The Compassionate Leaders Circle Podcast

Hosted by Compassionate Leaders Circle

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May 2026

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Compassion isn't soft — it's a strategy. Join us on the Compassionate Leaders Circle Podcast, where we dive into the hearts and minds of leaders who harness the timeless power of compassion to enrich their communities and enterprises. Hosted by Laurel Donnellan and Darryl Brown, each episode features intimate conversations with trailblazers who prove that compassion is more than a virtue — it's one of the most powerful strategies for building healthy workplaces and vibrant communities. Discover how these leaders blend ancient wisdom with modern insights to create environments where people and businesses don't just survive, but truly thrive. This is the podcast for leaders who refuse to choose between doing good and doing well.

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May 27, 2026Episode 8742 min

87: Tend the Garden You Can Reach with Rick Milenthal, CEO, The Shipyard

What we Discuss; The Shipyard & Engineering Brand Love Rick introduces The Shipyard — a leading independent agency working across advertising, PR, and digital — and unpacks their guiding theme: engineering brand love. He makes the case that technology should serve feeling, not replace it, and that the most enduring brands are "designed with feelings and fueled by feelings."The Mental Health Mission — Mission SOAR After his business partner lost a 17-year-old son to suicide, Rick and his team committed the agency's creative resources to mental health advocacy. That mission led to a landmark partnership with Ohio State University on Mission SOAR (State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience) — a longitudinal study following thousands of families, modeled on the famous Framingham Heart Study. Rick explains why this kind of long-term research is the key to unlocking insurance coverage and better outcomes for mental health treatment.Building a Safe Culture Inside the Agency Rick describes how The Shipyard created a workplace where employees can openly discuss mental health challenges — and why this has become the company's single highest non-financial retention driver. He's candid about the particular mental health pressures of creative work, where "it's personal by definition."The Leadership Transformation Once "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" in his 30s and 40s, Rick reflects on what changed him — starting at home, not in the boardroom. He shares a counterintuitive truth: leaning into vulnerability and human-centered leadership didn't slow his business down. It accelerated growth, improved client relationships, and deepened everything at home too.AI, Advertising & the Future of Creativity Rick pushes back on doom narratives about AI's impact on advertising. The industry itself is growing — AI platforms will be ad-supported just like Google and social media. His take: you won't be replaced by AI; you'll be replaced by someone who knows how to use it. And he's optimistic that the current wave of technological expansion will ultimately fuel a new era of creativity, not suppress it.Truth-Telling as Leadership Practice Rick's parting wisdom is simple and direct: tell the truth. Not as a platitude, but as a daily discipline — in business, in relationships, with yourself. Rumor and spin, he argues, are always more damaging than an honest conversation.

May 14, 2026Episode 8639 min

86: The Compassionate Leader's Companion Pod Series #2: Faith, Connect to Inspiration

What if faith isn't a four-letter word — but a five-letter superpower?In this episode, Laurel Donnellan and Darryl Brown sit down with interviewer Sarah Feely to explore Principle #2 of the Donnellan Method: Faith — and its corresponding practice: Connect to Inspiration. Whether you approach faith through a spiritual lens, a religious tradition, or simply a deep belief in something good and positive beyond yourself, this conversation meets you exactly where you are.Laurel reflects on the lives of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan — two women who, through extraordinary hardship and an unshakeable sense of calling, transformed the landscape of education and human possibility. Darryl shares his ongoing relationship with Father Joe Tetlow, a 95-year-old Jesuit priest and rock star in his community, whose embodiment of faith, discernment, and love has shaped Darryl's own understanding of discipline, freedom, and what it means to be "right-sized."Together, the three explore the role of solitude, discipline, and practice in building resilience — and why preventative healing matters long before a crisis arrives. You'll hear a beautiful conversation about the paradox of freedom and discipline, what it means to hold hope as both a noun and a verb, and why compassion is always an act, not just a feeling.This episode is part of a series that guides leaders through history, healing, and hope as they navigate change and growth. Come for the wisdom; stay for the warmth.You'll walk away with: A framework for identifying your personal "positive point of view" — and the practice that strengthens it A fresh understanding of why faith comes second in the 12-principle Donnellan Method Practical insight into building your margin — the resilient space between your load and your limit Inspiration from two leaders who have combined decades of recovery, executive leadership, and spiritual curiosity into a life of purposeful impact

May 11, 2026Episode 8545 min

85: Setting A Higher Bar For Online Education Without Borders with Penelope Barton and Brittanie Bates

I met Penelope Barton and Brittanie Bates the way you meet the most interesting people: in a coffee line. It was South by Southwest EDU (SXSWEDU), and within minutes, I knew these weren't typical school administrators. They were builders — the kind of quietly revolutionary leaders who don't wait for the system to change but build something new alongside it.Barton is the CEO of Crimson Global Academy (CGA), and Bates is its Senior Vice President. CGA is a fully online, international high school serving nearly 3,000 students from 72 countries — and it's growing fast. But here's what makes it worth your attention: it's not an "online school" in the way that phrase tends to make parents nervously clear their throats. It's something genuinely new.Join us for this insightful conversation about the future of education.

April 29, 2026Episode 8432 min

84: This CEO Is Solving Healthcare's Most Expensive Problem With Scott Schnell

Scott Schnell, Cofounder and CEO, built MedZed by reaching the people healthcare can’t — and staying long enough to change outcomes. He leads a team of compassionate, hardworking caregivers who help our country’s most vulnerable Medicaid patients. Here is a number that should stop you: insurance companies routinely classify between 15% and 20% of their most vulnerable Medicaid members as “unable to contact.” Most outreach organizations call, get no answer, while MedZed goes into the community and finds them wherever they are. By combining boots-on-the-ground community outreach with digital support and phone contact, MedZed finds upwards of 40% of member referrals that other organizations never reach. Schnell views the people MedZed serves through the metaphor embedded in the name of its technology platform, Tapestry. Each of us, he explains, has a rich, dense, multicolored weave — our lives, relationships, and resources. We help people with lives that have become worn tapestries. There are frays, gaps, and the colors have faded, and we seek to bring a little more color to their lives,” he said.

April 11, 2026Episode 8343 min

83: The Compassionate Leader's Companion Pod Series - #1 Courage with Guest Host Sarah Feely

Join Sarah Feely, CLC's Chief Learning Officer, as she launches a new series to help listeners dive deeper and emerge stronger, more compassionate leaders. She interviews CLC's podcast hosts through a personal journey of history, healing, and hope that will inspire you to be braver and encourage others to do the same.

March 2, 2026Episode 8252 min

82: From Seminary to CEO with Denis Ring

Let's talk about faith at work. Join Sarah Feely and Laurel Donnellan as they interview Denis Ring about food, kindness, and leadership. Denis's story includes membership in the Jesuit Order, a business career as a leader at Whole Foods, and the CEO of Ocho Chocolate. He offers practical advice for anyone wanting to lead with love and integrate their values into leadership.

February 18, 2026Episode 8138 min

81: AI Can Make Your Business More Human with Katie Read

Join me for a fascinating conversation with my friend Katie Read. She became a therapist back before it was cool, and now she is an AI entrepreneur. Her obsession with human psychology evolved into a fascination with buyer behavior and marketing psych, leading her to create an online program that hit seven figures in its first year. When AI showed up, Katie had one of those movie-epiphany moments—and immediately saw it for what it could be, a tool to help humans be better humans. Learn about the greatest buyer-behavior simulation tool the business world has ever seen and how to apply her lessons to your business.

February 16, 2026Episode 8035 min

80: Lead with Love Summit - Special Episode

In this special episode of the Compassionate Leaders Circle podcast, we’re sharing the recording of our inaugural Lead with Love Summit where we have a conversation about what leadership requires right now.Founder Laurel Donnellan, Chief Learning Officer Sarah Feely, and Chief Compassion Officer Chelsea Stoll explore why compassion is an important leadership strategy. You’ll hear the research behind why kind leaders outperform, the science of hope as a practical framework for change, and the difference between empathy (which exhausts leaders) and compassion (which moves people to action).The team also introduces the 7 C’s of Compassionate Leadership, sharing real-world stories of leaders who improve workplaces and communities through everyday acts of courage, curiosity, collaboration, and care. If leadership has felt heavy lately, this conversation will ground you and give you something concrete to practice immediately.

January 28, 2026Episode 7942 min

79: Say Something Kind: Suicide Prevention Conversations with Francesca Reicherter

In this powerful episode of the Compassionate Leaders Circle Podcast, host Laurel Donnellan sits down with Francesca Reicherter, founder of Inspiring My Generation, to explore what truly helps when someone is in suicidal pain and what compassionate care looks like when the stakes are life and death.Francesca shares, with honesty and courage, what she needed from the people around her when she was attempting suicide: kindness, presence, and words for what she was experiencing. She reflects on what it’s like to suffer without the language to ask for help and how that absence can deepen isolation.Today, Francesca is building the very support she once needed, creating tools, programs, and conversations that equip others to show up when it matters most.

December 5, 2025Episode 7840 min

78: Looking For Hope Through Hunger Heartbreak with Celebrity Chef Tom Colicchio

Guest host Meryl Eriksen, Tom Colicchio, and Laurel have a candid conversation about politics and how to address hunger through advocacy. Tom Colicchio is best known for his restaurant group, Crafted Hospitality, and for being a pioneer in food entertainment, first as the head judge on Top Chef. He is one of the country’s leading voices on food policy and hunger advocacy. He co-founded Food Policy Action, a nonprofit focused on strengthening national food legislation, and served as an executive producer of A Place at the Table, a documentary examining food insecurity in America. Since the current administration has cut food subsidies, the gains to end hunger in the US have been lost. In 2023, 13.5% of households experienced food insecurity, and that statistic soared to 36% this year. Listen and learn about how hunger impacts all of us and what we can all do to move this trend back in the right direction.