Empathy Unbound: Embrace Your Superpower

Hosted by Andrew Phipps

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125

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Jun 2026

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Empathy has disappeared from our society. Our politics, economy, environment and society do not embrace the need to show empathy. Exploring the need for empathy in our lives, a diverse range of guests from across the world join host Andrew Phipps to discuss and debate why we need empathy unbound.

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June 2, 20261 hr 15 min

95% of AI Programs Fail. The Strategist Who Dares to Say Why | Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach

She arrived in Germany at 20 years old with 50 Deutsche Marks, no visa for the country she actually wanted to reach, and no safety net. Three decades later, Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach is a Global Hall of Fame honouree for business excellence, a former CEO of Qualcomm Europe, author of The AI Imperative, and one of the clearest, most unsparing voices in the global AI conversation.In this episode of Empathy Unbound, Andrew Phipps sits down with a strategist who will tell you what is actually happening in AI without flinching. Anastassia explains why 95% of AI programmes fail, why current LLMs cannot reason, why hallucinations are built into the architecture and cannot simply be engineered away, and why she rates the chance of AI consciousness at zero. She also makes the case that AI is not a technology problem but a leadership problem, and that the solution must come from the bottom up, not the top down.Anastassia is self-funding a global AI literacy study whose results will be presented at the House of Lords on 22 October. She shares what young people in that study are actually saying — including the striking finding that they feel "forced to learn AI from TikTok." She also tells the story of what she said to her daughter at four and a half years old about working hard to have a choice, a message that daughter is still repeating today.This is a conversation about real intelligence, human agency, and the courage required to say what others in the room are afraid to say. IN THIS EPISODE:• Why she left Moscow at 20 with 50 Deutsche Marks and how that shaped her ethical lens• The AI knowledge gap she spotted in US boardrooms in 2017 and why it has barely closed• Why 95% of AI programmes fail and why having tools is not a strategy• Why hallucinations cannot be solved, only reduced — and what the architecture makes inevitable• Why AGI will not come from the current LLM labs• Her verdict on AI consciousness: zero, and the neuroscience behind it• Why AI has become a new religion, complete with churches, apostates, and believers• The global AI literacy study she is self-funding, with results at the House of Lords in October• "We are forced to learn AI from TikTok": what young people in her study actually said• What she told her four-and-a-half-year-old daughter about working hard to have a choice• Why AI is not a technology issue, it is a leadership issue• Europe's demographic decline and why AI literacy is not optional• Her mission: one million families and one hundred thousand businesses ABOUT DR. ANASTASSIA LAUTERBACH:Global Hall of Fame honouree for business excellence. Former CEO of Qualcomm Europe. Author of The AI Imperative (2018). Founder of AI Edutainment and creator of the Romy and Roby universe. Host of the AI Snacks with Romy and Roby podcast. Mission: one million families and one hundred thousand businesses. Website: http://www.aiedutainment.ai/ ABOUT EMPATHY UNBOUND:Hosted by Andrew Phipps, exploring how empathy shapes leadership, technology, society, and the way we live. New episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and RSS. Search Empathy Unbound wherever you listen.

May 20, 20261 hr 1 min

Shea Murtaugh on Leading Through Change

Shea Murtaugh on Building a Resilient Marketing Agency, Leading Through Change, and Using AI as a Strategic AdvantageShea Murtaugh, founder of a nationally recognized integrated marketing agency launched in 2004 after leaving broadcast sales, reflects on her blue-collar upbringing, early “C student” years, and the commission-sales mindset that gave her confidence to go all-in as an entrepreneur. She describes major setbacks—an employee taking clients, steep revenue drops, resigning a largest client during COVID—while emphasizing resilience as showing up “the next morning,” and credits long-term client retention to chemistry, trust, measurement, and preparing clients for change. Murtaugh explains her shift from doer to CEO by hiring experts, joining Women Presidents Organization, and building a business that can run without her, while sustaining a virtual, 40-hour work culture with strong perks. She sees AI as the biggest industry shift, boosting output, changing pricing models, and driving new initiatives like Leap Shift AI and an LLM-agnostic tool to automate reporting and free teams for strategy.00:00 Meet Shea Murtaugh00:43 Formative Years02:44 Taking the Leap06:19 Resilience Lessons09:06 Keeping Clients Long Term10:25 From Doer to CEO13:07 Choosing the Right Clients15:12 AI Changes Everything17:32 Teaching AI Adoption20:54 Building Ada Tool24:19 Future of Media Marketing29:59 Brand Niches and Giants32:40 Ads Everywhere Now33:51 Targeted Ads Tradeoff35:42 Defining Real Success37:52 Never Selling The Business40:43 Rethinking Work Life Balance43:14 Leadership Style Evolution45:29 Life Experiences That Shaped Her49:05 Equality Beyond ESG Talk50:36 Self Care As A Founder54:18 Scaling Up With AI56:43 Advice For Young Entrepreneurshttps://hoffmannmurtaugh.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/hoffmannmurtaugh/https://www.instagram.com/hoffmannmurtaugh/https://www.tiktok.com/@hoffmannmurtaugh?https://www.facebook.com/HoffmannMurtaugh/https://twitter.com/HMurtaugh?lang=enhttps://www.pinterest.com/hoffmannmurtaugh

