Connection isn’t a nice-to-have. It is the thing – the whole thing. And right now, in a world that seems to be working overtime to divide us, finding our people and building our communities might just be the most radical, most hopeful, and frankly most strategic thing we can do.
Maria discusses the importance of connection and hope in this divided world, emphasizing community and collaboration as powerful tools in the fight against division and discord. She discusses the imperfect and awkward actions that lead to real change, and invites everyone to start today to start to build stronger connections at work and in life.
This month on the podcast, the theme is connection and hope – and hope can feel pretty hard to come by these days. So continue to listen in and continue to build community, build joy, and build collaboration. They are among the most powerful forces we have against injustice, against tribalism, against the kind of fear and division that wants to keep us isolated and manageable.
To access the episode transcript, please scroll down below.
Listen in for…
- Why community is a radical act in today’s environment.
- Why intentionally creating diverse teams and groups helps us innovate more, make better decisions, and even be happier.
- Maria’s personal successes and misses in building community and making connections.
- Why we need to reach out instead of retreat when things get hard.
- Three ways you can start building more connections right now.
“Collaboration and joy in community are not distractions from the fight for a better world. They ARE the fight. They are how we sustain ourselves, build power, and remind each other that another way is possible.” — Maria Ross
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FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Maria Ross 00:04
Welcome to the Empathy Edge podcast, the show that proves why cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive. I’m your host Maria Ross. I’m a speaker, author, mom, facilitator, and empathy advocate, and here you’ll meet trailblazing leaders and executives, authors and experts who embrace empathy to achieve radical success. We discuss all facets of empathy, from trends and research to the future of work to how to heal societal divisions and collaborate more effectively. Our goal is to redefine success and prove that empathy isn’t just good for society. It’s great for business. Hey everyone, welcome back to the Empathy Edge. I’m your host Maria Ross, and this is one of our hot take solo episodes where I get to share what’s on my mind, what I’m wrestling with, and what I think we all need to be talking about right now. This month on the podcast, there’s a theme we are going all in on connection and hope, and I don’t use the word hope lightly because I know it can feel pretty hard to come by these days. We’ve got incredible guests this month. You heard last week from Aubrey Morgan Yee on radical collaboration to create alternate futures. Dr. Tracy Brower is coming up on why community is the cure for the loneliness epidemic at work and in life, and Dr. Adam Dorsey returns to unpack the four types of connection that transform your life and leadership. And by the way, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, Red Slice with Maria Ross, where we’re now posting full video episodes. Every single one of these conversations left me thinking and feeling and wanting to do something, and that’s exactly what this episode is about. Because here’s what I keep coming back to these days: connection isn’t a nice to have; it is the thing the whole thing, and right now in a world that seems to be working overtime to divide us, finding our people and building our communities might just be the most radical, most hopeful, and frankly the most strategic thing we can do. So I want to talk about something that doesn’t get said enough: that coming together is not passive. It’s not soft. It’s not naive. Community is a weapon. Joy is a weapon. Collaboration is a weapon. Not in a violent sense, but in the sense that they are among the most powerful forces we have against injustice, against tribalism, against the kind of fear and division that wants to keep us isolated and manageable, Helen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. And I know that sounds like something you’d see on a motivational poster, but I want you to really sit with it for a second, because the research backs it up completely. When we’re connected to others, we are all happier, healthier, more resilient, and more effective at creating change. Full stop. Audrey, I believe is how you pronounce it. Lorde, the poet and activist, put it even more powerfully. It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. And I think about that a lot when I think about tribalism, about the way we retreat into our corners and surround ourselves only with people who think exactly like us, who look exactly like us, who vote exactly like us. It feels safe, but it makes us smaller, and it makes us weaker. The research on diverse teams, on cross-cultural collaboration, on what happens when we bring genuinely different perspectives to the table, it consistently shows that we make better decisions, we innovate more, we solve harder problems, we see unseen risks, we identify unseen opportunities together, and we are on the whole happier because connection with people unlike us stretches us in the best possible way. So I. I want to get personal for a minute because this isn’t just theoretical for me right now. As many of you know, I recently moved to a new area in California, and while I am so grateful for our new home and community and lifestyle, finding my community, finding my people, has been genuinely hard. I’m an extrovert who loves people. I talk about human connection for a living, and I have still found myself sitting on my couch some evenings, wondering why my phone isn’t ringing.
