For a long time, emotional intelligence was treated as something extra. Nice if you had it, optional if you did not. The leaders who got promoted were often the ones who drove numbers, not the ones who knew how to read a room, listen deeply, or steady people through uncertainty.

That old model is cracking. In many roles, emotional intelligence accounts for a large share of job performance and is one of the strongest predictors of effective leadership. People want leaders who can make hard calls without losing their humanity, especially when those decisions affect careers, families, and futures.

On The Bliss Business Podcast, we sat down with Jania Bailey, President and CEO of FranNet, a leading franchise consulting organization that helps people explore franchise ownership. Jania has spent decades in banking, franchising, and executive leadership, guiding people through some of the biggest financial and life decisions they will ever make. Her story is a masterclass in what emotional intelligence looks like when you are responsible for decisions that can literally rewrite lives.

Emotional Intelligence Is Not A Buzzword

Long before the term was popular, Jania was already practicing emotional intelligence. Early in her banking career, a president joked that he had not believed in “intuition” until he saw how accurately she could read people in the job. Looking back, she recognizes that what he called intuition was really emotional intelligence at work.

She had already experienced both extremes: leaders who seemed disconnected from the human impact of their decisions, and leaders who were deeply tuned in to how people felt and what they needed. The contrast convinced her that emotional intelligence is not an optional trait. It shapes the climate people work in, the trust they have in leadership, and the culture that either keeps them engaged or quietly pushes them away.

Today, she sees emotional intelligence as a core business capability, not a side skill. It affects how leaders navigate pressure, deliver hard news, and balance unit economics with the human stories behind each number.

Balancing Hard Decisions With Human Impact

In franchising, emotional intelligence shows up in very concrete ways. FranNet works with people who are considering putting much of their life savings into a franchise. For many, it is the largest investment they will make outside of buying a home, sometimes even larger. There is real risk, real emotion, and real family impact.

That is why one of FranNet’s core values is integrity. Jania screens hard for it when bringing in new people. Without integrity and emotional intelligence, franchise consulting could devolve into pure sales: closing deals, collecting fees, and moving on. With them, it becomes something very different.

She tells the story of a young man eager to join FranNet as a consultant. On paper, he was bright and determined, but his finances were stretched to the limit. As they walked through his situation, he began to talk about mortgaging his house and leveraging everything he had to get started.

Looking at his numbers and the realistic timeline for earning, Jania knew that one misstep could push him into bankruptcy within months. So she did the harder, kinder thing. She told him no. She encouraged him to stabilize his finances, build resources, and come back when he was truly ready, even if that meant waiting years.

It would have been easier to approve him, collect the fees, and let the future sort itself out. Emotional intelligence, grounded in conscience, would not allow that. For her, sometimes the kindest word in business is no.

Turning Feedback Into Polishing Points

Emotional intelligence also shows up in how leaders give feedback. Jania is open about how much she has changed over the years. In her twenties, she was a door-slammer, storming out to the car when she was angry. Over time, she realized how much energy that wasted and how little it improved outcomes.

Today, she is known for something very different: “polishing points.” When she sees an opportunity for someone to grow, she asks if they are open to a polishing point. The language matters. It signals that nothing is fundamentally wrong with them. They are already valuable. A few edges, if rounded, will help them shine even more.

One team member once told her, “A polishing point is like being chewed out in a way that does not hurt. I leave feeling better about myself, not worse.”

That is emotional intelligence in action. It is the ability to deliver honest feedback in a way that preserves dignity, reinforces belief in the person, and keeps the relationship strong enough to carry the weight of the truth.

Designing Systems That Keep People Connected

Jania is quick to point out that emotional intelligence cannot depend only on individual moments. It needs systems that make empathy and connection part of normal operations.

At FranNet, that includes:

• Leadership Meetings That Start With Humanity
  Using an EOS-style framework, leadership and management meetings begin with personal and professional “highs” from the week. Everyone, regardless of title, shares. This simple ritual reminds the team that each person’s life and wins matter. It sets a tone of respect long before issues and metrics are discussed.
• Living The Values Awards
  Once a year, they give out “Living Our Values” awards. Anyone can nominate a colleague, but nominations must be tied to a specific action that embodied the company’s values. During the annual meeting, those stories are shared in front of franchisor partners and franchisees. The result is a culture where values are not just printed in a handbook. They are celebrated in public.
• Recognizing Community Impact
  The company also highlights and rewards people who serve in their communities, whether they run charity races, support veterans, or operate year-round food pantries. These recognitions reinforce that FranNet is not only about selling franchises. It is about the heart of the people who make up the system.

