Creating a Culture of Operations Empathy with guest Jonathan Mills

The Kind Leader

Jonathan Mills, a corporate culture specialist, discusses the concept of operations empathy and its role in creating a kind and empathetic leadership culture. He emphasizes the importance of understanding and practicing empathy both internally and externally, and how it can lead to healthier and more fulfilling work environments. Jonathan also envisions a future where organizations flatten their power structures and prioritize the well-being and voices of their employees. He shares his perspective on success as a leader and expresses his admiration for C.S. Lewis.

Takeaways

Operations empathy is a framework for creating a kind and empathetic leadership culture by focusing on shared learning, objectivity, contextualization, and responsiveness. Kind leadership starts with being kind to oneself and extends to being kind to others and creating a supportive work environment. Success as a leader means seeing oneself and others as human beings, relating to them in healthy ways, and being responsible for creating a supportive system of work. The future of leadership involves flattening power structures, prioritizing empathy, and creating psychologically safe environments where all voices are heard. C.S. Lewis is an admired figure for his ability to create meaningful narratives and his contributions to philosophy and literature.

Sound Bites

"Kindness in a leader is when they are trying to express service and compassion and good in the environment around them." "Don't make decisions out of fear. Take a step back. What is it that you really want to do? What is it that you really want to impact?" "Operations empathy is about transforming organizations into whoever they are with the ability to self-reflect and improve."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background 05:18 Defining Kind Leadership 15:39 Exploring Operations Empathy 30:37 Success as a Leader and Inspiration from C.S. Lewis