Employee Experience 2026 (EMEA): The Norms Redefining Leadership in a Changing World
Drawing on the voices of 8 million employees and one of the world’s largest databases on employee experience and organisational culture, this webinar examines the new realities of employee experience in 2026 and the leadership responses they demand.
Join us to uncover what’s changing, where organisations are falling behind, how experiences differ across industries, roles and people, and what it will take to motivate and lead in a changing world.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Personal Evolution, Global Evolution with David Sloan Wilson and Rick Hanson
Darwin’s insights into biological evolution extend into societal and even personal evolution - and David Sloan Wilson has been a brilliant pioneer in the far-reaching implications. Join him and Rick Hanson to explore how these insights can expand your own healing, growing, and awakening - informed by the deep analysis of the mind in the Buddhist contemplative tradition - as well as show us a realistic path forward in our troubled world.
David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist and a SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University. David Sloan Wilson has made foundational contributions to evolutionary theory and its expansion beyond the biological sciences to include all human-related subjects. He remains active as president of ProSocial World, a nonprofit organization applying evolutionary theory to all aspects of humanity in addition to the rest of life. A complete archive of his work is available at www.DavidSloanWilson.world. His most recent books include This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution, Prosocial: Using Evolutionary Science to Build Productive, Equitable, and Collaborative Groups (with Paul W.B. Atkins and Steven C. Hayes), and his novel Atlas Hugged.
Rick Hanson, PhD is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 33 languages, and include Making Great Relationships, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. He’s the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well Podcast – which has been downloaded over 25 million times. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Compassion Café: A Place for Connection, Discussion and Restoration
A Place for Connection, Discussion and Restoration with Kathryn Lovewell. Compassion Cafe is a fortnightly, informal meet-up for the whole, global GCC family to come together. In a warm and welcoming atmosphere, you’ll find connection with others, support in your compassion practice and ideas for developing it, wherever you are in your personal journey.
This is a free space to learn, share and simply connect. So if you’ve ever wondered ‘am I knowledgeable enough to take part?’ or ‘do I have enough experience?’, please know that the only requirement to attend these get-togethers is for you to show up!
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Measuring Empathy and Compassion: Current Strategies Gaps in Knowledge, and Future Aspirations
A free webinar exploring how we measure empathy and compassion in health care—and why better measurement is essential to improving outcomes.
Empathy and compassion are widely recognized as important determinants of health care outcomes for both patients and providers. Knowing how best to measure these qualities and their change over time is crucial for understanding basic mechanisms, enhancing health care education, and providing evidence to support the need for structural change.
In this complimentary virtual seminar, we will review important concepts related to measuring empathy and compassion and the current state-of-the-field. We will also identify gaps where innovation is needed to improve measurement and share initial work at the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion aimed at closing these gaps and moving the field forward. The session will conclude with ample time for questions and discussion.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Executive Presence, Demystified - A Framework for Authentic Leadership and Lasting Influence
Is executive presence something you can learn or do you have to be born with it? And how can you build your personal brand and gain attention as a leader? In this Keynote, you will explore how to surface and strengthen your leadership traits so you can secure buy‑in for your ideas, attract funding to grow your business, or motivate your team — all without sacrificing your values or straying from your authentic self.
Join us for a conversation between Tom O’Toole, Executive Director of Public Affairs Programming in the MPA Program at Cornell University’s Brooks School of Public Policy, and Mark Bayer, Visiting Lecturer at the Brooks School and former U.S. Senate chief of staff. Together, they bring deep, real-world expertise in leadership, influence, and navigating high‑stakes environments.
You’ll discover powerful, proven, and practical ways to elevate your personal brand, expand your influence, and amplify your impact by transforming your executive presence.