Even during the upheaval of COVID, emotional intelligence guided how the team adapted. When in-person conferences were suddenly impossible, FranNet pivoted to a fully virtual event in just a few weeks. They refunded a portion of fees to franchisor partners, extended programming, and focused on making the experience genuinely useful, not just a box-checking exercise. It was a concrete way of saying, “We see what you are going through, and we are in it with you.”

Managing Triggers And Owning Your Impact

Emotional intelligence also demands self-awareness. Jania is candid about her triggers and the work it took to manage them. Today, she is known for the strategic pause and deep breath when something hits a nerve. That pause did not come naturally. It was built over years of reflection and practice.

She tells the story of a team member who came into her office in tears, convinced she had done something wrong. During budget season, Jania had been coming in fast, heading straight to her office, and diving into spreadsheets with little interaction. To her, it was a focused season. To her employee, it felt like rejection.

That moment became a lesson. Leadership presence is not neutral. People are constantly reading it. Emotional intelligence means asking, “What do my habits feel like on the other side of me” and adjusting when your impact does not match your intentions.

Purpose, Faith, And The Courage To Say No

Underneath Jania’s leadership is a clear sense of purpose: to be a better person today than she was yesterday. Her faith is a quiet but steady anchor. She does not preach at work, but she wants her spirituality to be visible in how she lives, leads, and treats people.

Purpose shows up in how FranNet helps prospective franchisees discern what is right for them. They use assessment tools to understand values, motivators, and risk tolerance. They ask questions about lifestyle, family, and long-term dreams. Many people come in thinking they want a restaurant. After real conversation, they realize what they actually want is time with family, a stable income, or a way to serve a specific community.

Sometimes the answer is yes, and that yes changes their life in ways they never imagined. Sometimes, as with the young man who was not financially ready, the answer is not yet. Emotional intelligence keeps both answers grounded in care rather than transaction.

Love As The Long Game In Leadership

Ask Jania about the role of love in business and she does not hesitate. If you do not love the work, you will not stay with it for decades. Love shows up in how you set the pace, how you are willing to take out the trash as quickly as you sign big contracts, and how present you are when people need you.

She has seen workplaces where employees are treated like income producers and nothing more. She has also seen what happens when leaders bring real heart into the room. At FranNet, love looks like:

• Staying on the phone late to help a consultant through a tough decision
• Designing systems that give everyone a voice, not just executives
• Protecting prospective owners from risky choices, even when that costs short-term revenue
• Celebrating lives changed, not just deals closed

In her view, love is not a marketing word. It is a standard. It is what keeps leaders willing to pick up the phone, show up for people, and carry the weight of their stories year after year.

Key Takeaways

• Emotional Intelligence Is A Core Business Skill
  It is not extra. It shapes culture, performance, and retention, especially when decisions carry real life consequences.
• Saying No Can Be An Act Of Care
  Protecting people from financially risky or misaligned decisions is often the most loving choice a leader can make.
• Feedback Can Polish, Not Punish
  When delivered with empathy and belief, feedback becomes a “polishing point” that helps people shine, rather than a critique that shuts them down.
• Systems Help Empathy Scale
  Structured meetings, values-based awards, and community recognition turn emotional intelligence into daily practice, not random acts.
• Self-Awareness Protects Your Team
  Leaders must own the emotional impact of their habits. A busy season for you can feel like rejection for someone else.
• Love Keeps Leaders In The Game
  Genuine care for people, their dreams, and their futures is what sustains leaders through pressure, change, and long careers.

Final Thoughts

Emotional intelligence in business is not about being less driven or lowering expectations. It is about seeing the whole human story behind every metric and decision, and leading in a way that honors that reality.

Jania Bailey’s journey shows that when leaders pair strong systems and hard business acumen with empathy, purpose, and love, they do more than hit targets. They change lives, build enduring trust, and create organizations people are proud to be part of.

