Leading with empathy at your dog daycare (video)

Video excerpt: I wanted to talk about leading with empathy… We need to acknowledge that everybody is on edge. We need to be the leaders of kindness, the leaders of empathy. 

How do we do that? Darn good question! I think it’s just stepping up and giving that smile, saying that thank you, checking in; when you are dealing with that issue of unkindness and unfairness and grouchiness that you don’t reciprocate it. You take it in, you acknowledge it, you say your peace to it. And then you drop it on the floor, and you step over it. Because if you hold onto that anguish that somebody has projected onto you, you are going to struggle with that for days. You’re going to not sleep about it. You’re going to relive it and rehash it. So you take the harshness, you absorb it momentarily, and then you drop it and you step over it. 

Just some words of wisdom—some hopefulness. I want to really just emphasize that you have to be the change. You have to be the kindness and you have to lead with that and you have to teach others. Even though that was not the job that you signed up for, but you have to teach others to lead with kindness, and you have to be the example. We won’t always be the example all the time, but you need to do what you can to finish your part. 

As my lovely friend Karen always says, “be kind to yourself and be kind to others.”