My husband and I don’t get to our city’s symphony concerts often. To me, classical music, while lovely and quite uplifting when I’m in the mood for it, often feels a bit too formal for my tastes – a bit…
Empathy – Your Time-Saving Superpower!
“Brent” is not happy. As a newly hired emergency room physician within a nationally recognized healthcare system, he has been “volun-told” to show up to a four day onsite training on “Patient-Provider Communications”, which translates in his assumption as a…
Don’t Rip the HeART out of Education!
Stinky. Sullen. Bad Attitude. A Problem. Yeah we were pretty sure we had Joe pegged. How wrong we were… Years ago I was teaching in a summer Shakespeare program for teenagers. Every once and awhile, we would get a kid…
Heads Up Doc! Listening with Empathy Can Save Lives…
I am lying on a hospital bed. I’ve just woken up from the anesthesia and I’m concerned that I can’t move my left arm or leg. The nurse told me that the doctor will be in soon to speak with…
The Heart of Changing Minds – Deep Canvassing
First – A Story In 2019, when Donald Trump was President, a dear friend and colleague of mine, Bill Dufris, created a huge sign and stuck it on his lawn. In large letters, it asked the question “What Would Jesus…
Toxic Positivity: The True Christmas Grinch
You walk into your workplace on a deceptively “normal” day, if there is such a thing anymore. The floor is sparsely populated now, various people on vacation. All is calm, all the fluorescent lights are bright. Suddenly Liz opens the…
Radical Compassion – What the World Needs NOW
I relished the chance to be a Pecha Kucha presenter last month, (bucket list!) and the night’s theme “Radical Compassion” is sticking with me. Compassion meaning: understanding, empathy, “the desire to alleviate suffering”. But what’s with the “Radical”? It’s supercharged,…
Are you a Head? a Heart? or Hands? How We Listen Determines What We Decide……
There’s plenty out there on how to deliver our message for maximum impact – but we are all listeners too. And how we listen and the filters we use in listening can determine much about what we absorb, the nature of…