The Role of Empathy in Leadership with Jeff Wharton

**Stephen Sakach** (0:00)
Break into them.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:04)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Sakach** (0:18)
All right, we are live again. And Tulio, we're a couple of minutes late. Maybe you need to be doing the pushups here, I think. In the background with our producer. Welcome to The Bliss Business Podcast, everyone. The show where we explore how empathy, connection, and purpose transform business from the inside out. I'm Stephen, joined by Mike. And today's conversation dives into the human side of leadership. And our guest today leads with empathy, invest in people, and is building a business culture that reflects trust and autonomy from top to bottom. Mike, introduce our guest today.

**Mike Liwski** (0:56)
It will be my pleasure. Stephen, super excited for this conversation today. So today we're excited to welcome Jeff Wharton. Jeff is the CEO of Bloomin Blinds Franchise Corporation. You're probably aware of it. It's a growing national brand that specializes in custom window coverings, repair, and installation. And with over 20 years of leadership and experience in the franchising business and in home services, Jeff is known for blending strong business fundamentals with the people first approach to growth. And his leadership is grounded in the belief that businesses thrive when they prioritize clarity, compassion, and a sense of purpose, which we absolutely love Jeff here on our show. And then at Bloomin Blinds, Jeff has cultivated a values-driven culture where trust, accountability, and service to others are central to the company's success. Rooted in faith and family, Jeff's journey reflects a commitment to leading with intention, fostering meaningful work environments, and helping others grow along the way. So Jeff, welcome to the show. We are excited to have you here with us today.

**Jeff Wharton** (2:10)
Well, Michael, Stephen, thank you for having me. I'm thrilled to be here as well. Been looking forward to it. And Stephen, we were talking briefly right before we started about, it's something about doing these types of things that you get up in the morning, and you go, actually, today's going to be a great day. So I'm happy to be here.

**Mike Liwski** (2:29)
Delighted. Yeah, and when I was rehearsing that introduction, I was like, wow, this is going to be such a wonderful individual, because bringing faith and family, and then the business, and leading with empathy is so key. So Jeff, why don't we just jump right into it?
Many leaders talk about empathy, and it ends to be just sort of like greenwashing. But if you really operationalize it and put it into practice. So could you maybe walk us through a little bit, what empathy looks like at Bloomin Blinds, and in particular, how it informs leadership decisions?

**Jeff Wharton** (3:05)
Yeah, it's interesting. Boy, it's such a broad category, and all of our personal stories in life, what leads into all of that is huge. But you asked specifically about Bloomin Blinds. One of the things that was really unique and special, about my opportunity to come join a family-owned and operated business at Bloomin, was because I had a chance to get to know the founders, the three brothers that actually helped start this business, grow it to a certain point. I got to know them as a vendor, as a partner of theirs on the other side for over five years. The nature of my role and serving them, we got to know each other really, really quick and realized we had very, very similar backgrounds and families. Them being Bloomin Blinds at its heart and soul, is about serving consumers, other people in their homes. We have a specific widget and product that work on, but make no mistake, it's about the human relationship, it's about trust.
Their whole family business was built on all that. The opportunity to come into an existing business and to help them take this business to the next level basically transfer all of that wonderful love and knowledge from them, their family, to an entire team, an organization of people. With that same culture, that same heartful focus to our franchise owners and in consumers, man, it was just a blessing in disguise. I was in the right place, right time. I was put here. I mean, make no mistake, it was nothing that I did. I believe 100% in that fact that whatever has been going on in my life, my career led to that moment and here we are and it'll lead to the next one and the next one. So that's a little bit about how I got started and really what's been the core mission of ours from the beginning was how do we take that love, that family started that already had in my heart to continue that through building our organization and our team as we continue to scale and grow.