Leanne Butterworth

Founder, Empathy Speaker & Educator
Empathy First

Leanne Butterworth is an empathy speaker & educator, TEDx speaker, university lecturer and social entrepreneur. Leanne has a degree in applied science and a postgraduate certificate in business (Nonprofit and Philanthropy Studies).

She received a George Alexander Foundation scholarship, was inducted into the Nu Lambda Mu International Honor Roll and showcased her work in empathy and mental health to His Royal Highness, the Duke of York. Leanne is founder of social enterprise, Empathy First, she lectures Social Enterprise Business for the Queensland University of Technology and has presented her Empathy work in Australia, the United States and Canada.

Title: Healthy Empathy for Social Enterprise

Synopsis: Empathy and social enterprise go together like peas and carrots. Healthy compassionate empathy is defined as the ability to share and understand the feelings and perspective of another person and respond appropriately while maintaining your own mental health. For social enterprises, healthy empathy belongs in all facets of the business from program design to customer service to team wellbeing, cohesion and culture. When a social enterprise understands, embraces and adopts healthy empathy, they meaningfully engage their beneficiaries, customers, staff and stakeholders and ultimately, are better equipped to achieve their desired social, cultural or environmental outcomes.