What You'll Learn
How executive presence is not an innate gift but a set of specific, teachable skills that can be developed through intentional practice
A proven framework that helps you strengthen your natural leadership abilities while staying true to your values and authentic self
Specific strategies to leverage your enhanced executive presence to secure funding, gain buy-in for ideas, or motivate your team effectively
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
2026 Compassionate Communication Virtual Workshop Series: From Overwhelmed to Empowered: Thriving in a Challenging Scientific Climate
In today’s fast-shifting socio-political landscape, where science and medicine intersect with public debate, it’s natural to feel weighed down—by waves of misinformation, by skepticism that challenges evidence, and even by the intensity of our own emotional responses. Yet within this turbulence lies an opportunity: to transform overwhelm into empowerment, and to cultivate resilience that allows us not only to endure but to thrive. This webinar is designed to help you shift from a place of stress and fatigue to one of strength, clarity, and purpose.
We’ll explore how to:
• Recognize and manage our own emotional responses to the current climate
• Protect our emotional and physical well-being while navigating anti-science narratives
• Remain open to new or uncomfortable ideas without compromising our values
• Stay grounded and positive to prevent burnout
• Draw strength from a supportive, like-minded community— a collective anchor of resilience, rooted in evidence based understanding.
This session is not just about strategies—it’s about solidarity, self-awareness, and sustaining the energy to keep doing meaningful work. Whether you're a scientist, educator, health professional, or advocate, you’ll leave with tools to stay empowered and connected in the face of challenge.
UC San Diego’s Center for Compassionate Communication proudly presents the Spring 2026 Compassionate Communication Virtual Workshop Series
This free, skills-based program is specially designed for health care professionals, medical educators, and researchers. Through interactive sessions, participants will learn how to communicate with greater compassion—and, in turn, greater effectiveness—with patients, healthcare teams, medical trainees, and beyond.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Bridging with a Goal in Mind: A Deliberative Process for Addressing Big Problems Together
Bridging Differences in Higher Education: Research-Based Practices that Build Belonging
Diverse communities can address problems and generate new possibilities for action without people compromising their values or identities to make it happen. They just need the right support.
Martín Carcasson knows that college students can play a key role in providing that support. That’s why he and his colleagues at Colorado State University’s Center for Public Deliberation (CPD) train students to serve as impartial facilitators, working alongside local governments, school boards, and community organizations, to help the people of northern Colorado arrive at better decisions together.
In this interactive skill-sharing session, Prof. Carcasson and his former student Willow Paul will share what they’ve learned as they’ve helped local communities address problems more productively through improved public communication and collaborative decision-making. Then, character scientist, Elise Dykhuis, will show how this work doesn’t just change how we collaborate, but can also cultivate the intellectual humility needed to engage across differences.
Join us as we:
Encounter the research-backed power of focusing on solutions and understanding one another’s values
Introduce specific ways to adapt these insights into your work
Reflect on how these practices shape character, cultivating intellectual humility and strengthening our compassion, patience, and courage.
Hosted by Juliana Tafur, GGSC’s Bridging Differences Program Director.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
The Compassionate Action Conference - A Living Framework: Where Pillars Converge
Seven interconnected pathways. One shared commitment. Compassion practiced across systems, cultures, and generations.
The conference brings together the Charter’s seven pillars—Education and Wisdom, Health, Environmental Stewardship, Justice and Integrity, Music and the Arts, Play and Innovation, and Spirituality—not as separate tracks, but as an integrated framework shaping how communities learn, govern, heal, create, and belong. Participants will experience how these pillars intersect in real-world settings, reinforcing compassion as both a moral orientation and a practical strategy for social transformation.
Compassionate Communities: Local Voice, Local Hands
At the heart of the conference is the lived experience of Charter Compassionate Communities around the world. These communities demonstrate that compassion is not passive—it is participatory. It listens. It acts. Through shared stories, case studies, and collaborative dialogue, participants will explore how grassroots leadership, inclusive governance, and community service generate meaningful and lasting change.
Education as Transformation: Compassion Across a Lifetime
The conference affirms education as a cornerstone of compassionate action. From early childhood through higher education and lifelong learning, sessions will highlight how compassionate education nurtures empathy, ethical leadership, and civic responsibility—shaping how individuals and institutions respond to the challenges of our time.
