The Role of Empathy in Leadership with Stacey Estrella

**SPEAKER_1** (0:03)
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.

**Mike Lusky** (0:17)
Yeah, Stacey, we were just chatting backstage, and in doing my research for the show, we came across your episode there on Project Runway. So it's probably the opposite of authentic, right? I would say, what was that experience like?

**Stacey Estrella** (0:33)
Oh my gosh, you're not kidding. Like you figured it out. It's anything but reality, right?
And it was an experience that, and we'll get into this a little bit later, but was really important on my own journey. Because I was really trying to find my way because of the way that I'm built has all of these kind of conflicting qualities to it. And so my whole thing about getting onto Project Runway was I didn't really want to win. I just wanted Tim Gunn's nod because I had invested in myself to get to all these design skills. And so to just get his nod to be on the show was a blessing. But yeah, it was quite a trip, yeah.

**Stephen Zocasz** (1:24)
Well, we'll dive into that in a little bit. Welcome to the show, everyone. I'm Stephen Zocasz, joined with Mike Lusky, as always. Today, we're continuing our series on the role of empathy and leadership, a crucial element for businesses looking to foster strong cultures, enhance communication, and build brand trust, and just be good people, too, I think, is really the important part there. Mike, why don't you introduce our guest today and tell us a little bit more about what we're diving into.

**Mike Lusky** (1:55)
For sure. Thanks, Stephen. I appreciate that. And thank you, too, for our followers, our listeners, for joining us today. So today, joining us on this episode is Stacey Estrella. She's the co-founder of Mastering Your Human Design, which is a platform dedicated to helping individuals and leaders unlock their full potential by understanding their unique design, which I think, you know, during our discussion, that's going to be really interesting to talk about the unique design and how it influences their leadership, their decision making, and the relationships that, you know, they can and can't create. As well, Stacey's spent years blending business strategy with her personal transformation, which we'll also talk a little bit more about, helping those leaders integrate self-awareness into how they manage their teams, build connection, and even grow their impact in the world today. So Stacey, we're super excited to have you on the show. Welcome to the show.

**Stacey Estrella** (2:53)
Oh gosh, it's such an honor. Thank you.

**Mike Lusky** (2:56)
So Stacey, maybe we'll start off with something easy. So to kick things off, maybe if you could share with us your journey, what led you to co-founding, mastering your human design, and why empathy became such a core part of your leadership philosophy?

**Stacey Estrella** (3:13)
Yeah. So the way that I'm built as a human being, I always felt a little bit like a misfit. I mean, going back to my 20s, I just never wanted the same things that I felt other people wanted. I just didn't fit in. And then I also, there are things like I was ambitious, and yet I also was a free spirit, right? I was creative, yet I was also super strategic and logical, right? And I just felt like I couldn't find my place. So I've always been on this journey of exploration and self-discovery, because I'm always trying to triangulate and figure out what's the essence of me, right? Why am I even here? How can I serve in the greatest, most important, impactful way for me, uniquely for me? And one turning point was in 2006, this is when I moved from San Francisco to Manhattan. I don't live in Manhattan anymore, but I worked for a company at the time called Stony Yamashita. It's now SY. Partners. And it was very interesting. They do transformation, large immersive events for companies going through major transformation. And these immersive events were meant to create experiences that touched both the head and the heart. And when I, the first project I worked on with these guys, was life changing for me. Because I finally felt like I could integrate these two sides of my person. And I felt whole. I felt like a whole human. And so fast forward, yeah, so I left that company in 2013, started my storytelling business in 2013 And then fast forward to 2022, I'm still always on my journey of, you know, figuring out me through different systems and tools.
And someone in January of 2022 mentioned human design to me. I'd never heard of it. And I said, what is it? And what they said to me was everything. And of course, my brain has to go look that up. What do you mean by everything? And sure enough, I went home, I put in my birth data, I got my blueprint, I downloaded a report. And guys, this was the most dumbfounding moment for me. It was really a turning point because the way that this chart and this information told my whole story, told my story about my creativity and my logic and all of these inner conflicts that I had been trying to navigate without a manual all my life that made me feel like I had to be someone that I wasn't because I didn't have everything I should. And when I could look at this imprint of me, it was such a relief in that moment because I could finally just let go of all the stuff that I'm not and don't need to be and just lean into who I am, which to me is kind of the first, it's ground zero of empathy, is when you can have that for yourself in such a profound way.