The Role of Empathy in Leadership with Shane Evans

**SPEAKER_2** (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.

**Steven Zakash** (0:18)
Hey there, we just got cut off, right? Mike, you were saying the other side of the rebrand is what? Finish it up.

**Mike Lusky** (0:23)
Yeah, no, exactly.
I have always found that being on the other side of a rebrand for an organization is like a complete energy boost and like a breath of just fresh air, right? It's so nice. So yeah, good to hear that you're going through that rebrand. It's difficult maybe when you're going through it, but you've got so many wonderful things to look forward to.

**Shane Evans** (0:48)
It's awesome. I mean, it's just re-energized our franchise community, our team. I'm so energized by it. Yeah, it's a lot of hard work. There are a lot of details that you have to think through and work through. And bottom line is it's got to be a success, right? You've got to execute well. That's all that it comes down to. So, but it's been so fun.

**Mike Lusky** (1:07)
Yeah.

**Steven Zakash** (1:08)
Well, let's welcome everyone to the show. I'm Steven Zakash joined by Mike Lusky. Today, we are thrilled to dive into conversation about the role of empathy and leadership. And what I love about these conversations is when we explore these different verticals, and you can see how empathy plays out in different businesses. Last week, we had some great conversations in the pet space. Today, we get into health and wellness. Mike, tell us a little bit more about our guest today.

**Mike Lusky** (1:36)
Well, Steven, I'm excited to do that. So our guest today is Shane Evans. She's a visionary leader who co-founded Heights Wellness Retreat, who we were just talking about, formerly known as Massage Heights. And it was founded with a mission to make therapeutic wellness experiences more accessible. Her leadership journey is rooted in her personal story, because at the age of 19, Shane experienced chronic back pain and found relief through massage therapy. But the cost made it inaccessible, which I think we all understand and know that challenge. So this challenge inspired her to create a business that would bring affordable wellness to everyone. And then, so in 2004, she took a leap of faith investing her savings and cashing out for 401k to open the first location in San Antonio. And then by 2020, the brand had grown to over 100 locations across the US and Canada. And then after stepping away for a time, Shane returned as the CEO recently in 2024 for the brand's 20-year anniversary. And now going through re-branding the company to Heights Wellness Retreat and reaffirming her commitment to the wellness and leadership with purpose that she brought to the business. So Shane, it's an absolute pleasure for us to have you here on the show. Welcome.

**Shane Evans** (3:05)
Thank you. I love talking about our brand, and I feel very privileged to be here today to have that opportunity. Thank you for having me.

**Mike Lusky** (3:12)
Yeah, absolutely. And we're excited. And we know our audience is going to benefit a lot by the leadership style that you bring. But maybe to kick things off, Shane, why don't you start by just sharing how empathy has shaped your leadership journey and then how it's gone into the mission of Heights Wellness Retreat?

**Shane Evans** (3:32)
Sure. I'm happy to do that. Well, you know, franchising is a model that requires people to work with one another. Right? It is collaborative. It should be collaborative. It should be that we're on this quest and this mission and this purpose together. And I think that a lot of young franchisers get really caught up in the idea of the fact that they own the brand and they know what's best for the brand and it's going to be this way. But the bottom line is it doesn't work that way. When people buy into your brand, whether they're an employee of the franchisor, a team member of the franchisee or the franchisee themselves, they're buying into something because they believe in it and they also believe that they can have, they can leave their footprint on it or their thumb print on it.
And so I think empathy really is so important in the franchise business model because it's really about people being heard. They want to be part of something that is meaningful.
They do want to leave their mark and in order to do that, they have to be heard. And so as franchisers and the leadership teams of franchisers, we've got to just be very open to listening and really listening. And the franchisees have got to be able to have a forum for expressing their ideas, maybe their frustrations and know that we're really taking those things seriously. They've got massive investments in the brand. And they're just as much a partner in the business as anybody else is. And so I think it's just empathy is about learning to really hear people. And we're not always perfect at it, but really, really striving to be good listeners and respectful of people and how they're feeling in the moment. And I could give examples about franchisees who are going through the process, right? Site selection process. Maybe it's taking longer to find that site, or they're frustrated with the negotiations or what have you. Well, that brings on anxiety, right? And we have to understand that. We have to understand how to help them through that process of anxiety, and that it's okay to feel that way and that we're their partners in that. So that's just one example.