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November 25, 2025 39 mins

Michael Lee Stallard is president of E Pluribus Partners, and a speaker, teacher, and consultant on leadership, employee engagement, productivity, and innovation. He is the primary author of "Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team's Passion, Creativity and Productivity" and a contributor to The ASTD Management Development Handbook. He joins me to discuss how leaders must fostering more human connection and empathy, and humanity in the workplace: why we need it and how to foster more human connection and empathy through leadership.

About the Guest

Michael is an author, thought leader, speaker and a widely recognized expert on how effective leaders boost human connection in cultures to improve the health and performance of individuals and organizations.   He is the author of Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy and Understanding at Work and Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity and Productivity, and a contributor to other books.

Articles by or about Michael’s work have been in the media worldwide including The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Leader to Leader, Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, FastCompany.com, HR Magazine, Human Resource Executive, Talent Management, SmartBrief, Rotman (Canada), Shukan Diayamondo (Japan), Developing HR Strategy (UK), The Economic Times (India),LiveMint (India), Outlook Business for Decision Makers (India), Smart Manager (India), and Capital (Dubai).

Michael has spoken at many organizations and conferences including the Association for Talent Development, Center for Creative Leadership, Costco, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, General Dynamics, General Electric, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NASA, Northwestern Medicine, Qualcomm, Turner Construction, University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Department of Treasury. He is a faculty member at the Institute for Management Studies. Texas Christian University created the TCU Center for Connection Culture to advance Connection Culture at TCU and in higher education generally.

Prior to founding E Pluribus Partners, Michael was a managing director on Wall Street. Earlier in his career he worked in the technology sector. Michael is married to Katharine Stallard. They have two grown daughters.

Links in this Episode

https://www.michaelleestallard.com

http://connectionculture.com/book

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Walt Rakowich

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