Applied Empathy: The New Language of Leadership

A BUSINESS INSIDER BEST BOOK With Applied Empathy, Michael Ventura shows us how to unlock our ability to design solutions, spark innovation, and solve tough challenges with empathy at the center.--Arianna Huffington Michael Ventura, entrepreneur and CEO of award-winning strategy and design practice Sub Rosa, shares how empathy--the ability to see the world through someone else's eyes--could be what your business needs to innovate, connect, and grow. Having built his career working with iconic brands and institutions such as General Electric, Google, Nike, Warby Parker, and also The United Nations and the Obama Administration, Michael Ventura offers entrepreneurs and executives a radical new business book and way forward. Empathy is not about being nice. It's not about pity or sympathy either. It's about understanding--your consumers, your colleagues, and yourself--and it's a direct path to powerful leadership. As such, Applied Empathy presents real strategies, based on Sub Rosa's design work and the popular class Ventura and his team have taught at Princeton University, on how to make lasting connections and evolve your business internally (your employees, culture, and product/services) as well as externally (your brand, consumers, and value). For leaders of all levels, this groundbreaking guide lays the foundation to establish a diverse, inventive, and driven team that can meet the challenges of today's ever-evolving marketplace. If you want to connect to the people you work with and for, you first have to understand them.

About the Author :
Michael Ventura is the CEO and founder of Sub Rosa, a strategy and design firm that has worked with some of the world's largest and most important brands, organizations, and startups: from Johnson & Johnson, Pantone, and Adobe to The TED Conference, Delta Airlines, and The Daily Show. Additionally, Michael has served as a board member and advisor to a variety of organizations including Behance, The Burning Man Project, The Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and Tribal Link Foundation. He is also a visiting lecturer at institutions such as Princeton University and the United States Military Academy at West Point. In addition to these pursuits, Michael leads a thriving indigenous medicine practice where he works with patients to help them address illness and injury of all types, on the road to better well-being. A passionate entrepreneur, he also owns and operates a globally recognized design store in New York's West Village with his wife Caroline. Applied Empathy is his first book.

Review :
"Meaningful change happens when people come together with open arms, minds and hearts. Honed through his experience working with a range of companies, Michael Ventura provides great insights and tools for how you too can make meaningful change happen." -- Beth Comstock, author of Imagine It Forward and former Vice Chair GE "I believe that empathy has been the most underrated characteristic of the biggest winners in society. Michael has demonstrated an understanding and an execution around this incredible skill that I admire tremendously. Everybody should read this book."--Gary Vaynerchuk, New York Times bestselling author of #AskGaryVee "The most neglected fact in business is we're all human. Michael Ventura makes a powerful argument that empathy is the secret sauce of 21st century business. The more digital we get, the more empathy we need. Loved this book"--Chip Conley, Hospitality entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author of Emotional Equation "With Applied Empathy, Michael Ventura shows us how to unlock our ability to design solutions, spark innovation, and solve tough challenges with empathy at the center."-- Arianna Huffington