Check out our full conversation with Jania Bailey on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

For years, culture was treated like a side effect. Leaders focused on strategy, financials, and operations, then hoped that a healthy culture would somehow emerge if the numbers looked good.

Reality is catching up. Research now shows that almost all executives say culture is vital to success, yet only a small fraction believe they have the right one in place. At the same time, employees are clear about what they want: a sense of belonging, purpose, and community at work, not just a paycheck and a job description.

Community is no longer a nice-to-have. It is a core part of the business model.

On The Bliss Business Podcast, we sat down with Paul Flick, Founder and CEO of Premium Service Brands, to explore how connection fuels performance in a multi-brand home services franchise network. His approach offers a very practical blueprint for leaders who want to move culture from posters on the wall into systems that people can actually feel.

Culture Is Built In The Everyday, Not The Offsite

It is tempting to think culture is created at big moments: annual meetings, leadership retreats, or launch events. Paul’s experience says otherwise.

He sees two core communities inside his business. The first is the internal team at head office. The second is the distributed community of franchisees and their local employees. Healthy culture, in both cases, is built in the everyday rhythms of communication, not in occasional grand gestures.

At Premium Service Brands, that looks like:

• Quarterly company-wide calls that include all brands, all franchisees, and all employees
• Brand-specific calls each month where leaders share what is working and where support is needed
• Regular newsletters that keep everyone aligned on direction, priorities, and wins

These touchpoints might sound simple, but they add up. When people consistently hear the same message, see the same values, and are invited into the same story, culture becomes something shared rather than something assumed.

Communication As The First Community System

Paul is blunt about the central role of communication. It is not a “soft skill.” It is a system.

Franchisees are spread across markets, each with their own challenges and opportunities. Without deliberate communication, it would be easy for them to feel like isolated small business owners rather than part of a larger community. To counter that, Premium Service Brands invests heavily in structures that make connection normal, not rare:

• Closed digital groups where franchise partners ask questions, share solutions, and support one another
• Franchise Advisory Councils that meet regularly and have real influence on major initiatives
• Pilot groups that test new tools or programs before system-wide rollout

The result is a flatter organization by design. Franchisees can reach senior leaders directly. Team members can walk into Paul’s office without navigating layers of hierarchy. Ideas move in both directions, which builds trust.

Community stops being a slogan when communication becomes two-way, frequent, and transparent.

Autonomy, Trust, And Real Flexibility

Internal culture often shows up most clearly in how a company treats time.

At Premium Service Brands’ head office, autonomy is the default. Employees have:

• Generous holiday time built into the calendar
• Unlimited paid time off when expectations are met and results are delivered
• The freedom to work remotely, even abroad, when it fits their role and responsibilities

The principle is straightforward. Set clear expectations. Make sure people know what success looks like. Then treat them like adults.

For Paul, this is not about being indulgent. It is about performance. When employees are trusted to handle family needs, mental health breaks, or travel without fear of punishment, they come back more focused and more engaged. The same philosophy carries into franchising practices. Franchise owners are given a framework, tools, and clear targets, then trusted to lead locally.

Autonomy and accountability are not opposites. They are partners.

Purpose That Extends Beyond Profit

Profit matters. Paul is very clear about that. He does not subscribe to the idea that purpose and profit sit on opposite sides of a scale. In his mind, they are deeply linked. The more successful the business, the more it can give back.

That belief is embodied in KidsLift, a philanthropic initiative that started with a simple act: filling backpacks with food for children who would otherwise go hungry over the weekend. Over time, KidsLift grew into a core thread in the company’s culture. Franchisees across the country run local programs that support children and families in their own communities, backed by structure and support from the central team.

Purpose shows up in several ways:

• It gives team members a reason to care about results beyond the numbers
• It differentiates the brand in crowded markets where basic marketing tactics all look alike
• It offers franchisees a meaningful way to connect with their communities and live their values

For many in the younger generation, this is not optional. They expect their work to contribute to something bigger than shareholder value. Purpose-driven initiatives like KidsLift provide a clear, practical outlet for that energy.

Measuring Community Without Losing The Soul

Community can feel hard to quantify. Paul does not rely on guesswork. He looks at both formal metrics and softer signals.

