. At the same time, external events — such as mass violence, political upheaval, or natural disasters — carry ripple effects into the workplace.

By cultivating situational awareness, leaders can anticipate how broader events impact employees. Something as simple as asking team members to share how they’re doing on a scale of one to ten creates safe opportunities for expression without forcing disclosure.

Practical Tools for Compassionate Conversations

Empathy in leadership becomes tangible through everyday practices. Katharine outlined several actionable tools, including:

• Weekly one-on-ones: The strongest predictor of psychological safety is regular supervisor check-ins.
• Fact-based observations: Begin conversations with observable changes in behavior (“I noticed you were unusually quiet in today’s meeting”) followed by an open-ended question.
• The five steps of compassionate response: Listen, acknowledge, share information, empower with resources, and return. These simple steps equip every team member to respond with care when colleagues face challenges.

These approaches make empathy less abstract and more operational within organizations.

Scaling Empathy Across Organizations

Katharine emphasized that empathy cannot be left to chance. To scale effectively, organizations need systems that operationalize it. This includes acknowledgment practices, robust support resources such as Employee Assistance Programs, and fair, consistent treatment of all employees.

She also noted the importance of “noisy self-care.” Leaders who share their own use of resources model vulnerability and normalize mental health support. This creates environments where asking for help is both acceptable and encouraged.

Empathy in Hybrid and Remote Work

The rise of remote and hybrid models has made empathy both more difficult and more necessary. Leaders no longer have the same in-person cues to identify when someone is struggling. Katharine encouraged deliberate practices, like sending private messages to check in or introducing creative team rituals such as trivia or virtual story-sharing sessions.

These new tools not only preserve connection but also introduce inclusivity, making space for voices that might otherwise go unheard in traditional settings.

The Next Generation and Mental Health

Katharine highlighted how Gen Z is changing the conversation about mental health. Unlike older generations, younger workers prioritize wellness and are more open about struggles. While rates of depression and anxiety remain high, this openness may be a step toward more authentic, healthier workplaces in the long term.

Purpose and Humanity at the Core

Purpose is central to Katharine’s work. Inspired by her own family history, she has dedicated her career to supporting victims and promoting resilience. She reminded us that purpose anchors decisions and builds cultures rooted in humanity.

Her work shows that when leaders connect with people on a human level, trust deepens, well-being rises, and organizational missions thrive.

Love as a Leadership Practice

Perhaps most powerful was Katharine’s reflection on the role of love in business. She shared the story of Stanford Children’s Hospital, which chose compassion and transparency after a tragic medical error. Instead of denying responsibility, the hospital investigated, explained, apologized, and compensated the family. The result was healing for patients and providers, and even improved business outcomes.

This example illustrated that love in leadership is not sentimental — it is transformative. It builds trust, retains talent, and drives long-term success.

Key Takeaways

• Empathy is not weakness but a leadership superpower.
• Situational awareness helps leaders anticipate when support is needed.
• Simple practices like one-on-ones and fact-based conversations build psychological safety.
• Scaling empathy requires acknowledgment, resources, and fairness.
• Remote and hybrid teams need deliberate rituals for connection.
• Purpose and love are foundational to resilient, high-performing organizations.

Final Thoughts

Empathy is no longer optional — it is the foundation of effective leadership in today’s workplaces. Leaders who listen, acknowledge, and act with humanity create the conditions where individuals, teams, and missions thrive together.

Check out our full conversation with Katharine Manning on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

Emotional intelligence is often talked about as a personal trait, something nice to have if you want to get along with people. In reality, it is the hidden engine that drives leadership, culture, and growth. Companies that ignore emotional intelligence may hit short term goals, but they miss the deeper connection that sustains engagement and innovation over the long run.

On The Bliss Business Podcast, we explored this idea with Kath Allen, Founder of Hike Doggie Inc. and Hike Doggie Franchising LLC, and Abbey Lee, Partner of Hike Doggie Inc. and Hike Doggie Franchising LLC. Their journey from a passion for dogs and the outdoors to leading a fast growing national franchise illustrates how emotional intelligence shapes every stage of leadership and business building.

Lessons from the Court and the Classroom

For Kath, the roots of emotional intelligence began on the basketball court. As a Division II athlete, she learned quickly that teamwork, coachability, and communication were the keys to success. Later, as a global account manager in the corporate world, she realized that what mattered most was not technical knowledge of products but the ability to build authentic relationships. Clients did not remember the details of the fleet; they remembered how she made them feel.