Maria Ross 04:52
And here’s what I’ve had to remind myself: community doesn’t just happen to you. You have to build. Intentionally, sometimes awkwardly, and with a lot more patience than you think you’ll need. So I have been doing the work, joining groups, getting involved in my son’s school, and yes, I am literally planning a monthly women’s happy hour in our neighborhood, in our pool, because I decided I was not going to sit around waiting for an invitation that might not come, I was going to be the invitation. I still haven’t sent sent those out yet, but they’re coming. And within all of these efforts, some of them have worked beautifully, and some have fizzled out because people are busy and life is full. And sometimes you send three texts and hear crickets, and that’s okay. You don’t give up. You keep showing up, because here’s what I know for sure: the antidote to loneliness is not waiting to feel less lonely. You can’t wait for that. It’s action, imperfect, sometimes awkward, occasionally uncomfortable action in the direction of other humans. I know that I do this when I get into a funk. Lately, what I’ve started doing is reaching out and texting a friend, just “Hey, how you doing? Thinking of you. It instantly helps me feel less alone and prevents me from sinking deeper. So I want to switch gears and talk a little bit about connection as resistance. And apologies for all the the war analogies, but I think from a more hopeful and action oriented place, we can use some of this wording, right? Connection, I guess, as resistance to the loneliness epidemic, and I want to talk about it in a bigger context because I think it matters. We are living through a moment of profound division, political division, social division, the kind of tribalism that makes it feel like we are living in entirely different realities, depending on who we follow online, or what channel we watch, and the instinct when things get hard and scary and unfair, as I said, is to retreat, to circle the wagons, to only trust your own tribe. But I want to offer a different frame, for myself as much as for all of you, what if connection across difference is one of the most powerful things we can do right now? What if choosing to sit down with someone whose experience is radically different from yours to genuinely listen and find common ground is not naive, but actually revolutionary? Research consistently shows that face-to-face connection with people different from us is one of the most effective antidotes to prejudice, to fear, to the kind of dehumanization that allows injustice to thrive. When we know someone, really know them, it is so much harder to to dismiss them, to other them, to vote against their dignity. Collaboration and joy in community are not distractions from the fight for a better world. They are the fight. They’re how we sustain ourselves, how we build power, how we remind each other that another way is possible. Okay, you know I always promise you practical. So here are three things you can do starting today to build stronger connections at work and in life, and to push through the inertia that wants to keep you isolated when things get hard. Number one, be the initiator, not the waiter. Stop waiting for the invitation or the phone call or the perfect moment. Reach out, plan the thing, send the text, organize the dinner. Yes, some of it will fizzle. That’s okay. The ones that don’t will be worth everything. Community doesn’t build itself spontaneously. Someone has to go first, and it might as well be you. Number two, widen your circle intentionally. Challenge yourself to connect with someone who doesn’t look like you, vote like you, or move through the world like you. Join a group outside your comfort zone. Say yes to the invitation you’d normally decline. Diverse connections don’t just make you a better leader and a more empathetic human being; they make you more resilient, more creative, and genuinely happier. And number three, when you’re down, reach out, not in. I mentioned this one before. It might sound counterintuitive, but I promise you, it works.
Maria Ross 09:46
Like I said, when I’m having a bad day or a hard day, and I’m feeling disconnected or discouraged, my instinct now is to text a friend, not to vent necessarily, but just to check in, to ask how they are doing, to see if I can help someone. Else with something, and almost without fail, it snaps me out of my own head and reminds me that I am part of something bigger than my own bad mood. Connection is a two-way street, and sometimes the fastest way to feel it is to offer it first. I’ll leave you with this: in a world that profits from your division, your isolation, and your fear, choosing connection is a radical act of hope. Building community is an act of resistance, and showing up for each other, especially across our differences, is how we create the world we actually want to live in. This month’s guests are going to give you so much more to chew on in all of these areas, and I can’t wait for you to hear them. And in the meantime, go reach out to someone today, not tomorrow, today. Thanks for listening, and until next time, please remember that cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive. Take care and be kind. For more on how to achieve radical success through empathy, visit theempathyedge.com. There you can listen to past episodes, access show notes and free resources, book me for a keynote or workshop, and sign up for our email list to get new episodes, insights, news, and events. Please follow me on Instagram at Red Slice Maria. Never forget, empathy is your superpower. Use it to make your work and the world a better place.