Partners in Action: A Living Ecosystem
With thousands of partners worldwide—educators, artists, health practitioners, faith leaders, youth organizers, and civic innovators—the Charter’s work is sustained through collaboration. The conference offers a vibrant platform for partners to share their work, exchange expertise, and explore new alliances that translate shared values into shared action.
A Shared Commitment to Compassionate Action
More than a convening, the Compassionate Action Conference is a collective call to participation. Across two days of interactive sessions, workshops, and conversations, participants will engage both head and heart—connecting insight with practice, and vision with responsibility.
Together, we are building compassionate communities— one place, one relationship, one action at a time.
Register here for this sliding scale online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
The Resilient Leader: Strengthening Leadership from Within
Join us on May 14 when Helene Creager, LCSW, ICF Coach and Center for Compassionate Leadership Accredited Teacher, will help justice professionals transform self-criticism into a steadier, more supportive inner guide. You’ll explore practical tools to quiet self-judgment, build self-awareness, and access an “inner mentor” that supports clarity, resilience, and authentic leadership in high-stakes environments.
Leaders emerge at every level of a justice organization, and when they invest in their own growth, they strengthen everyone around them. Yet many leaders struggle with an inner critic, a harsh, self-critical voice that undermines confidence, fuels stress, and drains resilience.
This webinar helps justice professionals transform that critic into an ally by rewiring the brain toward self-kindness, supportive motivation, and grounded self-awareness. Participants will explore practical tools for cultivating awareness, quieting self-judgment, and activating their “inner mentor,” the voice that builds clarity, confidence, and resilience under pressure.
Through reflection and real-world application, the session offers practical ways to:
Respond with awareness rather than react impulsively
Access a calm, encouraging inner voice during moments of stress, self-doubt, or high-pressure decision-making
Strengthen resilience and well-being through small, daily practices that sustain a growth mindset for themselves, their teams, and their organizations
By shifting from self-criticism to self-compassion, leaders can recover more quickly from setbacks, lead with authenticity, and foster safe, high-performing workplace environments.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Empathy & Compassion Research - Speaker Series: Suppressing Negative Emotion Undermines Compassionate Responding During Conversations w/ Olivia Jurkiewicz, MA
Individuals often struggle to express compassion when faced with others’ needs or problems. In this work, Dr. Jurkiewicz examines how regulating one’s emotions through suppression can undermine compassionate responding via an attentional mechanism. Learn about the latest empathy and compassion research findings from Sanford Institute-affiliated researchers.
UC San Diego’s Center for Research on Empathy and Compassion proudly presents the Empathy & Compassion Research Speaker Series for Spring 2026.
This free virtual series highlights the impactful and groundbreaking research that Sanford Institute-affiliated faculty and researchers have played an integral role in. This series is designed for anyone with an interest in empathy and compassion in neurobiology and healthcare.
The hosting organization, T. Denny Sanford Institute of Empathy and Compassion, represents an unprecedented blending of two parallel themes: employing the unyielding rigor and tools of science to establish the neurological basis for empathy in the brain to identify the mechanisms that transform compassion from biology to behavior, and experimenting with and developing new ways to teach and instill empathy and compassion in clinicians currently practicing and in the teaching of future generations of health professionals.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Healing Hatred - How to Widen Our Circle of Moral Concern in a Polarized World with Fleet Maull, James Kirby and Myriam Mongrain
Why is it often so much easier to feel compassion for those we identify with, and so much harder to extend it to those we fear, dislike, or blame? Clinical psychologist James Kirby and contemplative teacher Fleet Maull explore the emotions that cause us to close our hearts to others. Join us to discover specific psychological strategies and contemplative practices to interrupt divisive thinking and widen your moral concern.
Insight & Action: The Compassion Science Series
This is the second event in our 2026 series exploring the hindrances to compassion – specifically the mental habits that limit our care for those we perceive as “other.” The series is curated and organized by Myriam Mongrain, PhD, Chair of the Global Compassion Coalition Science Committee.