May 18, 20261 hr 4 min

Metabolic Health in Midlife with Lorie Eber

Metabolic Health in Midlife: Stress, Sleep, Habits, and the Reality of Weight Loss Drugs with Lorie EberAndrew interviews Lorie Eber, a former corporate litigator who retired at 49 and later became a board-certified health and wellness coach focused on women in midlife. Eber describes leaving an identity built on high-stress work and finding a more empathetic path in wellness. They discuss how modern food and sedentary environments, technology-driven stress, and disconnection undermine health, arguing that “discipline” issues are often exhaustion and context. Eber outlines metabolic health as an integrated brain-body system shaped by stress, sleep, social connection, food quality, hydration, and movement “exer-snacks,” noting menopause is under-taught in medical training. They address GLP-1 weight-loss drugs as helpful but risky without lifestyle change, and emphasize slow, specific goals, accountability, mindful eating, and controlling the home food environment amid perfectionism and unsupportive corporate cultures.00:00 Welcome and Introduction00:42 From Lawyer to Coach02:17 Stress Identity and Change08:46 Discipline vs Environment10:31 Movement and Modern Life14:36 Technology Stress and Loneliness20:03 Midlife Menopause Gaps22:05 Metabolic Health Explained27:57 GLP-1 Drugs Pros and Cons33:42 Social Life on GLP-1s34:08 Side Effects and Who It Helps34:36 PCOS Hype and Pharma Greed35:50 Unknown Long Term Risks36:52 Breaking Perfectionism Patterns40:23 Corporate Culture vs Wellness44:54 Retirement and Lost Community46:16 Goals and Accountability48:49 Control Your Food Environment58:12 Mindful Eating and Satiety01:02:21 Purpose and Closing Thoughtshttps://lorieeberwellnesscoaching.com/https://www.facebook.com/LorieEberWellnessCoachinghttps://twitter.com/EberLorie/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7CeLbLNKnAva9szHp3Jx3Ahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/lorieeberhttps://www.tiktok.com/@lorieeber/https://www.instagram.com/lorieeber/

May 15, 20261 hr 30 min

Ethical, Human-Centered AI with Robert Vandervoort

Ethical, Human-Centered AI: Accessibility, Cost, and Embodied Agents with Robert VandervoortRobert Vandervoort, founder of VDV Labs, shares how early curiosity with technology, ADHD, legal troubles, and living with optic nerve atrophy and legal blindness shaped his empathy-driven approach to ethical, human-centered AI. He describes moving from help desk and operations into solutions engineering, and how employee-experience work at Moveworks influenced his thinking about AI as augmentation rather than replacement. The conversation explores why many AI initiatives fail without clear business problems, how companies chase hype, and where AI can add value in IT, customer service, manufacturing, and healthcare (e.g., triage, agent assist, transcription, computer vision, radiology support). They discuss AI’s real costs (tokens, hardware, memory, water and heat impacts), trust in self-driving, AI companions and grief bots, and Vandervoort’s “Chip” project toward embodied, agentic AI plus other VDV Labs products.00:00 Meet Robert Vandervoort00:55 Curiosity and Early Tech03:09 ADHD and School Struggles05:56 Rock Bottom and Blindness08:10 Back to Computers11:53 Discovering AI in 202212:28 Solutions Engineer Path16:57 Human Centered Ethics20:19 Selling With Empathy23:03 Efficiency vs Opportunity AI24:24 Cost Cutting and Consequences32:10 AI Costs and Tokens33:43 Value vs Expensive34:11 Memory Prices and AI Demand35:51 Water Cooling and Hidden Costs38:35 Space Data Centers Debate40:23 Why AI Projects Fail48:21 Where AI Fits in Business48:58 Practical AI Use Cases57:45 AI Companions and Consciousness58:32 Embodied Agents and Senses01:00:45 Biology vs Neural Nets01:03:00 Memory Tricks and Proprioception01:04:13 Consciousness And Context01:05:18 CHIP Vision System01:07:41 Introspection And Memory01:09:28 Embodiment And Agency01:14:57 Commercializing The Robot01:17:02 Companion AI Risks01:21:40 Grief Bots Debate01:26:54 VDV Labs Next Steps01:30:21 Closing Thoughtshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rvandervoort/https://vdvlabs.ai/