Abbey came to the same realization through education. With a background in teaching and child psychology, she understood early how emotions shape behavior and learning. As she transitioned into business, those skills carried over into leading teams, supporting franchisees, and raising her own children. She describes emotional intelligence as listening deeply, resisting the urge to “fix” everything immediately, and cultivating awareness of what people are feeling in the moment.

Emotional Intelligence in Action

One of the clearest examples came from a difficult day on the trail. A misstep by a hiker led to a dog getting injured, and Kath had to act quickly. Rather than avoid the problem or minimize it, she leaned in with transparency and care. She covered the vet bills, kept the owner informed minute by minute, and personally visited the dog during recovery. That commitment not only repaired the relationship but deepened it. The same client eventually became a franchise partner.

The lesson is simple but powerful. Emotional intelligence transforms conflict into trust. It shows people that mistakes will be met with accountability and empathy rather than excuses. In business, these moments define culture more than any mission statement.

Building Systems that Reinforce Values

As Hike Doggie expanded, Abbey drew on her teaching background to build systems and training platforms for franchisees. Emotional intelligence became part of the curriculum, not an afterthought. Weekly leadership lessons were woven into the onboarding process, ensuring that new franchise owners learned how to listen, empathize, and lead with care alongside the operational basics.

These systems reflect a deeper truth. Emotional intelligence is not just an individual skill; it is a collective practice. When companies embed it into rituals, training, and communication, it becomes part of the organizational DNA.

Family, Business, and Empathy

Running a business with family members is often seen as risky. Kath and Abbey know the challenges firsthand. They have had hard conversations about roles, expectations, and how to keep fun alive in the work. What made those conversations productive was empathy. Instead of avoiding tension, they leaned into honesty, listened to one another, and found a path forward. The result is a stronger partnership and a culture of openness across the company.

Their story demonstrates that emotional intelligence is not about avoiding conflict. It is about approaching conflict with curiosity, patience, and care. This mindset turns potential fractures into opportunities for deeper trust.

Purpose as a Guiding Light

Purpose is the ultimate expression of emotional intelligence at scale. At Hike Doggie, the mission is to “make dogs as happy as they make us.” It is intentionally unachievable, ensuring that the company continues to strive every day. For the franchising side, the mission expands to creating opportunities for dog obsessed people to build fulfilling lives and stable businesses.

Purpose is not left in a manual. It is reinforced daily. Core values such as “do the right thing,” “safety is non negotiable,” and “surpass client expectations” are called out and celebrated. Employees and franchisees know what decisions to make because they understand the mission. Empowered by purpose, they act autonomously with confidence that their choices align with the bigger picture.

Love as a Business Principle

Perhaps the most striking theme is love. At Hike Doggie, even the email domains for franchisees include the word “love.” This is not accidental. Love is positioned as a core value — love for dogs, love for clients, and love for the team. The company’s culture is built on showing care in tangible ways, from celebrating employees to creating joy filled experiences for customers.

Abbey describes love as showing up with passion for the work and people you interact with every day. Kath emphasizes that if you are not sure what to do in a tough moment, choose the loving thing. It will almost always be the right path.

Key Takeaways

• Emotional intelligence is the foundation of trust, resilience, and growth.
• Leaders build connection not by having all the answers but by listening and responding with care.
• Systems and training can embed emotional intelligence into organizational culture.
• Conflict, when met with empathy, strengthens relationships rather than breaking them.
• Purpose gives people autonomy and alignment without constant oversight.
• Love is not a sentiment but a strategy for lasting connection and performance.

Final Thoughts

Emotional intelligence is not a side skill. It is a leadership superpower that drives both human connection and business results. Kath Allen and Abbey Lee’s journey with Hike Doggie shows that when leaders embrace empathy, purpose, and love, they build companies that thrive far beyond financial metrics.

Check out our full conversation with Kath Allen and Abbey Lee on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

Many organizations treat culture as an optional extra, something to revisit after the strategy is set and the targets are missed. The reality is the opposite. Culture is the system that makes every plan either possible or impossible. When people feel safe, included, and trusted, they lean in. When the environment trains them to play it safe or to fend for themselves, even brilliant strategies stall.

