Our world is at a pivotal inflection point where it is essential to cultivate the practice of empathy for ourselves, our organizations, and society at large.
Michael Ventura is a leader, facilitator, and educator pursuing positive transformation. Michael’s work inspires us to feel, think, and act with greater curiosity, and a willingness to deepen our understanding of the nuanced perspectives that influence our lives. As an accomplished entrepreneur, his practice of modern leadership draws from ancient wisdom to bring about new skills and adoptable behaviors that are thoughtful, provocative, and personal. Concepts and tools from his first book, Applied Empathy (Simon & Schuster) have been embraced by influential, respected organizations from the ACLU, Google, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and Nike to The United Nations and the Obama Administration.
Client Examples:
Beverage/Brewing Category:
Format: An immersive three-hour keynote at executive retreat
Client feedback: "one of the most impactful programs she's ever experienced as a leader.” The program tested off the charts in terms of feedback from attendees and the impact is still being felt in the way the employee population interacts and more importantly, aligns on goals for the year ahead.
Internet Travel Business:
Formats: Delivered a 60-minute keynote to executive leadership at Quarterly Business Review global meeting. Delivered a company-wide 60-minute keynote about empathic leadership and developing a 'learner' mindset. Hosted a series of "drop in" Zoom sessions on topics ranging from "How to manage talent in a hybrid work environment" to "Fostering a culture of cross-departmental collaboration.”
Goals: To deliver content about empathy, leadership, purpose, and a variety of topics that his people leaders around the organization are looking to skill up.
High-tech Industrial Company:
Formats: Year-long collaboration with two keynotes to the entire people org globally (1000s in attendance) as well as two in-person programs (one for their top 6 executives globally and one for their top 60 leaders).
Outcomes: The work is a mix of helping build a mindset of "finishing strong” interspersed with content about self-reflection and career planning to help each person have a greater sense of purpose and what they might do next on the road ahead.
Construction and Engineering Company:
Formats: Delivered keynotes, multi-day retreats, and more, including speaking at annual leadership conference (delivering a 3-hour keynote and interactive workshop) to their 150 global leaders, plus twice-a-year trainings for leaders.
Outcomes: The teams have developed stronger interpersonal and cross-organizational understanding that has led to greater effectiveness and impact in the work they do as a firm.
Client feedback: Ranked the highest for all L&D programs they have offered and the participants cite offering as something that is exceptionally tangible and applicable to their work.