What to Expect
We will dive into what the science tells us about how people can learn to widen their moral concern, rather than remaining confined to their in-group. These are just some of the topics we’ll explore:
Working with emotions that can block our compassion, like anger, contempt, and moral judgment.
Practical ways to interrupt the impulse to turn others into “the enemy.”
Strategies for interpersonal, social, and political conflict.
Meet the Speakers
Fleet Maull, PhD, an author, meditation teacher, and social entrepreneur, developed Neuro-Somatic Mindfulness (NSM), a deeply embodied, neuroscience and trauma-informed approach to meditation offering an accelerated path to healing & awakening. He is both a Zen roshi and a senior teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He founded Heart Mind Institute, #578 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list, a transformational education platform for self-actualization and life mastery training courses and summits. He also founded Prison Mindfulness Institute and National Prison Hospice Association, catalyzing two national movements, while serving a 14-year sentence, 1985 to 1999. Dr. Maull is the author of Radical Responsibility: How to Move Beyond Blame, Fearlessly Live Your Highest Purpose and Become an Unstoppable Force for Good.
James N. Kirby, PhD., is an Associate Professor, Clinical Psychologist, Director of the Clinical Programs, and the Co-Director of the Compassionate Mind Research Group at the University of Queensland. His research focus is on the science of compassion, exploring what helps or hinders our ability to be compassionate. James is a Fellow of the Mind & Life Institute, and a founding board member of the Global Compassion Coalition. In 2022 he authored Choose Compassion.
Myriam Mongrain, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Full Professor of Psychology at York University. She is an active clinician, researcher, and teacher. Recently, she has looked at positive psychology interventions to boost resilience, reduce depression and promote well-being. She has examined the effect of interventions such as the practice of gratitude, kindness, and optimism in large community samples and has found evidence for their benefits. Her current interests revolve around the understanding and impact of compassionate goals. As well, the students in her lab are researching world views, nihilism, humility, and mindfulness in relationship to happiness and well-being. She is currently Chair of the Science of Committee for the Global Compassion Coalition.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Compassionate Leadership: From Human Connection to Commercial Impact
How do leaders sustain performance when trust is fragile, energy is depleted, and the human cost of work is rising - without sacrificing commercial accountability?
Join Laura Berland and Evan Harrel (Co-founders and Executive Directors, the Center for Compassionate Leadership), alongside Nicola Shearer and Daniel Stane (Senior Pluribus Consultants and leadership experts) for an evidence‑based conversation on Compassionate Leadership.
Drawing on a compelling evidence base, and organisational case studies, this session makes explicit how compassionate leadership operates as a strategic capability - shaping effective decision‑making, trust, execution, and results. It brings the human experience of work into focus, showing how leaders can respond to real pressure, fear, and fatigue in ways that restore energy, strengthen performance, and deliver commercial impact.
Who Should Join
- Senior leaders, HR and People leaders, inclusion and transformation professionals, and others accountable for delivering performance through people.
- Leaders navigating sustained pressure who need approaches that are both human and commercially credible
- Those responsible for culture, engagement, and results, looking to move from good intentions to systemic, practical impact
What You’ll Gain
- A sharper lens to identify where human suffering is enabling or blocking performance
- Practical ways to operationalise compassion in leadership, work, and organisational dynamics
- Greater confidence to make the commercial case for compassionate leadership
- Clear insight into how addressing visible and hidden suffering strengthens trust, engagement, and collaboration
- A simple, repeatable approach to embedding Compassionate Leadership in practice
This webinar is connected to a tailored Compassionate Leadership solution offered by Pluribus in partnership with the Center for Compassionate Leadership.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Leading Through AI Transformation, What It’s Teaching Us About Being Human: A Webinar Series - How Organizations & Leaders Can Build the Human Connections AI Can’t Replace
Every AI conversation includes a version of the same promise: that as automation accelerates, uniquely human qualities will matter even more. Most senior leaders believe it. And yet, the employee experience keeps pointing in the opposite direction — more efficiency, but less connection; faster coordination, but weaker alignment.
The gap isn’t a morale problem or a hybrid work problem. It’s structural.
