Applied Empathy: My Interview with Michael Ventura

“If you want to connect with the people you work with and for, you first have to understand them. In order to do that effectively, you must understand yourself.” 

My guest this week is Michael Ventura, CEO and founder of Sub Rosa, a strategy and design firm that has worked with names like Johnson & Johnson, Pantone, and Adobe to the TED Conference, Delta Airlines and The Daily Show. Michael has served as a board member and adviser to a variety of organizations, including Behance, the Burning Man Project, Cooper-Hewitt, and the U.N.'s Tribal Link Foundation. He is also a visiting lecturer at institutions like Princeton University and the United States Military Academy at West Point. But get this, Michael somehow also has time for a thriving indigenous medicine practice, where he helps patients address illness and injury of all types on the road to better well-being. 

I am thrilled to bring you this conversation as we discuss Michael's book Applied Empathy. Michael's message about empathy isn’t just for designers, it is for anyone solving problems involving other humans. And whether you are a stay-at-home mom or dad, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, these ideas are game changing.