On the formal side, Premium Service Brands regularly surveys franchisees about their satisfaction with departments, support, and direction. Those surveys guide decisions about training, tools, and leadership focus. On the softer side, he pays attention to things like convention attendance. When a high percentage of franchisees choose to show up in person, it is a strong sign they feel connected and see value in the community.

The point is not to reduce community to a dashboard. It is to acknowledge that if belonging is a strategic priority, it deserves the same level of attention and feedback as sales or operations.

Emotional Intelligence And Love As Leadership Standards

Underneath all of this is a deep commitment to emotional intelligence. Paul knows that franchisees and employees are carrying real stress: financial risk, family responsibilities, and personal challenges that do not show up in spreadsheets.

His advice is straightforward:

• Assume you do not know what someone is going through until you listen
• Create safe spaces for franchise owners to share fears and frustrations without being judged
• Bring people back to their “why” when they get lost in day-to-day pressure

He believes that younger generations, especially, are less motivated by pure financial gain and more by meaningful work and contribution. They want leaders who understand that and who are willing to talk about purpose, not just performance.

When asked about love in business, Paul does not hesitate. Love, for him, looks like genuine concern for employees and franchisees, respect for the sacrifices they have made, and a deep sense of responsibility to support their success after they have invested their savings and trust in the brand.

Love is not a slogan. It is a leadership standard.

Key Takeaways

• Culture Needs Systems, Not Just Slogans
  Community and connection grow out of regular, transparent communication and clear structures, not occasional inspirational speeches.
• Communication Is The First Infrastructure Of Belonging
  Calls, councils, pilot groups, and open access to leaders create a network where people feel informed, heard, and included.
• Autonomy And Accountability Can Grow Together
  When expectations are clear, flexibility and trust become performance multipliers rather than risks.
• Purpose Amplifies Both Engagement And Differentiation
  Initiatives like KidsLift turn profit into fuel for impact and give people a reason to care about growth beyond the balance sheet.
• Emotional Intelligence Is A Strategic Asset
  Leaders who listen, understand context, and reconnect people to their why build more resilient teams and franchise networks.
• Love Has A Place In Business
  Caring about people’s lives, honoring their sacrifices, and standing with them through hard seasons is not sentimental. It is the foundation of long-term loyalty.

Final Thoughts

Community and connection are no longer soft concepts that sit outside the “real work” of business. They are central to building organizations that people want to join, stay in, and grow with.

Paul Flick’s experience at Premium Service Brands shows that when you design culture intentionally, tether profit to purpose, and lead with empathy and love, you do more than create a positive atmosphere. You build a competitive advantage that is hard to copy, because it lives in the way people relate to each other every single day.

Check out our full conversation with Paul Flick on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

For years, many brands treated customer relationships as a simple equation: deliver a product quickly, keep prices competitive, and call it a day. If the food was hot and the line moved fast, that was considered a win.

Today, that is not enough.

Consumers are looking for something deeper. Research shows that many Americans are actively seeking more personal, human connection with the brands they choose, not just another transaction. Employees are saying the same thing. They want to feel part of a community at work, not just show up for a shift and a paycheck.

On this episode of The Bliss Business Podcast, we sat down with Heather Neary, President and CEO of Taco John’s, a fifty six year old quick service restaurant brand with a strong footprint in small towns across the upper Midwest and beyond. Heather brings decades of experience in franchise and restaurant leadership and is leading Taco John’s through its next chapter of growth with a focus on guest experience, franchisee success, and the kind of community connection that cannot be faked.

Community Beyond The Drive Thru

At the most basic level, guests come to Taco John’s to eat. They want tacos, potato olés, and a quick, convenient meal. Heather is clear that if the brand stops there, it has missed its real opportunity.

She reminds her team that every drive thru interaction might be the only human contact a guest has all day. It might be the one positive moment in a difficult stretch of life. A friendly voice, a genuine smile, or a small act of care can shift someone’s entire day.

In many of Taco John’s small town locations, crew members know guests by name and by order. They recognize voices in the drive thru and greet customers like neighbors, not anonymous tickets. That kind of familiarity is not a script. It is the product of years of being rooted in local communities and seeing guests as people, not as throughput.

Community, in Heather’s view, is not a marketing campaign. It is the accumulated weight of thousands of small, human interactions that make people feel known.

Leading With Authenticity, Not A Script

Heather describes herself as radically transparent, direct, and consistently the same person whether she is with her family, her friends, or her team. She does not believe in putting on a separate “leader mask” for work.