The interactions that build and maintain relationships once replenished themselves naturally. That’s no longer the environment most organizations are operating in. In this webinar on how AI transformation affects leaders and organizations, researchers and practitioners explore what it takes to close that gap — and what development looks like when it’s designed for strengthening the space between people.
What You’ll Learn
What it takes to build the relational infrastructure that makes leadership possible when the conditions that once sustained it naturally no longer exist
Why the erosion of connection is a structural design problem — not a culture problem — and why that distinction changes what organizations need to do in response
The 3 interconnected pathways through which leadership development rebuilds what AI and distributed work erode
Why most leadership development misses the mark — and what changes when the unit of development shifts from the individual to the space between people
What it looks like in practice when organizations design for collective relational capacity rather than individual skill-building — and how that plays out in the real world
What L&D leaders can do now to start building relational infrastructure deliberately, without waiting for a fully formed organizational strategy to take shape
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Compassion Café: Morning UK A Place for Connection, Discussion and Restoration
A Place for Connection, Discussion and Restoration with Kathryn Lovewell. Compassion Cafe is a fortnightly, informal meet-up for the whole, global GCC family to come together. In a warm and welcoming atmosphere, you’ll find connection with others, support in your compassion practice and ideas for developing it, wherever you are in your personal journey.
This is a free space to learn, share and simply connect. So if you’ve ever wondered ‘am I knowledgeable enough to take part?’ or ‘do I have enough experience?’, please know that the only requirement to attend these get-togethers is for you to show up! You don’t have to be a GCC member. And if you just want to listen, that’s totally fine too!
Each meet-up will include some of the following:
Prompts to encourage some personal reflections
Practical suggestions and advice for developing your compassion practice
Free space for those that want to share their thoughts and experiences
Optional small group spaces for sharing
Inspiration for putting compassion into action in your personal life, your community and the wider world
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Make Life Happier with Dr Mark Williamson
How can we really make life happier?
We all want the people we love to be happy – and most of us long to feel more at peace with ourselves. But how can we do this reliably in our busy lives and in an uncertain world?
At this special event, Dr Mark Williamson, Director of Action for will share key insights from his forthcoming book Make Life Happier. Drawing on fifteen years of working closely with leading experts in wellbeing, Mark will offer simple, proven ways to make life happier for yourself, your loved ones and the wider world. The event will be hosted by the psychologist, broadcaster & writer Dr Sian Williams.
Mark doesn't claim to be a guru. He's a practical ‘happiness engineer’ who has road-tested these ideas in real life with thousands of people – and in his own journey from burnout to purpose. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all formula, Mark will explain how you can run your own ‘happiness experiments’ and discover what works best for you – whether that’s quieting your inner critic, building healthier habits, becoming a better listener or contributing to your community.
Make Life Happier is more than a guide to feeling better - it’s an invitation to join a growing movement of people choosing to live differently. Because lasting happiness comes not just from caring for ourselves, but from caring for each other. Whatever your situation, you can do something – and you can make a start now.
Dr Mark Williamson is the Director of Action for Happiness and has led this social movement from an idea on paper to a thriving community with over 780,000 members in 100+ countries. He was previously Director of Innovation at the Carbon Trust, Senior Manager at Accenture, and worked at Hewlett-Packard Labs and Orange. Mark’s new book, Make Life Happier: 23 Practical Ways to Feel Better, Find Meaning and Make a Difference, will be published in April 2026.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Empathy & Compassion Research - Speaker Series - The Dopamine Pedal for Feasting with Friends with Zhenggang Zhu, MD
UC San Diego’s Center for Research on Empathy and Compassion proudly presents the Empathy & Compassion Research Speaker Series for Spring 2026.
This free virtual series highlights the impactful and groundbreaking research that Sanford Institute-affiliated faculty and researchers have played an integral role in. This series is designed for anyone with an interest in empathy and compassion in neurobiology and healthcare.
