The Empathy Edge

Cory Custer: How a Compassionate Culture Leads to Success

Sep 22, 2020

40:25

Creator website

In this episode, Maria and Cory discuss:

What a compassionate culture looks like and finding the passion in compassion.
What a Director of Compassion is and how that benefits an organization.
How you can hire for empathy so that a compassionate culture can take root.

Key Takeaways:

Empathy and compassion are innate to humans and can always be improved, even if they were conditioned out of us. It's so clear that this is our natural state, and we need to get back to it.
Younger talent generations are demanding a compassionate culture and environment in their workplace. Top talent won’t settle for less.
The technical stuff at any job, at the end of the day, is a commodity. People who are willing to be vulnerable and have a continuous growth mindset are really what make an organization strong with a culture of empathy. That secret sauce is the brilliance with the human heart.

"In a compassionate environment, in a compassionate workplace, you're free to show up as a whole human and then the expectation is that this is how we're going to relate to each other as human beings with all of the messiness that comes with that." — Cory Custer

About Cory Custer: Cory leads the Mindfulness-based Emotional and Social Intelligence (MESI) program at Brighton Jones (and may very well be the world’s first Director of Compassion). MESI is designed to help people become wiser and more compassionate through training in mindfulness, self-awareness, empathy, and compassion. Cory also leads MESI workshops for Brighton Jones clients and well as local non-profits, and he teaches a course in Compassionate Leadership at Washington State University as an adjunction faculty member.

Before joining Brighton Jones in 2015, Cory spent over 15 years in various leadership roles within the wealth management industry and then several years as an independent leadership coach and organizational development consultant. He holds an MBA in wealth management and an MA in organizational leadership.

Cory lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.

Connect with Cory Custer:

LinkedIn: Cory D. Custer

Website: BrightonJones.com