embracing empathy helped build a healthier, more profitable firm with a smaller, stronger team.

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originally published aug. 19, 2025

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the disruptors
with liz farr

after decades in public accounting, years emceeing national conferences, and a long stretch coaching college softball, dawn brolin has learned something most leadership books bury in footnotes: empathy drives performance.

“empathy is, to me, the number one characteristic that a leader should follow,” she told host liz farr in her return to the disruptors. her latest book, the elevation of empathy: leading for the w.i.n., digs into why the accounting profession needs a different kind of leadership—one rooted in awareness, humanity, and intentional care.

more streaming: chang: killing saly, one agent at a time | vanover: 5-star firms don’t bill by the hour | kless: profit is a result. flourishing is the purpose | whitman: build culture on ‘progress,’ not change | shein: no pe? no m&a? no problem | hood and weber: time to rise | proctor: turn dumb ideas into brilliant solutions | carter-gray: how 1 poor review strengthened the firm | hartman: upwork to “40 under 40” in 3 years | telka: transform fear into fuel | woodard: move past reports; deliver results | baker: find true purpose to end burnout | brolin: the w.i.n. leadership formula | gertrudes: how eos & “unreasonable hospitality” reshaped growthlab | vilms: the power of people in a tech-driven world | dickerson: from diagnosis to disruption | kapilovich: treat people like people | martha yasso: from wall street to main street | jackie meyer: tax plans in 90 seconds? believe it  | erica goode: build a $200k firm in 15hrs/week |

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accounting firms often reward technical strength or revenue generation with leadership titles. but brolin argues those metrics don’t create leaders; they create what she calls “appointed leaders.”

“you could be appointed a leader because of a skill or the amount of revenue you bring in. that doesn’t mean you are one,” she says.

real leadership, in her view, has less to do with credentials and more to do with emotional intelligence, personal responsibility, and daily behaviors that elevate the people around you.

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