Why is palatable food so irresistible? Dr. Zhu will describe a neural circuit mechanism in which palatability actively suppresses a hindbrain brake, releasing dopamine signaling that sustains consumption. This moment-by-moment competition between reward and satiety systems explains why highly palatable foods drive overconsumption and why many obesity treatments fail once eating begins. Dr. Zhu will then extend this framework to social contexts, showing how observing others eat recruits the dopamine circuit to trigger socially cued eating, revealing a previously underappreciated social control of eating.
The hosting organization, T. Denny Sanford Institute of Empathy and Compassion, represents an unprecedented blending of two parallel themes: employing the unyielding rigor and tools of science to establish the neurological basis for empathy in the brain to identify the mechanisms that transform compassion from biology to behavior, and experimenting with and developing new ways to teach and instill empathy and compassion in clinicians currently practicing and in the teaching of future generations of health professionals.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Bridging Differences in Higher Education: Research-Based Practices that Build Belonging: We Want to Be Known
We Want to Be Known: Inclusive Faith Leadership Through Perspective Giving and Getting Rev. Dr. Amanda Henderson trains the next generation of inclusive faith leaders at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO. Her students come from different faith traditions, but as future leaders committed to fostering belonging, they all need the skills to collaborate with the people who serve in local public leadership. That’s where storytelling comes in.
In her immersive summer course, “Inclusive Leadership and Local Politics,” Rev. Dr. Henderson takes a group of graduate students to rural and suburban communities for two weeks, telling stories and listening. Anchored in loving curiosity, the group lives together, disagrees often, and facilitates deep conversations with local leaders about the needs of LGBTQ+ youth in their communities.
In this interactive skill-sharing session, Rev. Dr. Henderson will share stories and insights from this special immersive course experience. Then Sarah Schnitker, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University, will explore how this particular kind of storytelling–perspective giving and getting–can be an act of character, helping us become the leaders we want to be.
Join us as we:
Encounter the research-backed power of perspective giving and getting
Introduce specific ways to adapt this practice into your work
Reflect on how the practice shapes character, cultivating empathy and exercising our curiosity, patience, and courage.
Hosted by Juliana Tafur, GGSC’s Bridging Differences Program Director.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Compassionate Communication Virtual Workshop Series - When Leaders Listen: How Clinician Insight Shapes Departmental and Systemwide Action
This session explores how the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Office for Organizational Well-Being (OWB) listens deeply to frontline clinicians and transforms that feedback into meaningful, multi-level culture change. Through its Department Enhancement Project (DEP) framework and the Organizational Well-Being Executive Leadership Team (OWBELT) Action Plan, OWB has created intentional structures that surface root issues, elevate frontline perspectives, and translate insights into coordinated department- and system-level improvements. Participants will learn how these interconnected frameworks foster transparency, collaboration, and accountability, and how to adapt similar ground-up approaches to create strategic interventions and accelerate culture change within their own organizations.
UC San Diego’s Center for Compassionate Communication proudly presents the Spring 2026 Compassionate Communication Virtual Workshop Series
This free, skills-based program is specially designed for health care professionals, medical educators, and researchers. Through interactive sessions, participants will learn how to communicate with greater compassion—and, in turn, greater effectiveness—with patients, healthcare teams, medical trainees, and beyond.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Women in Healthcare Leadership: Navigating Power With Purpose
Women are taking on leadership roles across healthcare at unprecedented rates — yet the path is rarely straightforward. In this Keynotes conversation, Professor Elizabeth Mannix, an expert on leadership and networks, and Professor Sunita Sah, an expert on leadership and negotiations and national bestselling author of “DEFY: The Power of No in a World that Demands Yes,” will share what it takes for women to lead effectively in one of today’s most complex and high‑stakes industries.
Drawing on both research and real‑world experience, Professors Sah and Mannix will explore the capabilities that help women navigate uncertainty, build influence, and drive meaningful change within healthcare organizations.
Whether you are an emerging leader or an experienced professional looking to expand your impact, this session offers practical insights from the upcoming Women in Healthcare Leadership certificate program.