Her leadership shows up in simple habits:

• Doing what she says she will do
• Listening to understand instead of listening just to respond
• Spending real time in restaurants, not leading only from the corporate office
• Remembering personal details about people’s lives and circling back

When an employee engagement survey revealed that people did not feel they knew her as well as she hoped, she did not spin the results. She booked one to one conversations with every employee and is doing it again, even with a full executive schedule. Those conversations are not about checking a box. They are about building real connection and trust.

Authenticity, for Heather, is not a leadership style. It is a commitment to show up as a whole person and invite others to do the same.

Systems That Make People Feel Seen

Heather is honest that good intentions are not enough at scale. In a franchise system spanning many states, culture and connection have to be designed, not left to chance.

She pays close attention to the locations that struggle. High turnover, inconsistent management, absentee ownership, and negative guest comments are all signals that something is off beneath the surface. Instead of jumping straight to reprimands, she looks at the full scorecard and asks what is happening in the culture of that restaurant.

Some of the most effective practices she champions are surprisingly simple:

• Providing schedules at least two weeks in advance, which shows respect for hourly workers who are juggling school, childcare, or multiple jobs
• Recognizing crew members by name when positive guest comments come in and sharing those shoutouts across the system
• Celebrating small life moments, like graduations or new cars, with pizza, cake, or local gestures that feel authentic to each owner

These small systems and rituals communicate a clear message: your time matters, your work matters, and your life outside of work matters.

Heather also embraces the reality that not every franchisee will lead in the same way. An operator with one restaurant in a rural town will show up differently than an owner with dozens of locations in multiple states. Operational standards must be consistent, but the way leaders recognize, celebrate, and connect with their teams can and should reflect their personality and community.

Purpose That Shows Up In Crisis

Purpose can easily become a soft word that lives in slide decks and annual meetings. At Taco John’s, Heather works to keep it grounded.

She thinks about purpose through the lens of legacy. How will employees feel when they say they work at Taco John’s. How will guests remember the brand when they think back on tough seasons in their lives. How will small towns describe Taco John’s role in their community over decades.

One recent example made this tangible. During a period of economic strain tied to a government shutdown, Taco John’s decided to run a free meal promotion across the system, offering bean burritos and small potato olés at no cost, no questions asked. The idea surfaced on a Wednesday evening. By Thursday at noon it was in motion, and by Friday it was live. Franchisees executed locally, and corporate matched the effort with donations to food banks in the same communities. Vendor partners later reached out to help offset costs after seeing the impact.

The promotion required long hours and operational complexity, but it aligned perfectly with the brand’s purpose of being a genuine community partner. It was not launched because it looked good on paper. It was launched because it felt like the right thing to do.

That is what purpose looks like in practice. It clarifies the “yes” in moments when action is needed, even if it creates short term strain.

Scheduling Time For Gratitude

One of the most concrete leadership practices Heather shared is remarkably simple. Every Thursday at nine in the morning, she has a recurring calendar block titled “Gratitude.” It has been there for more than fifteen years.

During that time, if she has not already expressed appreciation during the week, she writes handwritten thank you notes, makes phone calls to franchisees and team members, and intentionally recognizes people who have gone above and beyond.

The lesson is clear. Gratitude will always be crowded out by urgent tasks if it is not given a place on the calendar. Scheduling thank you notes or calls does not make them less genuine. It protects them from being swallowed by the pace of the work.

In a world where leaders can default to quick emails and emojis, a handwritten note or unexpected phone call stands out. It is a tangible expression of care that people remember for years.

Five Cs For Building Community As A Leader

Looking back on her career, Heather often talks about five principles that guide her approach to leadership:

• Consistency
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Culture
• Kindness

She knows “kindness” does not actually begin with a C, but she includes it anyway because it is that central. These five Cs show up in how she runs meetings, sets expectations, gives feedback, and holds people accountable. They shape how she thinks about franchise partners, crew members, vendors, and guests as interconnected stakeholders in the same community.

The message to emerging leaders is straightforward. You do not need a complex framework to build community. You need clear expectations, honest communication, shared ownership, intentional culture building, and a commitment to treat people with real kindness, even when conversations are hard.

