The Case for Corporate Compassion
CORPORATE and COMPASSION might look odd together for some.
One word is often considered strong and powerful. The other – soft and squishy and probably something for HR (or maybe your PR team) to handle.
For others, the words together might be refreshing – something you tried to bring into your work but didn’t know how or were told by your boss that “your job isn’t to make friends.”
Today, it’s indisputable that compassion belongs in every manager’s toolkit.
Countless studies have proven that compassion is key to employee engagement and satisfaction. Not to mention recruiting the next generation workforce.
Compassion is also shown to have significant physical and mental health benefits.
- So why do we squirm when we see someone tear up in the office?
- Why do we avoid having open, candid conversations (not coincidentally called “heart to hearts”)?
- Why is NICE something you want your kids to be, but a four-letter word (it is, but you know what I mean) when it comes to evaluating someone for promotion?
- Why is being an achiever more valued than being compassionate?
My name is Laura and I help corporate managers lead happy, high-performing teams with empathy and compassion while fast-tracking their career.
Like most managers who came up the ranks in the new millennium, I took my cues from people who equated “hard-ass, over-achiever who never messes up” with “leader.”
I hid my vulnerability and tacitly demanded the same of others. I felt stressed, overwhelmed, and completely unsupported. My career seemed aimless and my personal relationships were strained.
Then I accepted a job with a leader that changed the trajectory of my career. She introduced me to art and science of management: decision making, relationship building, and leading through influence.
Most importantly, she modeled an authentic, compassionate leadership style that would eventually inspire my own: strong AND supported, results-oriented AND kind, decisive AND collaborative.
Having a model is one thing – applying it to yourself is something entirely different.
Even with great mentors, it still took me years to define my own leadership style. Uncovering and channeling it effectively took painful trial and error (excruciating for someone who doesn’t want to be BAD at stuff) and a TON of gut-wrenching self-reflection (so much guilt about not being better sooner).
I knew that I had all the answers about how to live and lead – they were just so far buried underneath the layers of other people’s expectations and my own limiting beliefs about what I *should* be doing that I couldn’t see them.
Eventually, I needed more than role models. I needed accountability and someone to ask me the tough, reflective questions no one around me could (or dared to…). I hired a coach and then I became one.
I see so much job-related suffering that could be alleviated with more compassion for ourselves and others. I’ve made it my mission to help managers develop their individual leadership style grounded in compassion to create happier, more inclusive and productive work environments where everyone can grow and succeed together.
The world is waiting for you to fulfill your leadership potential.
Everyone is born with the capacity for compassion, but over the course of a career we are told to compartmentalize it, that it has no business in business and belongs in our personal lives.
We either deny what we value and justify behavior to “fit in” and “get ahead” or get passed over because we are not “management material.”
The thing is, most people who make it to the very top of the corporate ranks are there in part because they are compassionate leaders. Teams WANT to work for them, WANT to support them, WANT to succeed with them.
No changing who you are or browbeating required.
I want to help YOU get THAT!
And that’s why I founded The Corporate Compassion Project.
I want to help managers become great leaders who:
INSPIRE their teams with vision, judgment, presence, and the ability to uplift others.
ACHIEVE incredible results for their organizations and in their careers with less stress.
CREATE more compassionate, inclusive workplace cultures that make employees want to stay.
We’re beyond ready for this workplace transformation. It’s up to individuals to be the change they want to see at work – and I’m here to help.
