
Modeling Compassionate Leadership with Marcel Schwantes
From Love in Action by Marcel Schwantes
February 26, 2026 · 11 min · Episode 259
About this episode
Marcel Schwantes discusses the importance of compassion as a core leadership strength and its impact on organizational success.
Episode recap Don’t forget Marcel’s special offer to join his Substack community for $8.00/month. Subscribe here: https://marcelschwantes.substack.com/subscribe In this solo episode, Marcel argued that compassion is a core leadership strength, not a soft extra, and that alleviating others’ pain and suffering is a leader’s real work. Through examples like Jeff Weiner and Phil Lynch during 9/11, he showed how leaders who prioritize people, communicate openly, and make space for emotion build stronger, more connected organizations. When leaders show up in hard moments, teams heal faster and perform better. Bio Marcel Schwantes is a leadership coach, speaker, author, and advocate for more humane workplaces. He works with organizations that are tired of burnout, disengagement, and hollow cultures — and ready to build something better. Marcel’s work includes: Executive coaching Leadership development programs for managers Keynote speaking and workshops Executive roundtables and culture strategy sessions Marcel is the author of Humane Leadership: Lead with Radical Love, Be a Kick-Ass Boss. Whether coaching a CEO or training a leadership team, Marcel’s #1 goal is the same: To help…
People in this episode
Host: Marcel Schwantes
Topics covered
- compassionate leadership
- emotional intelligence
- organizational culture
- leadership development
- human-centered workplaces
Keywords
- compassion
- leadership strength
- Jeff Weiner
- Phil Lynch
- 9/11
- open communication
- emotional space
- team performance
- humane workplaces
- burnout
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Substack community
Books & works: Modeling Compassionate Leadership, Humane Leadership: Lead with Radical Love
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