Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

DISCOVER THE ROI OF Empathy.
Inspire your leaders to boost engagement, performance, and innovation by embracing practical empathy as a strategic advantage.
Let’s get started!
Now is the time
The current market is not merely asking, but requiring that you adapt and evolve.
You need visionary and compassionate leaders. You need a high-performing and empathetic culture. You need an influential and uplifting brand.
Amid massive disruption, either/or thinking just won’t cut it. We need BOTH/AND leaders to solve complex problems.
Fortunately, winning leaders and organizations can be compassionate and competitive, ambitious and empathetic. Cultivating empathy is anything but fluff: it fosters more innovation, happier stakeholders, and lucrative bottom-line results.
Today, customers, stakeholders, and employees alike expect your company to value and model empathy – inside and out.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™.
Empathy is the new foundational standard, not a fluffy afterthought.
#1
Empathy is #1 for “new product innovation success.”
Nielsen
87%
of CEOs agree the company’s financial performance is tied to empathy.
Businessolver
92%
of team members would be more likely to stay with their company if business leaders empathized with their needs.
Businessolver
2x
Emotional connection is TWICE as valuable as customer satisfaction.
Harvard Business Review
Improve your empathy in your business or brand now and for the long-term.
My clients learn to imbue their work with compassion to create strong leaders, thriving cultures, and winning brands.
Are you ready to see how high your organization can climb when it’s supercharged by empathy? And how your people can engage and perform beyond your wildest expectations?
Just a few of the organizations that love working with Maria






Maria brings nearly 30 years of empathy-led leadership, business, and brand expertise. She has been a trusted advisor to hundreds of companies and brands, including massive global corporations, pioneering startups, and heart-centered nonprofits.
In her engaging workshops and mindset-shifting presentations she offers actionable strategies to amplify impact, and explains how compassionate business tactics will transform organizations from the inside out.
Maria can help if…
- You want to cultivate integrity in your leadership, business, culture, and brand.
- You want to create a business that makes a significant difference in the world.
- You want to craft empathetic brand stories to better engage and connect.
- You want to leverage your compassionate culture to attract and retain top talent.
- You want to make the world a better place while still turning a healthy profit.
More Happy Clients
Conversations with leaders, changemakers, and those who challenge the status quo.
The Empathy Edge Podcast
-
Robin Dreeke: Spy Lessons for Leaders: Forging Unbreakable Alliances Through Empathy
Years ago, I was introduced to a former Marine and FBI counterintelligence officer whose job was to recruit spies to help protect our country. His secret weapon? Empathy. Finding out what is important to someone so that they can then build trust and find shared goals. Robin Dreeke joins us again today to talk about […]
-
July Hot Take: Empathy Under Attack: Leading with Heart in Hostile Times
-
Asheli Mann-Lofthouse: The Nuts and Bolts of DEIB, By Stage
-
Bridgette Boudreau: Choosing an Ethical Coach to Transform Performance from Within
-
Courage to Advance: From Digital Overwhelm to Mental Clarity with Timothy Swords
-
Garrett Delph: Operationalizing Happiness

LATEST BOOK: The Empathy DILEMMA
How successful leaders balance performance, People, and Personal Boundaries
Through Maria’s research, interviews, and practical advice, you’ll discover the Five Pillars of Effective Empathetic Leadership that enable you to balance empathy with high-performance, accountability, and your own mental health. Endorsed by many thought leaders, including #1 NYT-bestselling author Daniel Pink as “…a refreshing and practical guide for leaders who want to make empathy more than just a buzzword…Ross provides a holistic approach to empathetic leadership that is both inspiring and achievable.”
Expert Insights from Maria
-
Empathy Under Attack: Leading With Heart in Hostile Times
Lately, I’ve been wondering: Is empathy under attack? And if so, how do we as leaders, parents, citizens—humans—continue to lead with empathy in a world that sometimes seems to mock, punish, or politicize it? So today, I want to pull back the curtain and talk about what it’s like to do this work, and why—despite…
-
You’re Asking the Wrong Question
Leaders, Execs: The question is not “How do I strengthen my empathy and build a more empathetic culture?” Because you may not assume you have time, energy, or budget for that. The question should INSTEAD be…. Do I want a team that seamlessly collaborates – and finds joy in that? Do I want more creative…
-
Even MVP’s Need a Coach: Why Leaders Can’t Go It Alone
I admire my 11-year-old son’s confidence. Truly. But it is funny that he has yet to learn the art of mastery. Of honing, refining, practicing, and getting better. At 8, he had taken two or three trial Taekwondo classes and then stopped, But if you asked, he would tell you he “knows” Taekwondo. To a…





Ready to join the revolution?
Find out how empathetic your brand is RIGHT NOW, and join our newsletter to start shifting your perspective and transforming your impact.