Leading With Empathy: Building Trust and Collaboration at Work

What if leading with empathy, trust, and even softness was the key to thriving in the high-speed world of tech? In this episode, Ginger Day Emens shares how a deeply human approach to leadership transforms team dynamics, tackles workplace challenges, and redefines what it truly means to succeed.

Ginger Day Emens is the Chief of Staff for the GTM Team at ControlUp, where she drives strategic alignment and execution across sales, marketing, and customer success teams. With a diverse background that spans teaching middle school science, consulting, editing, and higher education administration, Ginger blends analytical rigor with a deeply human approach to leadership. Known for cultivating trust, psychological safety, and collaboration, she brings empathy and intuition into the fast-paced world of tech operations. Her personal journey shaped by her experiences as a mother and her healing process fuels her commitment to leading from a place of love and softness, proving that care and connection are powerful assets in business.

Below are the key takeaways from this episode:

1. Softness in Leadership Works: Ginger Day Emens shows that empathy and calmness can be powerful assets in tech leadership, proving that leading from love fosters better collaboration and trust.
2. Personal Experiences Inform Leadership Style: Ginger’s background in education and her time as a stay-at-home mom have shaped her thoughtful, process-oriented, and people-focused approach.
3. Emotional Regulation is Essential: Both speakers stress the need for self-awareness and responding thoughtfully rather than reacting emotionally, drawing parallels to skills used in therapy.
4. Trust Drives Team Success: Building trust and psychological safety within teams enables innovation, effective communication, and long-term motivation.
5. Balance is Key: True leadership means merging empathy with assertiveness—being caring and soft, but also setting firm boundaries when necessary.

Todays guest, Ginger Day Emens, can be found online at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginger-day-emens-0b0661175/

Your host, Dr. Bobbi Wegner, can be found online at:

Groops: https://www.joingroops.com/

Harvard Extension School Faculty Spotlight: https://youtu.be/zwLai-lu-pk?si=GpKNhtxVvTrS3-pu

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