Actionable Kindness as a Business Strategy with Neil Schambra Stevens
Kindness has a branding problem. Say it in a boardroom and the room shifts. But what if kindness is actually one of the most underleveraged business strategies available to leaders right now, backed by data, neuroscience, and a growing body of evidence?
Introduction
In this episode, Emily Firth sits down with Neil Schambra Stevens, coach, founder and one of TruthWorks' first verified Experts, to explore what Actionable Kindness really means and why it matters more than ever in the age of AI, burnout and the messy middle.
In this conversation, we discuss:
- Why kindness is not the same as being nice and why the difference matters
- The data behind kindness: absenteeism, retention, revenue and burnout
- Why 82% of middle managers receive no formal training - and what that costs organisations (Chartered Management Institute)
- The four human skills AI cannot replicate and why kindness sits at the heart of all of them
- Simple, actionable tools any leader can start using tomorrow
Chapters
00:00 - Neil's background: 25 years in the creative industry and the pivot to coaching
01:43 - The moment that changed everything - his father's Thanksgiving service
03:12 - Why kindness has a brand problem - and how to fix it
04:46 - Did we ever really work with kindness - or was his father the exception?
06:55 - The data behind kindness - revenue, retention, and innovation
11:16 - Kindness vs niceness - why they're not the same thing
12:35 - Is kindness coachable - or are you either born with it or not?
18:13 - Actionable kindness in practice - check-ins, feedback, and boundaries
22:18 - Why pace is killing kindness at work
24:36 - The messy middle - why middle managers are the most at-risk group
28:32 - The shift from contributor to leader - and why nobody prepares you for it
30:03 - AI, human skills, and the kindness gap
34:49 - Why people stay - loyalty, community, and the limits of bots
36:51 - How to work with Neil - one-to-one, team workshops, and kindness resets
Key Take-aways
- Kindness isn't the same as being nice - it speaks truth, gives direct feedback, and creates the psychological safety people actually need to grow.
- 82% of middle managers receive no formal training, yet they're expected to carry culture, deliver change, and develop talent - that's high stakes with no support (Chartered Management Institute).
- Actionable kindness starts small - a check-in that goes one question deeper, feedback that's clear on the why - daily habits that compound over time.
- The four skills McKinsey says will matter most - Coaching & Influence, Adaptability, Orchestration, Decision making - are all rooted in human connection you can't automate.
- Thinking time at work has dropped 30% in a decade - small pauses aren't self-indulgence, they're how you protect your decision-making, creativity, and focus.
- Companies with kind cultures have 27% less stress-related absenteeism (Deloitte), 35% outperform their competition (McKinsey), and are 67% more likely to innovate (Google) - this is a business lever, not a wellness add-on.
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