Global bestselling author Mimi Nicklin speaks to Women In Media on the power of empathy

Mimi Nicklin, world-renowned empathetic leader, CEO and best-selling author, continued to spread her powerful and timely message of empathy in Sri Lanka as the key speaker at the latest Women In Media event. Titled “Make empathy your communication superpower, the invitees-only event was organised in partnership with Coca-Cola was held at Hatch Works recently amidst a large audience of females from the media and entertainment industry.

Addressing the audience, Mimi Nicklin stated, “After 30 years of declining empathy levels, this skillset may be in short supply but our need to change this has never been in higher demand by those who build our businesses. As our collective organisational understanding of this rises across organisations, we are seeing a widespread recognition that employees need to be more connected, more aligned, and more cohesive than we have seen in the isolated freefall of the last three decades. Our communication skills and ability to use Listening Led Leadership will be a differentiator in the businesses that move to growth in 2023.”

Nicklin emphasized on the fact that listening is a silent superpower in the workplace to develop impactful understanding, empathy and engaged team culture. She explained the importance of developing the capacity to listen beyond judgement to motivate, inspire and move people. She also touched upon storytelling, stating that it is more than an art form and is a powerful communication approach which invites generative listening and leadership of others to move towards organisational presence and co-creation.

Formed in 2021, Women in Media is Sri Lanka’s leading female-only media voice group and is a brainchild of leading media personality Blessie Keegel and Tareeq Musafer of The Vinyl Cafe. It is open to women involved in full-time, part-time or on freelance basis in all forms of media including PR, Advertising, Visual Media, TV, Radio, and Press as well as the entertainment industry where graphic designers, social media influencers, singers, musicians, DJs, actresses, presenters, directors, producers, writers, photographers, and many others practice their profession.

Women in Media is a platform for women of all ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds to come together and achieve a number of objectives that will ensure a better future for all females in the media and entertainment industry. It provides a support system that allows women to safely and confidentially discuss challenging situations and share the experiences that they encounter within the industry while shedding light on how to successfully navigate them by means of securing their jobs, ensuring their rights and dignity and holding any perpetrators accountable for their actions. It also attempts to educate women on their rights in the workplace, how to lead healthier lives, and upgrade their skills to better equip them to face today’s fast-changing media world. Through better networking opportunities, it aims to help them find suitable jobs within the industry in order to ensure their career progression which would result in a greater representation of females in the upper echelons of organisations within the industry.

Earlier this year, Mimi Nicklin officially launched her international bestselling book “Softening the Edge” in Sri Lanka and the book has already been restocked due to huge demand from leadership teams and brands nationwide. In addition to writing an international bestselling book, Nicklin is also the host of “The Empathy for Breakfast Show” podcast, the Founder of the world’s first empathy platform “Empathy Everywhere” and the CEO of the world’s most free advertising agency Freedm. She works passionately to connect people and organisations with mutual human understanding. Her goal is to fill the empathy gap and rebuild societies and businesses worldwide, one organisation at a time. She has been featured on BBC, NBC, CEO Today, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Vogue, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, BusinessDay TV, The Hindu and eNCA. Mimi’s Empathy-centric diverse offerings include Keynote Speeches and MC’ing, Workshops and Seminars (Virtual & In Person), The Empathy Advantage Training, Regenerative Leadership Courses, Creativity & Culture Training, Self-empathy & Wellness At Work and Youth Engagement.