Key Takeaways

• Community Is Built In Moments, Not Campaigns
  Drive thru greetings, remembered names, and small acts of care add up to a powerful sense of belonging for both guests and employees.
• Authenticity Travels Further Than Persona
  When leaders show up the same way in every setting, people learn to trust that what they see is what they get.
• Simple Systems Communicate Deep Respect
  Two week schedules, recognition rituals, and life event celebrations are not fluff. They are structural ways of telling people they matter.
• Purpose Guides Fast, Hard Decisions
  Clear purpose makes it easier to say yes to the right kind of generosity, especially in moments of community stress or crisis.
• Gratitude Needs A Place On The Calendar
  Blocking time to say thank you is a practical way to keep appreciation from getting squeezed out by urgency.
• Kindness Belongs In The Scorecard
  Consistency, communication, collaboration, culture, and kindness are not soft extras. They are the foundations of sustainable performance.

Final Thoughts

Community and connection can sound abstract until you watch how they show up in daily operations. Heather Neary’s leadership at Taco John’s is a reminder that you can run a disciplined, performance driven brand and still put people at the center.

When leaders listen deeply, design systems that honor real life, and let purpose shape their decisions, they do more than build a strong business. They create places where guests feel known, employees feel valued, and small towns feel proud to have their sign on the edge of Main Street.

Check out our full conversation with Heather Neary on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

For years, many leaders treated empathy as a nice to have, something that belonged in personal relationships but not in serious business. What mattered at work was performance, efficiency, and results. If people were struggling, the thinking went, they would figure it out or move on.

That mindset is breaking.

Research on workplace culture continues to show that empathy is one of the strongest drivers of engagement, innovation, and loyalty. At the same time, hybrid work, constant change, and rising stress levels make it impossible to lead well without understanding what people are carrying into the room.

On this episode of The Bliss Business Podcast, we sat down with Teresa Johnson, CEO of Color Me Mine, the industry leading paint your own pottery franchise. Teresa’s journey from HR and marketing leader, to studio customer, to multi studio owner, to CEO is a case study in how empathy can move from personality trait to leadership system. She leads a network of more than one hundred and fifty studios that are not just selling pottery, but hosting memories, creativity, and connection for families and communities.

Empathy Is Simple, Not Soft

Teresa starts with a very grounded definition. Empathy, in her view, is the ability to understand and appreciate someone else’s experience or perspective, without needing to agree with it or take it on as your own. It is simple, common sense, and incredibly powerful when practiced consistently.

She has watched a lack of empathy end careers. One story stands out. A friend who loved his job and company lost his brother. When his manager finally called, the first question was about work, not his loss. There was no “How are you doing” or “How is your family.” That two minute call ended his relationship with the company.

Moments like that are not about policies or strategy. They are about whether people feel seen as humans. Teresa’s point is clear. Empathy is not a soft extra. It is often the difference between loyalty and quiet resignation.

Listening As A Daily Leadership Practice

A leader who wants to be more empathetic does not need a complicated toolkit. Teresa’s starting point is listening with intention.

Instead of “How are you” in passing, she reaches for open questions such as:

• What is on your plate this week at work
• What are you looking forward to
• What are you doing this weekend

People reveal what matters to them in simple answers. A mention of a child’s softball game becomes the follow up the next week. “How did she do” signals that you were listening and that you care.

She also leans on one very simple phrase: “Tell me more.”

It keeps conversations open, invites people to share what is really going on, and shifts the focus away from the leader’s next response toward genuine understanding. None of this takes a lot of time, but it does require intention. You have to decide that connection belongs on your to do list.

Turning Empathy Into Systems

Empathy becomes powerful in an organization when it moves from isolated acts to shared systems. Color Me Mine is not a transactional retail brand. It is an experience based business. People come to the studios to relax, connect, and create. That experience has to be teachable, repeatable, and scalable.

To make that real, Teresa and her team built:

• The Color Me Mine Way, thirty simple values and behaviors that help owners teach empathy, hospitality, and care to part time staff, many of whom are in their first job
• A ten touch customer journey, outlining how staff welcome guests, guide them through picking pottery and paints, help them get started, and celebrate their finished pieces when they return for pickup

These systems make empathy concrete. A seven year old who comes back to pick up a glazed piggy bank does not just receive a wrapped item. A staff member looks them in the eye and says, “Look what you did, it is amazing.” That moment becomes part of the child’s memory, and it happens because someone designed for it, not because a few employees happen to be naturally warm.

