What if empathy isn't just about being nice, but your secret weapon for building systems that actually work?
Lizabeth Wesely-Casella, CEO of L12 Services, spent her early career in construction wearing hard hats and reading blueprints in the 90s. She learned that communication wasn't just a nice-to-have—it was survival. That foundation led her to combine behavioral science, Lean Six Sigma, and internal communications into frameworks that create "clarity from chaos."
What We Dig Into
The Real Definition of Empathy in Business - Why feeling your team's pain (not just acknowledging it) changes how you design processes and communications.
Why Structure Creates Freedom - How the right frameworks liberate people instead of constraining them.
The Communications Chaos Tolerance Problem - Organizations are drowning workforces in messages. How to figure out what people can actually handle.
People as Your Most Critical Channel - Your middle managers are communication channels, not just message recipients.
AI as an Enabler (The Bad Kind) - Are we using AI to avoid the hard work of prioritization and focus?
The CATS System - Her Communication Accountability Tool that holds leadership accountable for actually communicating.
Why This Matters
In our fractured landscape where priorities multiply daily, Lizabeth's approach of disciplined focus and human-centered processes feels essential. Whether you're managing return-to-office mandates or trying to get teams to read internal communications, this conversation bridges strategy and tactics.
Notable Quotes
"Clear communication was going to be my superpower. And it was, it was really the foundation of all good projects." - Lizabeth Wesely-Casella [05:54 → 06:07]
"Our worlds are overwhelmed and it is noise. No matter whether you're getting your internal comms at the office or you're getting your advertisements on television or the radio, whatever, we are all at our max capacity for absorbing any more information." - Lizabeth Wesely-Casella [36:28 → 36:48]
"Accountability means that we've created a structure that connects the dots, where along the way you'll be able to make sure that you are in line with what's expected of you and you don't have to have a major course correction." - Lizabeth Wesely-Casella [46:58 → 47:13]
"My preference would be for people to focus on how to use AI in the internal comm space as a way of creating strategy for low engagement, for channel use, for opportunities to create greater organizational awareness between silos." - Lizabeth Wesely-Casella [58:28 → 58:47]
"That's where the Internal Comms Pro becomes the specialist in understanding what the priorities are, reducing the noise and making really strategic decisions about what gets communicated. Because you can't communicate everything." - Lizabeth Wesely-Casella [1:03:58 → 1:04:14]
Resources and Links
Dan Nestle
Inquisitive Communications | Website
The Trending Communicator | Website
Communications Trends from Trending Communicators | Dan Nestle's Substack
Dan Nestle | LinkedIn
Dan Nestle | Twitter/X
Lizabeth Wesely-Casella
L12 Services | Website
Communication Accountability Tools (CATs) Bundle | Download
Lizabeth Wesely-Casella | LinkedIn
Timestamps
0:00 Intro: Empathy as a strategic advantage
5:19 From construction to communications expertise
10:10 Combining behavioral science and Lean Six Sigma
17:06 Overly optimistic about multitasking capabilities
24:42 AI as potential enabler of bad behaviors
31:27 Challenges of AI summarizing internal comms
39:43 Reframing accountability as a positive tool
46:18 Creating common language around accountability
51:26 AI adoption causing process breakdowns
58:28 Using AI strategically in internal comms
1:04:52 The irreplaceable human element in communication
(Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and Flowsend.ai )
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