In a time when brute force is loudly heralded as effective leadership, and when a prominent billionaire can proclaim that “the fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy,” to center a professional gathering around dignity, compassion, and human flourishing is a radical act. The 11th Biennial POS (Positive Organizational Scholarship) Research Conference at the Michigan Ross Center for Positive Organizations (CPO), held May 15–16, 2025, was just that.
Cultural cynicism and organizational fearmongering have made it easy to relegate compassion to the sidelines. But the POS community came together not just to talk about research. We came together to live the values and practices we teach. The conference created an experience of what a flourishing world could feel like when lived into with others. It was, above all, a call to bravery.
It takes courage to ask human questions in systems that prize efficiency over empathy. It takes conviction to design policies and practices not around compliance, but around human dignity. And it takes collective resolve to move from shiny ideas to organizations that prioritize wellbeing.
The conference created an environment of cooperation and collaboration, where scholars were encouraged to share unfinished work. It is incredibly brave to bring forth work in progress to a room of peers. That vulnerability fostered positive, generative dialogue. Feedback wasn’t just welcomed; it was foundational to the ethos of the gathering.
In this community of safety, connection, and belonging we lived into a central theme: the practice of positive engagement in all we do. As Marc Lavine of the University of Massachusetts–Boston challenged educators: Can we move beyond simply teaching compassionate leadership to truly embodying it? This question resonates with all leaders who seek to live their values in organizational life.
Here are three takeaways for those committed to building compassionate organizations in an uncompassionate age.
High-Quality Connections Are the Foundation of Flourishing
The entire structure of the conference, including physical layout, pacing, routines, and rituals, was intentionally designed to foster high-quality connections. The CPO tradition of the Sugar Cube wall (pictured above) is designed to enable participants to share notes of gratitude and appreciation with each other. “The practice is essential to creating a generous community full of supportive conversations and serves to fuel extraordinary cultures of excellence.” This affirmed what compassionate leaders already know: relationships are the infrastructure of organizational wellbeing.
Yet in our daily lives, human connections are under threat. We are living in what the former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called an epidemic of loneliness. Journalist Allison Gilbert, co-author with Dr. Ruth Westheimer of The Joy of Connections, reminded us that compassionate leaders must be the ones to reach out. Leadership requires intentional cultivation of connection for ourselves and for the teams and communities we serve.
High-quality connections defined by vitality, mutuality, and positive regard don’t happen by accident. They are intentionally cultivated through how we listen, design feedback systems, structure meetings, and even greet each other. They humanize the workplace and are often the first to disappear when pressure rises. Compassionate leaders bravely defend them, invest in them, and model them daily.
Dignity Belongs at the Center of Organizational Design
Dignity must be built into the architecture of organizational life, and it was treated at this conference as an organizing principle with real-world consequences.
We heard stories and research about open hiring practices that eliminate exclusionary barriers, and about organizational routines that honor the inherent worth of every person. Organizations like Greyston Bakery demonstrate that treating dignity as foundational leads to stronger retention, engagement, and impact in the workplace and across communities. Moral commitment and operational excellence are shown to positively reinforce one another.
Dignity is not something to be bestowed. It is recognized and restored. When organizations structure their systems around that recognition, everything shifts: recruiting becomes more humane, feedback more respectful, performance management more relational. As one speaker challenged: if our policies only preserve the dignity of the already privileged, how bold is our vision, really? The message to leaders is clear: dignity is only meaningful if it reaches everyone, not just those who already hold power.
Compassionate Leadership Means Acting Ahead of the Curve
Carolina Ramos of NOVA School of Business and Economics in Lisbon introduced the idea of anticipatory compassion—a framework that pushes organizations to plan with compassion, not just react to distress. Her research, Less Pain, More Gain? Understanding Organizational Suffering and Reconceptualizing Compassion at Work, laid out a compelling case: when we can foresee harm, compassionate systems prepare in advance to reduce it. This reframes leadership from reactivity to intentional design of humane systems. Whether it's upcoming layoffs, restructuring, or seasonal pressure cycles, leaders can plan to safeguard wellbeing before the crisis arrives.
Andy Hoffman, author of Business School and the Noble Purpose of the Market, reminded us that the institutions educating future leaders were built for a different era. The social and ecological urgencies we now face will not be solved by optimizing outdated systems. They demand structural reinvention, not surface-level reform.
To be brave today is to lead from the future, not the past. It means preparing for challenges ahead of their negative impact. And it means holding the future in view, all while the present is screaming for attention.
The POS Conference was a brave space in every sense. It was filled with innovative research, and also with music, art, nature, silence, laughter, and vulnerable truth-telling. In that supported space, leaders and scholars did not shrink from the harsh realities of our time. Instead, we asked: What if compassion is the greatest strength of our civilization?
The answer we lived into, together, was yes.
Hundreds of leaders from around the world have taken our Compassionate Leadership Certification Training programs over the last few years, bringing the lessons they learn back into their own organizations and lives.
Our 3-week Accelerated Compassionate Leadership Certification Training will build your compassion from the inside out and connect you with a powerful global peer community for ongoing growth, inspiration, and support. It also serves as a prerequisite for our 2026 Compassionate Leadership Teacher Training Professional Certification.
Photo Credit: Center for Positive Organizations