On The Bliss Business Podcast, we sat down with Garry Ridge, Chairman Emeritus of WD-40 Company and Founder of The Learning Moment, to explore how leaders can shape cultures where people thrive and results follow. Garry’s core message is simple and demanding. Fix the culture, not the people. Create the environment, and performance becomes a natural outcome.

Culture Before Strategy

Leaders often react to poor results by correcting individuals, tightening controls, or replacing talent. That approach assumes the problem sits inside people rather than in the system surrounding them. Culture is the sum of what gets encouraged, tolerated, celebrated, and repeated. If fear and blame are present, initiative disappears. If transparency, trust, and coaching are present, people contribute more than their job descriptions require.

Putting culture first is not a soft move. It is an operational decision. It determines how decisions get made, how information flows, and how quickly teams learn. Strategy describes where the business is going. Culture decides how the business will get there.

Five Foundations That Unlock Performance

High performing cultures rarely happen by accident. They are built on explicit foundations that turn values into everyday behaviors. Garry highlights five that leaders can operationalize.

• Belonging. People do their best work when they feel part of the tribe. Belonging is created by inclusion, recognition, and the language leaders choose every day.
• Significance. Work matters when people see the impact. Connecting tasks to outcomes helps employees understand how their contribution creates value for customers and for one another.
• Choice. Values serve as simple rules for complex environments. When values are clear and lived, teams can make decisions without waiting for permission.
• Safety. Mistakes are treated as data, not as ammunition. Psychological safety encourages intelligent risk taking and faster learning.
• Coaching. Leaders act as coaches who ask questions, expand capability, and give timely feedback. Authority does not disappear. It gets translated into development.

When these foundations are present, the day to day experience changes. Meetings become places to solve problems rather than defend positions. Teams spend less time hiding issues and more time improving outcomes.

Measuring What Matters

There is a persistent myth that culture cannot be measured. In truth, every organization is already measuring it. Attrition, referral rates, engagement, quality defects, safety incidents, and customer advocacy are cultural indicators as much as operational ones. The question is whether leaders will look at them through a cultural lens.

A practical starting point is to track a short set of people centered metrics alongside financial ones, then review them with the same rigor. Ask how many employees would recommend the company to a friend. Ask how often teams share learning moments after a project. Ask how quickly cross functional issues are surfaced and resolved. Measurement is not about policing feelings. It is about seeing the health of the system that produces results.

Confronting Cultural Toxins

One tolerated toxin can undo months of progress. The most common is the high performer who violates values. When the numbers are strong and the behavior is corrosive, leaders face a test of credibility. If values only apply to some people, they do not exist.

Confronting toxins means setting explicit behavioral standards and holding everyone to them. It means refusing shortcuts that compromise the culture in exchange for short term wins. The payoff is a workforce that trusts leadership to protect the environment where they do their best work.

From Mistakes to Learning Moments

Cultures that grow quickly have one habit in common. They turn errors into shared knowledge. Garry’s notion of the learning moment reframes outcomes as information that should be shared for everyone’s benefit. That shift replaces the hunt for blame with the search for insight.

Leaders make this real by asking a few consistent questions after a miss or a win. What did we expect, what happened, what did we learn, and what will we change. The cadence matters. If teams wait for an annual review to reflect, learning arrives too late. When learning is frequent and lightweight, improvement accelerates and fear declines.

Purpose as the Operating System

Purpose is not a paragraph on the wall. It is the operating system for decisions, tradeoffs, and priorities. When a company articulates a clear purpose, people can navigate ambiguity without constant escalation. Purpose answers the question, what are we here to create.

In practice, purpose shows up when teams choose customer trust over short term gain, when leaders invest in development even during busy seasons, and when success is defined by the memories the brand leaves with people, not just by the quarter’s numbers. Purpose does not replace performance. It gives performance direction and meaning.

Servant Leadership and Love

Servant leadership is a choice to put the growth of people at the center of the leadership role. It involves real discipline. Leaders listen first, coach often, and remove obstacles that slow teams down. Accountability does not disappear. It becomes a shared commitment to the standards the team agreed to uphold.

Love has a place in business. Not sentimentality, but genuine care. Love looks like believing in someone’s potential before they see it themselves. It looks like telling the truth with kindness, and it looks like sending people home with more dignity and energy than they arrived with. Cultures shaped by love are resilient because people feel safe enough to try, fail, learn, and try again.