What You'll Learn
Why healthcare needs more women leaders in both clinical and non-clinical roles, and the unique strengths they bring
How authenticity helps leaders build trust, credibility, and influence
Practical strategies for negotiating effectively for resources, roles, and opportunities
Why strong professional networks and relationships are essential for leadership success
How to stand up and speak up with confidence in high-stakes conversations
What it means to lead with courage and build resilience in complex and rapidly changing healthcare environments
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Inside the NBA: Creating Teams Where People Belong
What does it take to foster belonging and community impact in one of the most competitive, high-pressure industries in the world: professional sports?
Join us for a live conversation featuring:
Dr. Kara Allen, architect of the NBA’s first Chief People, Impact and Belonging Officer role and former executive leader with the San Antonio Spurs
Dr. Hooria Jazaieri, award-winning professor and researcher, lead author of the case study Leading Social Impact from the NBA C-Suite
Kia Afcari, Director of Greater Good Workplaces at the Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkeley
Drawing from Dr. Allen’s experience with the San Antonio Spurs, we’ll explore her fascinating journey designing and leading the first Chief People, Impact and Belonging function in all of professional sports. Dr. Allen will share how, in the wake of the Uvalde Elementary School shooting and other societal pressures, she and her team helped the Spurs prioritize community and societal impact as an equal and interrelated goal alongside building a championship-caliber team and ensuring financial strength. We will also highlight Dr. Allen’s values-based leadership philosophy, grounded in compassion, belonging, authenticity, and her belief that business success is inextricably linked to societal well-being.
In this conversation, you’ll learn:
How leaders build trust and psychological safety without sacrificing performance
Why people thrive when they feel a genuine sense of belonging at work
How sustained excellence depends on a strong organizational culture that holds under internal and external pressure
What organizations in any sector can learn about the link between financial success and community impact
This conversation goes far beyond the court. It is designed for business leaders, managers, culture-builders, and anyone interested in science-backed strategies for creating communities where people can thrive, even in moments of conflict and change. Few leaders choose to embed belonging and social impact at the core of a major sports franchise. Even fewer have done it under public scrutiny and competitive pressure. Leave this conversation motivated with practical insights you can immediately modify to fit your team, your organization, and your community.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Positive Links Speaker Series: The INSPIRE Advantage: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others
Social psychologist and leadership expert Adam Galinsky has spent three decades building a method for determining when we are inspiring versus infuriating, and where each of us—presidents, CEOs, coaches, teachers, parents—currently land on that spectrum. In this talk, Galinsky will unpack the science of inspiration and show how inspiring and infuriating leaders represent a universal continuum that is rooted in the very architecture of the human brain. In his research, Galinsky has identified the three universal features in inspiring others. Because these three universal factors can be learned and developed, Galinsky has proven that inspiring leaders aren’t just born—instead, we can inspire or infuriate in any given moment through our behavior, words, or presence. Galinsky will reveal how all of us, regardless of status or circumstance, can be more inspiring more often.
About Galinsky:
Adam Galinsky is the Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School. A world-renowned expert in leadership and negotiation, he authored the recently released INSPIRE: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others and co-authored the bestselling book, Friend & Foe. His books are based in over 300 scientific articles and chapters he has co-authored. His TED Talk, How to Speak Up for Yourself, has over 7.7 million views, highlighting his impact on influence and inspiration. Professor Galinsky has served as a damages expert in a dozen trials involving reputational damage, including Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News and Bacon v. Nygard. His expert reports and testimony have generated more than $1 billion in verdicts and settlements. He is an Executive and Associate Producer on six award-winning documentaries, including two (Horns and Halos (2003) and Battle for Brooklyn (2011)) that were short-listed (final 15) for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards. He received his PhD from Princeton University and his BA from Harvard University.
The Positive Links Speaker Series, presented by Michigan Ross’ Center for Positive Organizations, offers inspiring and practical science-based strategies to build and bolster thriving organizations. Attendees learn from leading positive organizational scholars and connect with our community of academics, students, staff, and leaders.
Hosted by Monica Worline, Faculty Director, Center for Positive Organizations.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.