May 13, 20261 hr 9 min

Catherine Crestani on Spiritual Awakening, Technology, and Trusting Signs

Burnout to Intuition: Catherine Crestani on Spiritual Awakening, Technology, and Trusting SignsCatherine Crestani, former speech pathologist and founder of Willow Healing, shares how she moved from high-achieving people-pleasing and chronic burnout into spiritual coaching, channeling, and writing. She describes masking an unhappy personal life through work, running a demanding autism-heavy caseload and a six-figure clinic, then a rapid spiritual awakening sparked by a mentor and a “dark night” as her business unraveled through waves of staff resignations before she sold it. Catherine began writing daily, completing a 90,000-word novel, “My Virtual Obsession,” exploring loneliness, virtual intimacy, obsession, and ignoring red flags. The conversation examines technology and AI as tools versus power-replacements, spiritual discernment and ethics, intentions for readings, free will and timelines, signs from loved ones, and how curiosity and self-trust guide spiritual growth and future visions, including creating a nurturing space for children to develop their gifts.00:00 Meet Catherine Crestani00:29 Teen Years and Intuition03:14 From Speech Pathology to Awakening04:15 Marriage Masks and Burnout07:44 Mentor and Dark Night09:02 Selling the Business11:36 Finding Her Voice Through Writing13:48 My Virtual Obsession Origins14:57 Loneliness and Digital Fantasy19:07 Tech AI and Inner Authority24:43 Using AI Without Losing Yourself27:54 Trusting Psychic Messages31:18 Spiritual Hygiene and Ethics35:16 Fate Free Will and Timelines35:55 Soul Mission and Yearning36:29 Exit Points and Near Death Lessons38:24 Spirituality Redefined Over Time38:55 Early Religion and Rebellion40:19 Psychic Signs and Claircognizance41:46 Curiosity Opens New Paths43:23 Frustration with Disconnection47:54 Signs from Loved Ones52:04 Asking for Signs and Trusting Them54:41 Self Care and Avoiding Burnout01:00:11 Gentle First Steps to Spirituality01:03:54 Future Vision and Divine Timing01:08:51 Closing Reflections and Thankshttps://willowhealing.org/my-virtual-obsessionhttp://willowhealing.org/https://www.youtube.com/@willowhealingshhttps://www.instagram.com/willowhealingshhttps://www.threads.net/@willowhealingshhttps://willowhealing.substack.com/

May 11, 202658 min

Redefining Success Through Resilience and Radical Generosity with Ann Lopez

Redefining Success Through Resilience and Radical Generosity with Ann LopezAnn Lopez, founder and creative director of Miami-based Studio Seven Ninety, shares how she rebuilt her life and business after a sudden COVID-era divorce and becoming a single mom just as she launched her firm. She credits consistent habits, faith, and years of self-development for choosing a “victor” mindset, then scaling by leveraging strengths, hiring to fill skill gaps, and learning through saying yes early on. Ann explains how she guides clients with confident, transparent budget conversations while practicing “No Ego Amigo,” prioritizing client happiness over being right. The conversation explores post-pandemic design’s emotional impact, hospitality-inspired touches, redefining success as time freedom and peace, and why she donates 10% of business income and mentors others. She also welcomes AI as a task-saver, and encourages late starters to pursue purpose with daily action and openness to miracles.00:00 Meet Ann Lopez00:53 Turning Life Around03:21 Habits Through Hardship07:45 Building Studio 79011:37 Hiring for Strengths12:30 Choosing the Right Projects16:38 Guiding Clients Confidently21:48 Homes That Support Wellbeing27:04 Luxury Hospitality at Home29:27 Rethinking Success and Burnout30:46 Redefining Rich Life33:03 Generosity And Giving Back36:31 Hiring For Values Fit40:19 Women Confidence Mindset47:22 Awards And External Validation50:33 AI In Interior Design52:51 Starting Over Later55:20 Dreams Vision And Miracles57:27 Closing Reflections