Practical Moves Leaders Can Make Now

• Name the values and the behaviors. Translate each value into two or three observable actions. Review them regularly.
• Create a simple ritual for learning moments. Ten minutes at the end of key projects is enough to capture lessons and apply them.
• Protect the culture in hiring and promotion. Choose for values and coaching ability, not just for individual output.
• Measure two people centric indicators. Track engagement and referral intent with the same seriousness as revenue and margin.
• Tell purpose driven stories. Share examples of choices that honored the purpose, especially when they required tradeoffs.

Key Takeaways

• Culture is the system that enables strategy. It must be built first and guarded daily.
• Belonging, significance, choice, safety, and coaching turn values into performance.
• Measurement, when viewed through a cultural lens, reveals the health of the system.
• Tolerating toxic behavior destroys trust, even when short term numbers look good.
• Learning moments convert mistakes into shared knowledge and speed.
• Servant leadership and love are powerful drivers of sustainable results.

Final Thoughts

Fixing people rarely works. Fixing the culture changes everything. When leaders choose to build environments of belonging, safety, and purpose, they unlock performance that no command and control system can match. The ripple effects extend beyond the balance sheet into families, communities, and the wider world.

Check out our full conversation with Garry Ridge on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

Mindfulness has long been seen as a personal wellness practice, yet its impact on the workplace is undeniable. A report from the American Psychological Association found that employees who feel supported in their well-being are nearly 90 percent more likely to recommend their company as a great place to work. This connection between mindfulness and engagement is transforming the way leaders think about success.

Recently on The Bliss Business Podcast, we sat down with Cindy Van Eeckhout, Certified Mindfulness Coach and Founder of Alegria Coaching, to discuss how mindfulness can be a leadership strength rather than a side practice. Cindy’s philosophy, embodied in her “Joy of Life” method, positions joy not as the result of success, but as the very foundation of it.

A Journey Shaped by Joy

Cindy’s story is anchored in both entrepreneurial success and personal discovery. Originally from Belgium, she built a career in corporate sales management before choosing a different path in Provence, France. Over the course of 23 years, she and her husband created four businesses, each carrying the name Alegria, Spanish for “joy of life.”

From a boutique bed and breakfast to a jewelry and art shop, to real estate, and finally to coaching, each venture represented a different form of joy: the joy of life, of giving, of living, and of being. But despite external success, Cindy eventually faced burnout. This realization reframed her definition of success. She discovered that joy could not be an afterthought of achievement. It had to be the starting point. That breakthrough gave rise to Alegria Coaching and her Joy of Life method.

Why Mindfulness Belongs in Business

Many leaders still view mindfulness as “fluffy” or unrelated to organizational outcomes. Cindy counters this by showing that mindfulness directly improves decision-making, reduces stress, and fosters resilience. She recalled working with a leader overwhelmed by nonstop emails and back-to-back meetings. Through small mindfulness practices — such as intentional breathing and mindful check-ins — the leader regained clarity, improved her decision-making, and created a calmer environment for her team.

The ripple effect was immediate. Stress declined, productivity rose, and trust deepened. Cindy emphasizes that the way leaders treat themselves directly shapes how they lead others. When leaders slow down and bring presence to their work, their teams follow suit.

Daily Practices that Build Presence

Cindy’s Joy of Life method begins with prioritizing self-care. She recommends simple yet consistent practices like meditation, breathing exercises, and gratitude. Even one intentional minute can change the trajectory of a day. Her emphasis is not on time spent, but on presence achieved.

For teams, she highlights the importance of intentional pauses during the workday. Companies experimenting with apps like Warmspace demonstrate how just three minutes of group breathing and appreciation at the start of a meeting can shift the tone, reduce anxiety, and foster connection. These micro-practices, when woven into organizational culture, yield measurable benefits in engagement and collaboration.

Purpose as Fuel

Purpose is another anchor in Cindy’s approach. Without a clear “why,” both individuals and organizations eventually run out of energy. Purpose fuels resilience during challenges and provides meaning beyond day-to-day tasks. Cindy connects this deeply to mindfulness, explaining that presence allows leaders to see the bigger picture and align daily actions with long-term impact.

Her personal purpose is rooted in creating a fulfilled and balanced life for herself and her family, while empowering others to experience greater joy, love, and abundance. Through Alegria Coaching, she helps business leaders and entrepreneurs design lives where ambition and well-being coexist.

