Why I’m Choosing to Lead With Heart

Picture by Frankie Baxe - depicting the heart at the centre of the ecosystem.

‘I am working all these hours, making the company so much money, and I am not being appreciated.’

There was resignation. There was sadness. My friend—who works with patients every day—pours her skill and care into helping others. The more she sees, the more her company earns. But no one sees her. Another voice, another heartbreak.

‘To change that type of technology is a career-limiting move, even though it makes total business sense to change it.’ That was a participant in a research project. Stuck. Afraid to act on what he knew was right, because the risk felt too high.

Another friend. She is a senior leader in her organisation. Her boss was out of his depth. Overwhelmed. Lost. He drilled her on numbers that didn’t matter, missing the heart of the issue entirely. She thought she had missed something. But she wasn’t. None of them were.

And yet… We don’t feel appreciated. We don’t feel supported. We don’t feel respected. We don’t feel seen.

So we dim our light. We stop doing what’s right, for the business, for the team, for the customer, for ourselves, because we don’t see the point. We resign. Sometimes silently, still showing up but already halfway gone. Sometimes loudly, when we finally walk away.

And when we stay? We soldier on for the team. Out of loyalty. Out of hope. Hope that a new leader will come. That maybe next time it will be different.

It breaks my heart.

This is our one life. And we spend so much of it in ways that feel…inhuman. We’re not waking up excited to contribute. We’re surviving work, not living through it.

It breaks my heart.

But here’s the thing. I don’t believe we need to work this way. I don’t believe we need to lead this way.

From the CEO to the summer intern—we all deserve better. We can do better.

This is what human-centricity means to me. It’s a shift in how we see each other. How we understand each other. How we value each other. It’s a different kind of leadership. A more human one. It starts with accepting that the way we work, lead and engage today is no longer working. It is not sustainable. It is not healthy.

I know you want to connect. That you’re tired of leading with features when what matters is feeling.I see how much you want to earn trust. To build a partnership that’s real.But it’s hard to speak human when you’ve been trained to sell solution.

I’m here to help you translate. To meet the CHRO not just at the strategy table—but at the soul level. Because human-centricity isn’t a theory. It’s a practice. It’s how we listen. It’s how we lead meetings. It’s how we measure success. It’s how we make people feel.

If you’re ready to connect with your CHRO—not just as a stakeholder, but as a human—I can help you find the words, the questions, the presence.This is the work I do. The bridge I build. Let’s walk it together.

Let’s make work work for humans again.