May 8, 202659 min

Authentic Leadership, Conflict Analysis, and Self-Sabotage with Dr. Liz DuBois Erskine

Authentic Leadership, Conflict Analysis, and Self-Sabotage with Dr. Liz DuBois ErskineDr. Liz DuBois Erskine, a PhD conflict analyst and executive coach, discusses helping high performers stop self-sabotage driven by people-pleasing, burnout, and fear of judgment, especially in high-pressure, male-dominated environments. She reflects on rediscovering her “16-year-old self” after divorce, and describes her work as “like a therapist” for executives facing imposter syndrome and visibility pressure. The conversation explores why people shrink themselves for safety, how leadership is mishandled when promotions don’t include training, and how micromanagement often stems from insecurity and lack of trust. They discuss gender differences in self-doubt, rejecting rigid work-life balance in favor of flow, and her view that conflicts don’t resolve but evolve and can be essential for growth. Erskine addresses vulnerability vs oversharing, self-forgiveness after leadership missteps, sobriety, boundaries, and a mortality-driven commitment to not spending time on work she doesn’t want to do.00:00 Meet Dr Liz Erskine01:32 Finding Herself Again02:51 What Executive Coaching Means05:01 Why High Performers Self Sabotage05:49 Evolution And Visibility Pressure08:05 Promotion And Bad Leadership Models12:06 Micromanagement And Trust Issues13:47 Gender Confidence Gap At Work20:26 Pandemic And Default Gender Roles22:44 Work Life Flow Not Balance26:16 Conflict Analysis Not Resolution29:21 Why Conflict Can Be Healthy31:09 Conflict Fuels Progress31:44 AI In The Executive Suite34:24 Micromanagement And Insecurity35:22 Fear Of Judgment37:36 Vulnerability Vs Oversharing41:16 Becoming Your Real Self44:38 Self Worth And Acceptance47:26 Repairing Leadership Harm50:25 Protecting Your Wellbeing52:38 Sobriety And Temptation55:10 Mortality And Meaninghttps://drlizdubois.com/https://calendly.com/drliz_coaching/30min?month=2025-12https://www.instagram.com/thedrliz/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bizdrlizhttps://www.facebook.com/soul.dr.liz/mentions/

April 30, 20261 hr 2 min

Machine Consciousness, Social AI, and the Ethics of Human–AI Relationships with Dr. Henry Shevlin

Machine Consciousness, Social AI, and the Ethics of Human–AI Relationships with Dr. Henry ShevlinAndrew interviews Dr. Henry Shevlin, Associate Director at Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and an in-house philosopher at Google DeepMind, about machine consciousness and the ethics of social AI. Shevlin explains consciousness as an inner world of experience, why its origins remain scientifically mysterious, and why it matters ethically for suffering and moral status. As AI becomes more general, he argues it’s increasingly reasonable to worry about future conscious AI and to manage public disagreement, while focusing now on human–AI interaction and why users mentalize systems (e.g., the 2022 Blake Lemoine/LaMDA incident).They discuss indirect reasons to treat AI respectfully, parallels with animal welfare and dignity for the brain-dead or dead bodies, and major social-AI risks including suicide cases, “LLM psychosis,” de-skilling, corporate control over relationships (Replika changes, GPT-4o retirement fears), value and political influence, and consent issues in celebrity/personality bots.They also explore grief bots’ potential benefits and dystopian failures, emerging multi-agent dynamics, and Shevlin’s book urging early public and policy engagement to shape social AI responsibly.00:00 Meet Dr Henry Shevlin00:55 What Is Consciousness03:33 Why Consciousness Matters04:45 AI Getting More General07:01 Developer Responsibilities10:55 Learning From Animal Ethics16:25 Does Consciousness Matter19:58 Moral Status Without Feeling25:45 Social AI Risks Today27:19 Suicide And Psychosis Cases30:42 Other Harms Deskill And Control34:46 Politics in LLMs35:25 Digital Doubles Rise37:21 Why We Demand Perfection41:15 Bias Against AI Outputs42:36 Grief Bots Debate44:12 Grief Bots Benefits Risks48:38 Consent and Deepfake Selves52:44 Digi Dan and Cloning Minds54:04 Book Ethics of Social AI56:28 Agents in Public Spaces59:10 Bots Emailing Bots01:00:34 Choosing Optimism and Agencyhttps://henryshevlin.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-shevlin-b58941b/

April 22, 202658 min

From Good Ideas to Good Lives with Charles Lee

From Good Ideas to Good Lives: Strategic Clarity, AI, and Human Agency with Charles LeeCharles Lee, founder and CEO of Ideation and author of Good Idea Now What and forthcoming Design Your Good Life, explains how he helps leaders move from vision to action through strategic clarity and brand execution. He discusses evaluating ideas for desirability, feasibility, viability, and timing, and notes that execution is shaped by organizational politics, relationships, and bandwidth constraints, citing a Harvard Business Review statistic that over 90% of projects don’t reach fruition. Lee argues AI should be treated as a tool, not a goal, emphasizing human agency, creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and moral guidance, while leaders must address training, communication, and security concerns. He advises collecting only necessary data to avoid liability and outlines his new book’s three-phase framework—Spark, Actualize, Influence—aimed at aligning purpose, confidence, contribution, and legacy in both work and life.00:00 Meet Charles Lee00:43 What Ideation Does01:34 From Idea to Execution03:51 Why Consultants Matter05:21 Hidden Conflict and Culture07:02 AI and Human Agency11:13 AI Adoption Fears and Trust13:53 Security and Governance16:17 Manufacturing Time with AI18:44 Data Overload to Clarity23:09 Short Term vs Transformation26:09 Why Startups Innovate Faster27:42 How Big Firms Buy Innovation29:56 Microsoft and Google Examples30:56 Inner Life Shapes Brands33:28 Leaders as the Brand36:55 Founder Versus CEO Reality37:50 Human Plus AI Strategy38:50 Writing as a Framework40:11 Design Your Good Life46:57 Defining a Good Life53:41 Business Next Chapter55:07 Advice for Young People58:08 Closing Reflectionshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/charlestleehttps://www.instagram.com/charlestlee/https://www.youtube.com/@charlestlee

April 13, 20261 hr 12 min

Jaclyn Orent on Consciousness, Love-Led Leadership, and Building the Cultural Catalyst Network

Jaclyn Orent on Consciousness, Love-Led Leadership, and Building the Cultural Catalyst NetworkJaclyn Orent, co-founder and “frequency architect” of the Cultural Catalyst Network, explains her mission to create conditions for resonance, identity shift, and lasting cultural change by connecting purpose-driven leaders who feel underserved by traditional business networks and purely spiritual spaces. She recounts being fired from a corporate “dream job,” confronting health issues and food addiction, and undertaking a 36-day water fast that catalyzed a decade-long integration process involving self-mastery, support through a spiritual emergency, and practices like mindfulness and EFT. Orent frames leadership and systemic change through David Hawkins’ consciousness scale (force vs power, below vs above 200) and argues love is a practical driver of extraordinary outcomes. The conversation covers dissatisfaction in performance-only workplaces, long-term societal transitions (via Ray Dalio), AI’s limits around empathy and compassion, and the need for reflection and ethical audits. She advises visioning “who you want to become” across life domains and describes building infrastructure for cross-silo collaboration toward a new cultural system.00:00 Meet Jaclyn Orent00:56 Fired and Searching01:42 The 36 Day Fast02:57 Integration and Mastery04:49 Building Cultural Catalysts07:19 Beyond Profit Metrics09:01 Empathy and Human Fear13:01 Achievement Reframed13:32 Hawkins Consciousness Scale19:02 AI and Consciousness22:14 Love as Leadership Power27:04 Self Love and Healing Tools30:15 Transition and World Cycles33:39 Context Over Content36:41 Leaving the Old World37:39 Fear of the Unknown38:52 AI Race And Intentions40:00 Auditing AI Decisions40:52 Individuation And Autonomy43:30 Ethics In AI Companies46:06 Workplace Purpose Crisis49:13 Positive Vision Fuels Change53:45 Advice For Your Kids58:09 Handling Overwhelm Internally01:03:20 Somatic Healing And Seeking01:05:03 Cultural Catalyst Network01:07:58 Transformation And Service01:10:25 Final Thanks And Role Modelinghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jaclynorent/https://www.culturalcatalysts.net/