The Power of Values and Love

When asked about values organizations should adopt, Cindy offered her own framework: love, joy, and service. These are not abstract ideals but daily leadership practices. Joy, she says, is not something to find but something to create consistently. Service means leading not just clients but also employees and colleagues with care and intention. Love, perhaps the most powerful, is about authentic connection, deep listening, and self-acceptance.

For Cindy, love in leadership is not sentimental. It is a form of presence that builds trust, establishes boundaries, and fosters authentic collaboration. Leaders who integrate love create organizations that thrive in both performance and humanity.

Key Takeaways

• Joy is not the result of success but its foundation.
• Mindfulness directly improves clarity, resilience, and decision-making in leadership.
• Simple practices such as daily meditation, intentional pauses, and gratitude reshape culture.
• Purpose is the fuel that sustains organizations and individuals through challenges.
• Love, joy, and service form a values-based approach to leadership that strengthens both business outcomes and human connection.

Final Thoughts

Mindfulness is no longer just a personal wellness tool. It is a leadership necessity that reshapes how organizations operate in a fast-changing world. Cindy Van Eeckhout’s journey is a reminder that success without joy is not true success at all. By grounding leadership in mindfulness, purpose, and love, leaders can create workplaces that are not only productive but also deeply human.

Check out our full conversation with Cindy Van Eeckhout on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

Emotional intelligence is often misunderstood as a soft skill, but research shows it accounts for nearly 90 percent of what sets high performers apart from their peers. In reality, emotional intelligence is a leadership superpower. It influences how we listen, how we respond, and how we build cultures that thrive.

Recently on The Bliss Business Podcast, leadership coach and entrepreneur David Greer joined us to explore why emotional intelligence is more critical today than ever. His insights reveal how leaders can overcome blind spots, shift behaviors, and unlock growth from the inside out.

Growth from the Inside Out

David reminded us that change begins within. Many leaders hire a coach expecting external answers, but the real work often lies in self-awareness. Leaders frequently get in their own way, relying on “my way or the highway” approaches that served them early in their journey but limit growth later on.

Cultivating emotional intelligence means slowing down, listening fully, and holding space for others. Something as simple as curiosity becomes a powerful tool. Instead of assuming why a task wasn’t completed, leaders who ask questions uncover whether expectations were unclear, resources were lacking, or fear was at play.

Blind Spots in Leadership

One of the most common barriers David encounters is the tendency of entrepreneurs to hire talented leaders but then reclaim control the moment their methods differ. This not only undermines trust but drives away the very people hired to fill critical gaps.

Emotional intelligence allows leaders to let go. It teaches them to provide the goal, then allow others to reach it in their own way. Growth stalls when leaders cannot release control, but flourishes when people are empowered to shine.

Slowing Down to Go Fast

David also emphasized the importance of rhythm and reflection. Through frameworks like the One Page Strategic Plan, he guides companies to step away from daily chaos and focus on quarterly priorities.

Thirteen weeks is long enough to achieve meaningful progress yet short enough to recalibrate if conditions change. These rhythms, paired with weekly accountability, create clarity and reduce the tendency to react impulsively. As David explained, clarity itself is a form of kindness.

The Role of Purpose

Purpose is another anchor for emotional intelligence. Companies that articulate a deeper mission give employees a reason to show up with commitment beyond a paycheck. Purpose-driven organizations innovate more, retain talent longer, and foster cultures aligned with shared values.

Purpose connects people to something larger than their tasks, infusing work with meaning that sustains engagement through challenges.

Love in Leadership

Perhaps most powerful was David’s reflection on love. He recalled a colleague who told him that she only accomplished what once felt impossible because he believed in her potential. That belief, rooted in love and trust, created the conditions for growth.

Leadership rooted in love is not about sentimentality. It is about seeing people as they are, believing in who they can become, and creating safe spaces where they can stretch beyond their limits.

Key Takeaways

• Emotional intelligence is not optional for leaders; it is a strategic advantage.
• Listening and curiosity are essential skills that build trust and clarity.
• Letting go of control empowers talented teams to thrive.
• Rhythm and reflection create the space to grow faster by slowing down.
• Purpose inspires long-term commitment beyond transactions.
• Love in leadership is the ultimate catalyst for human and organizational growth.

Final Thoughts

Emotional intelligence is more than a personal trait — it is the foundation of leadership that transforms organizations. By embracing curiosity, purpose, and love, leaders can unlock growth not just for their companies but for themselves.

Check out our full conversation with David Greer on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog