Call to Action: More Compassion, please

Do you remember the Maclean’s image on the front cover of July 2019? I sure do… and I use it as the perfect image demonstrating “a kinder kind of leadership”, Grassroots Gratitudes’ vision.

Then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern is wearing a head scarf and embracing another woman with warmth, compassion, empathy, and human kindness. Ardern was taking action in response to the horrific attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand and was visiting people in hospital wards, in places of worship, in various public spaces where people of all faiths and backgrounds were mourning in shock and inconsolable sadness. Her government offered financial support to help with burial costs and also passed legislation to ban most semi-automatic weapons. The caption on the cover reads:

Join the compassion revolution

(or we’re all doomed)

August 2025 and I am reading about Compassion in Brené Brown’s book: Atlas of the Heart. 

Brown wrote this book in order to help others find the words and definitions and vocabulary that will help us understand ourselves better and also in order to improve our communication skills as we connect and accept our shared responsibilities as human beings.

Compassion, Brown writes is about relating to and treating ourselves as well others with love, kindness, and acceptance. Compassion, Brown asserts, is not just a feeling, it’s a doing.

Her working definition:

Compassion is the daily practice of recognizing and accepting our shared humanity so that we treat ourselves and others with loving-kindness, and we take action in the face of suffering.

Compassion is a state of mind, an emotion, a feeling, as well as a daily practice of acting on the understanding of our shared humanity. Compassion is not about needing to fix, alter, change, distance yourself, or judge the story. Rather, compassion is an intuitive understanding that the burdens or suffering of others affects each one of us — we are all made of strength and struggle.

Brown continues,

Empathy, the most powerful tool of compassion, is an emotional skill set that allows us to understand what someone is experiencing and to reflect back that understanding.

Let me repeat — Empathy is a tool of compassion. It is part of an emotional skill set. Empathy helps us to understand. Compassion requires action.

Clearly, Gratitude is a close-sister to Compassion.

Like compassion, Gratitude is an emotion, a chance to pause, reflect, savour and recognize, that some external force is causing my positive emotions to rise. Something happens. My heart does a little flip and takes a bath in some oxytocin. While my heart and head are happy dancing in ways that are mysterious and impossible to control, I make a conscious decision to acknowledge my gratitude and in the days to come, I will choose to reciprocate. How? Bake some soup and cookies? Write a note or make a phone call? How I choose to keep the glow alive, by thanking someone, making a gift, or acting in accordance to my feelings of appreciation will be unique to every situation.

For me — writing in my journal helps me deepen my feelings of gratitude and compassion and empathy. I am also excited to read about and listen to stories of others who are part of the Compassion Revolution.

What steps are you taking in these times of upheaval and renewal?

Here is a  July 2025  link to “How to build a compassionate workplace”

“Organizational compassion, then, is a co-created process between receivers and givers—one that unfolds through signalling and noticing, emoting and empathizing, narrating and appraising, describing needs and responding with support to address suffering in the workplace.

MW: What does the research tell us about why we should care about organizational compassion?

AS: Our research shows that when compassion is supported in the workplace—when people are able to express care and support for one another, or receive it from their supervisors or mentors, when they see it demonstrated by their leaders—they feel a greater sense of loyalty, commitment, and trust. When they feel cared for, and when they see that the organization cares, they’re more inspired to give their discretionary time and energy to their colleagues and to the organization.

When organizations pay attention to their people—and support them with compassion, particularly during their times of struggle or distress—that compassion tends to come back to the organization in the form of goodwill, loyalty, and engagement. It also leads to better customer outcomes, because when employees care about the organization, that care spills over into how they treat customers or patients.

That would be a kind of utilitarian argument—a business case—for why compassion matters in organizations. But beyond that, it’s also simply the right thing to do—an expression of virtue and a recognition of human dignity.

August 2025: Compassion. Empathy. Kindness. Humility. Gratitude. By focusing on the good stuff, we are influencing our thoughts, words and ideas in ways that can shift the culture. I am convinced!  Grateful ideas and conversations at the community level can help us put down roots, join hearts and compose the words that we are calling: The Manifesto for The Gratitude Project. What’s more? We are imagining an energy that will grow into a movement.

Imagine!

The Gratitude Project will support leaders who are part of the Compassion Revolution. If you or your team(s), or allies, or comrades in arms are interested in linking arms with others who are choosing kindness and grace over anger and resentment, please get in touch.

I know there are lots of good stories waiting to be mined and celebrated widely.

For all who are choosing to swim or paddle or wade in your local waters of human kindness and inclusion — thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU!

Let’s connect and choose to celebrate all of the ways we are connected. Time to get this party going!