The Empathy Edge - SoundSage

In a world racing toward smarter machines, empathy speakers and authors Rob Volpe and Maria Ross get curious in this limited subseries about what only humans can feel, do, and be — and why that's our greatest competitive advantage. Enjoy this limited subseries here on The Empathy Edge.

Is being vulnerable and admitting mistakes part of being human? Antonio Damasio is a professor at USC, not Vanderbilt. We apologize for any confusion.

Emotion, Empathy, Vulnerability & LoveHumans feel, and we feel in ways that are layered, contradictory, and impossible to fully optimize away. Today, Maria Ross and Rob Volpe explore the full emotional range: why grief and joy aren't opposites, why vulnerability is the prerequisite for genuine connection, and why desire, longing, and love remain stubbornly resistant to logic. They discuss the Feelings Wheel as a lens for emotional nuance, consider what happens when empathy erodes entirely, and finally, they discuss the question of empathy and AI: it can simulate empathy through language, but emotion, at its deepest level, is not information processing. Listen in as they discuss feeling everything - for that is how we experience life and connect with others.To access the episode transcript, go to www.TheEmpathyEdge.com and search by episode title.

"I think the allure of AI for some people is that ‘I'm going to get a very objective, pragmatic, data-driven answer, devoid of emotion.’ But then that's why sometimes what you get back doesn't work in real life." — Maria Ross

Episode References:

The Empathy Edge:
Dr. Michelle Zhou: Empathic AI is Real, and It’s Here – But We Need Everyone Involved!
Melina Palmer: Why Your Customers Can’t Tell You What They Want
Rob’s newsletter about our hardwiring to be afraid: readingbetweenthelines.beehiiv.com/p/the-only-thing-we-have-to-fear-is-the-story-fear-tells-us
Rob on Toxic Empathy: readingbetweenthelines.beehiiv.com/p/empathy-s-dark-side-a-field-guide-to-missing-the-point-5dd6
The Feelings Wheel (Gloria Willcox, original): feelingswheel.com
Simon Baron-Cohen, The Science of Evil
Antonio Damasio on emotion and decision-making, via ScienceDirect: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0899825604001034
New York Times Opinion on Empathy and Ethics: nytimes.com/2025/05/04/opinion/empathy-ethics.html
Paul Bloom, Against Empathy
Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Decisive
Frans de Waal, Mama's Last Hug
Brené Brown on vulnerability and connection: https://brenebrown.com/articles/

About Maria Ross:

Maria Ross is a speaker, author, empathy strategist, and host of The Empathy Edge podcast, now in its sixth year. She believes cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™, and has spent decades helping leaders balance empathy with accountability to drive better results, stronger teams, and lasting impact. She is the author of four books, including the award-winning The Empathy Dilemma, a Forbes.com contributor on Workplace Empathy, and creator of two LinkedIn Learning empathy courses.

About Rob Volpe:

Rob Volpe is the Founder/CEO of Empathy Activist and the creator of The 5 Steps to Empathy, which he chronicles in his award-winning book Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time. He is a recognized thought leader, speaker, and consultant in the improvement of communication and collaboration in organizations of all sizes in all industries.

Connect with Rob Volpe:

Website: robvolpe.expert

Instagram: instagram.com/empathy_activist

Book: Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation

X: x.com/rmvolpe

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rmvolpe

Facebook: facebook.com/EmpathyActivist

Connect with Maria:

Get Maria's books: Red-Slice.com/books

Hire Maria to speak: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take the LinkedIn Learning Courses! Leading with Empathy and Balancing Empathy, Accountability, and Results as a Leader

LinkedIn: Maria Ross