The Empathy Edge

John Southard: How Military History Can Transform Your Customer Engagement Strategy

Dec 12, 2023

43:24

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John Southard is a military historian with over a decade of research on customer engagement strategies. In this conversation, he reveals how military principles can transform customer relations. Southard emphasizes the dangers of seeing customers as adversaries and the loss of revenue due to a lack of empathy. He discusses hiring practices that impact retention, the importance of community-building, and the need for open dialogue to understand customer needs deeply. He offers a practical empathy framework for businesses to enhance engagement and build lasting relationships.

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Quick takeaways

Empathy in leadership can be cultivated through a structured framework that blends accountability with genuine connections to drive performance.

Historical lessons from military engagement reveal that understanding customer perspectives is crucial for transforming business relationships and fostering trust.

Deep dives

The Empathy Dilemma in Leadership

Empathy in leadership is increasingly challenging in today's fast-paced environment, yet balancing performance, people, and personal boundaries is essential. Misconceptions about empathy can hinder effective leadership and lead to issues like empathy hijacking, where it becomes a manipulative tool instead of a genuine connection. A framework is proposed to navigate these dilemmas through five key pillars that enable leaders to blend empathy with accountability and high performance. This approach emphasizes that leaders can embrace empathy without sacrificing their own mental health or the success of their organization.

Intro

2min

Transforming Customer Engagement Through Empathy and History

5min

From Academia to Empathy in Business

17min

Empathy as a Driver for Workplace and Customer Engagement

2min

Empathy-Driven Customer Engagement

15min

Engaging with Resources and Mastering Empathetic Messaging

3min

A military historian walks into a company and transforms their customer engagement strategy to increase revenue and retention. While this might sound like the start of a very strange joke, it's a true story. When searching for frameworks on how to better engage your customers with empathy, look no further than my guest today, John Southard.

Backed by more than 10 years of research built into his book, Defend and Befriend: The US Marine Corps and Combined Action Platoons in Vietnam, John has transformed the lessons from his historical research into a simple and proven empathy framework that companies can leverage to better understand customer needs - and we discuss that framework today, as well as examples each stage in action. We discuss why some leaders view the customer as the enemy and how that's hurting their growth, why simply responding to customer surveys is not the way to build engagement, and how your hiring decisions impact customer retention and engagement in ways you may not realize.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com

Key Takeaways:

Exposure to groups other than yourself is the gateway to empathy. Getting into conversation is the first step to breaking false assumptions and realizing that both sides are human.
A recent study shows that a lack of empathy from brands to consumers loses companies money, to the tune of $300M, every year.
Cultivating communities and relationships with customers allows you to get feedback from them directly and build trust with those customers.
When trying to find your differentiator - start with what your customers need, both overtly and covertly. It takes time, but the ROI is worth it and sustainable in the long term.

"What unfolded is…the greatest unknown story of empathy, because these Marines show up and realize quickly, we have to live here, we have to abide by their rules, we have to understand their culture…because our personal survival literally depends on it. They lived a day in the life of these villagers to gain their respect." — John Southard

Episode References:

The Empathy Edge podcast, Kara Goldin, On Undaunted Leadership
The Empathy Edge podcast, Sandy Thompson, How to Make People Fall in Love with Your Brand

Brand Story Breakthrough course to help you craft a clear, compelling brand story - includes weekly office hours with Maria!

About John Southard, Customer Engagement Expert, Speaker, Author

John has a Ph.D. in U.S. Military History and is an author, speaker, and expert in customer engagement and empathetic leadership. He has applied his historical research on empathy to corporate America to build empathetic leaders and cultures and optimize customer and employee experiences. Backed by more than 10 years of research, John has transformed the lessons from his historical research into a simple and proven empathy framework that companies can leverage to better understand customer needs.

Connect with John Southard

Website: Southard Speaks: https://www.johnsouthardspeaks.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsouthardhistoryphd/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/southardspeaks

Book: Defend and Befriend: The US Marine Corp and Combined Action Platoons in Vietnam

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

Connect with Maria:

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross