NATIONAL COMPASSIONATE LEADERSHIP WEEK | SECOND Full Week in September
The second full week in September celebrates National Compassionate Leadership Week to create a more compassionate world.
#NationalCompassionateLeadershipWeek
Our lives are unpredictable because of constant disruption in our daily routines. As we shuffle our family life with our professional life, we often feel overwhelmed and uncertain. As adults, we look towards other adults as a source of inspiration and reassurance. Oftentimes, we turn to our colleagues for leadership and guidance. Management and other organization leaders everywhere are more than just employers, they are becoming a source of compassion for their employees.
Leading with Compassion
Companies today are faced with the decision to become more active in employee lives. In fact, employees, consumers, and stakeholders are demanding that companies take care of their people, their communities, and the world around them, too. Old expectations of working for the bottom line no longer exists as a company goal. In fact, successful companies today work towards a double bottom line, a balance between strengthening the business and the employees that work there.
Company culture today consists of a new kind of employee. Studies show that people entering into the workforce are too young, too diverse, too disengaged, too tired of not being heard and respected. Companies that include compassion in their leadership achieve success quickly because performance is always at a peak.
Can you deliver a strong, successful business using compassion? Absolutely. The most successful companies can be compassionate and deliver strong results in business, education, politics and in our communities. Companies that produce compassionate leaders provide unspoken benefits of increased leadership and productivity, not to mention an increase in morale in the work place.
How can companies show compassion for their employees? There are many things a company can do for their employees to show more compassion. Opening communication is a perfect way to learn about company values, expectations, and goals. Most importantly, it’s a great opportunity to give and receive praise and acknowledgement. Forming important bonds within a company helps leaders identify whether an employee is having problems outside of work. In return, knowing those problems is an opportunity to show compassion and offer extra support.
The TramutoPorter Foundation
For over 20 years, the TramutoPorter Foundation has been a leader in expanding compassionate leadership in the workplace. Their mission to create a more compassionate world has allowed them to form partnerships to help solve challenges in business, education, politics, and within families.
The TramutoPorter Foundation has been working on behalf of several compassionate causes. They have implemented a scholarship fund to support students who have lived through and risen above adversity. The foundation formed a partnership with the RFK Human Rights Organization to create a program to promote workplace dignity. In addition, they have been working together to gather life-saving supplies for refugees feeling Ukraine. The foundation also announced a new partnership with Boston University that includes an endowment for scholarships in its school of public health. The endowment will support more compassionate approaches to solving global health challenges. Most importantly, it will create programming that will deliver a compassionate leadership curriculum to be delivered digitally.
TIP TO BECOME A COMPASSIONATE LEADER
- Offer and attend training to learn new skills.
- Learn about current technology and innovation.
- Engage with employees on a daily basis.
- Schedule workshops for employees through human resources.
- Get to know employees and their families.
- Join the Compassionate Leader Movement.
- Attend the Compassionate Leadership Conference in 2023 during Compassionate Leadership Week.
- Nominate a leader who has demonstrated by example empathy in action for the Compassionate Leadership Award to be awarded each year during the Compassionate Leadership Week.
HISTORY
Donato Tramuto and National Day Calendar created National Compassionate Leadership Week to be celebrated the second full week of September each year.
The TramutoPorter Foundation was created in 2001 by Donato Tramuto and his longtime partner and Co-Founder Jeffrey Porter, after Donato lost two close friends and their son on 9/11 after visiting him in Maine. Donato had a plane ticket to return to Las Angeles with his friends that day. A last minute dental emergency prevented him from boarding, and he changed his flight for a later time. Sadly, Donato’s friends perished in the plane that hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center that day.
Donato was devastated by the tragic event and the loss of his friends. Instead of letting grief and anger consume him, he decided to create the foundation in their memory. Today, the memory of his friends and those who lost their lives that tragic day lives in Donato’s heart. He continues to dedicate his life to spreading compassion and understanding in the world to help solve problems, particularly in areas of health, education, and human rights.
Compassion Movement
Tramuto and Porter continue to spread its message of compassion through Compassionate Leadership Week. This week celebrates compassionate leaders by bringing attention to the proven benefits of compassionate leadership. It shows through their own example and many other leaders, that it’s possible to be compassionate while delivering strong results whether it be in business, education, politics or in our own families and communities.
In 2021, the TramutoPorter Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary by pledging to expand its compassionate work envisioning compassion movement. In April 2022, the foundation launched a new book, authored by Tramuto, called The Double Bottom Line: How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results. The book and Tramuto were featured in Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Investors Business Daily, Katie Couric Media and many other media outlets.
About
Donato Tramuto
- Founder & Chairman, Health eVillages
- Founder & Chairman, TramutoPorter Foundation
- Author & Healthcare Activist
Donato J. Tramuto, is the former CEO of Tivity Health® , Inc., (Nasdaq: TVTY), and is widely recognized for his commitment to social change and transformational leadership in healthcare innovation. The New York Times deemed him “a global health activist.” Tramuto is also the founder and chair of The Tramuto Foundation, which advances rights to education and healthcare access for young people. In addition, the foundation combats human right violations. He launched the foundation in memory his two friends and their 3 year old son who lost their lives on 9/11 when United Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower. Tramuto was scheduled to be on that flight. However, and due to a toothache, he never boarded the plane.
Since the launch of the foundation, over 100 young adults have received a TramutoPorter Foundation Scholarship. All scholarships awarded help young adults pursue their dream of a college education. With the financial support from other organizations, the TramutoPorter Foundation delivers on their promise to make the world a more compassionate place. Tramuto is a sitting member of the board for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization and their Leadership Council Chairman. In fact, his commitment has led to funding a three-year, $1 million grant addressing workplace bullying in the U.S. and Europe. Amazingly, this leading national initiative also addresses workplace dignity and inclusion.
A Compassionate Leadership Task Force, launched in September 2021 will initiate a pilot with a number of Boston colleges and universities to address the significant epidemic around loneliness and social isolation among our young and older adults. The task force will implement existing interventions by integrating them into community-centered organizations, like faith-based organizations. In addition, they will assist colleges and universities to address the compassionate leadership umbrella and how intergenerational connections can reduce the loss sense of relevancy among young and older adults.
Published Author
Tramuto is a successful published author. His works include:
- Life’s Bulldozer Moments: How Adversity Leads to Success in Life and Business
- The Double Bottom Line: How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results
Awards
- Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope (2014)
- RFK Embracing His Legacy Awards (2016)
- PharmaVoice RedJacet Recipient Award
Tramuto is also a passionate champion of cutting-edge approaches to healthcare access, drug safety, and addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH), defined by the World Health Organization as the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. Under his tenure as CEO of Tivity Health and following his execution of a successful turnaround, he transformed the business business model to center around partnering progressively, profitably and collaboratively with consumers, payers, healthcare practitioners and employers in cutting-edge approaches to SDOH conditions including nutrition, fitness and social connection, that improve health outcomes and reduce medical costs.
Before joining Tivity Health, Tramuto’s record of bringing together social commitment with healthcare innovation included his founding of Physicians Interactive Holdings (Aptus Health sold to WebMD in 2019). As a global provider of insight-driven digital engagement solutions for healthcare professionals and consumers. Reflecting a conviction that universal healthcare is a basic human right for all people, he launched Health eVillages in 2011, a non-profit organization providing state-of-the-art mobile health technology in the most challenging clinical environments and working to broaden healthcare access.
Boards
- Brown University Healthcare Leadership Board
- Advisory Board of Boston University School of Public Health
- Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Europe
- Health eVillages
- Zeel Health
- Esperta Health
- Gryphon Investment Executive Advisory Board
- Executive in Residence at Promerica Health, Concierge Health, Sharecare, Gento Health, and Skyscape
- Honorary Scholar in Residence at St. Joseph’s College, Maine
Achievements
- Honorary Doctorate: University of Massachusetts at Lowell
- Honorary Doctorate: Thomas Jefferson University
- Honorary Doctorate: Lasell College
- Honorary Doctorate: Saint Joseph’s College
- Honorary Doctorate: Regis College