The same pattern applies to franchise support. Regular brand calls, monthly town halls, and weekly one to one check ins with new owners during build out are not just operational checkpoints. They are empathy built into the calendar, especially for first time entrepreneurs who are excited, stressed, and learning all at once.

Empathy As A Diagnostic Tool

In any franchise system, some locations thrive and others struggle. Teresa refuses to diagnose performance by looking at numbers alone. The data tells her what is happening. Empathy helps her uncover why.

When a studio underperforms, she starts with questions, not blame.

Is there a personal crisis or family stress
Is the owner overwhelmed or burned out
Has something shifted in their life that the numbers cannot show

Only when she understands the human story does she build a plan that includes coaching, training, marketing support, or structural changes. In her words, “We can solve anything we can understand.”

Empathy, in this context, is not a way to avoid accountability. It is a way to make accountability honest. You cannot ask people to hit targets if you are unwilling to hear what is making that target harder to reach.

Purpose As Dream Management

Underneath Teresa’s leadership is a clear personal purpose. She sees herself as a dream manager. Her deepest motivation is to help other people live their dreams, whether they are part time employees, franchisees, or customers.

One of her favorite stories involves a seventeen year old who started as a part time employee in her original studio. After three months, the young woman wanted to quit, convinced that she was not leadership material. Teresa saw something in her that she did not yet see in herself and refused to let her walk away. Years later, that same woman texted her as a high school principal, crediting those early experiences for her confidence and leadership skills.

That is what purpose looks like in practice. It is not an abstract sentence on the wall. It is a habit of believing in people before they fully believe in themselves and creating opportunities for them to grow into larger roles, whether they stay in the company or carry those skills into the wider world.

Love As A Leadership Verb

Love is not a word many leaders are comfortable using at work. Teresa is.

For her, love in leadership is not sentiment. It is consistency of presence. It looks like:

• Handwritten birthday cards and notes during major life events
• Personal calls during loss or crisis, without an agenda
• Honest feedback about performance, expectations, and growth

She is clear that avoiding difficult conversations is not kindness. Clarity is a form of care. Empathy and accountability are not opposites. You can be both supportive and direct when performance is off track.

Her view of love also extends to franchisees and guests. For owners, love looks like partnership, shared problem solving, and reminding them that they are not alone. For guests, it is about hospitality and creating a “happy place” in their communities, a studio where people can escape the weight of the world for a few hours and create something they will keep for years.

Some of the most powerful evidence of that impact has come in moments of loss. After wildfires in California, customers sent photos of pottery pieces that survived when homes did not. Fired in a kiln, those pieces withstood the flames and became symbols of resilience and memory. That is what it means for a brand to occupy emotional space in people’s lives.

Key Takeaways

• Empathy Is A Discipline, Not A Personality Type
  It starts with listening, open questions, and the decision to care about what people are carrying, not just what they are producing.
• Small Moments Have Outsized Impact
  A single phone call, note, or hallway conversation can cement loyalty or end a relationship. Leaders ignore this at their peril.
• Systems Can Carry Empathy At Scale
  Clear values, customer journeys, and communication rhythms make it possible to deliver consistent, human experiences across large teams and networks.
• Diagnostic Empathy Improves Performance
  Starting with “why” when numbers dip allows leaders to address root causes instead of treating people like broken parts of a machine.
• Purpose Keeps Empathy Sustainable
  When your deeper why is to help people grow and live their dreams, empathy becomes second nature, not an extra task.
• Love Belongs In Leadership
  Love expressed as presence, honesty, partnership, and hospitality creates cultures that people want to stay in, not escape from.

Final Thoughts

Empathy is often described as a soft skill, but in practice it is one of the most practical tools a leader can develop. It shapes how you listen, how you design systems, how you diagnose problems, and how you define success.

Teresa Johnson’s leadership at Color Me Mine is a reminder that when you build businesses around empathy, purpose, and love, you do not dilute performance. You deepen it. People feel safe enough to bring their whole selves to work, and that energy shows up in every customer interaction, franchise relationship, and long term result.

Check out our full conversation with Teresa Johnson on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog