Jackie Acho
Book Jackie as a speaker for your next event“Jackie is a passionate, authentic and playful speaker who strives to pull the audience into her world through her storytelling. She brings a diverse and wide-ranging background of knowledge and experience that is effortlessly shared and made relatable to her listeners.” – Colette Hart, TEDxClevelandStateUniversity Organizer
Empathy is your superpower, and Jackie loves sharing this good news with people. Once you understand how our usual way of working and living saps empathy, including yours, you will not be able to unsee it. You will also know that you can do something to change it, and that change will make a better world for everyone, including you.
The gem of empathy has many facets and helps resolve longstanding, seemingly intractable issues. In a variety of talks, Jackie turns it over to reveal fresh, honest answers about vexing issues such as why we don’t have more women in leadership, why innovation is elusive, how to achieve real inclusion, and the key to transforming our culture. Her ideas change minds and hearts, unleashing people to do what they do best. Empathy is the river that runs through it all.
THE CURRENCY OF EMPATHY®
An Antidote to Our Empathy Deficit
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Previous Keynote Topics:
Women in Leadership
Jackie has been speaking on “women in leadership” since she was a partner in the global management consulting firm with a corner office. People continue to wonder why, more than 50 years after the second wave of the feminist revolution, we still do not have more women in leadership. Jackie brings a fresh, honest perspective to this well-worn issue. Jackie’s most popular talks are:
Forget Leaning In; Change the System
Empathy is Your Superpower
Innovation and Inclusion/Diversity
Jackie has helped for-profit and nonprofit clients grow and innovate for 25 years. She came to see that empathy is the missing link to innovation with soul. By stewarding empathy rather than quotas, real inclusion and diversity is not only possible, but natural.
The Missing Link to Innovation: A Currency of Empathy®
The Missing Link to Inclusion: A Currency of Empathy®
Cultural Transformation
That fact that that 70% of people are disengaged at work is remarkable. That we have come to accept the situation as normal is even more incredible. Most people are not engaged in most of their working hours. For many people, work is downright painful. Even if this only affected the individuals in organizations, it would be heart-breaking. What is more tragic is that it affects the people they serve as clients/customers, their families at home, and all of us, as companies make decisions devoid of empathy. Jackie’s talks include:
What’s Empathy Got to Do with It? If the Police Can Transform, So Can You
Healing the Empathy Deficit Disorder by Clearing Up Our Mix-ups About Work, Home, and Sex
The New American Dream
Coaching
Jackie has served as an executive coach for a wide variety of clients through the years. She’s helped leaders in for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations evolve their own leadership styles, imagine their futures, and in turn, coach their own people more effectively.
Empathy is the Lifeblood of Coaching
Millennials and the Future of Work
There is a cultural shift taking place from patriarchy/matriarchy to co-creation. Our relationship to work is changing, and millennials lead the way. Meanwhile, they get a bad rap. Are millennials lazy? Jackie does not think so. Empathy is their secret sauce.
An Optimistic View of the Future: Millennials are Not Lazy After All
Healing with Empathy
As a recovering Ph.D. chemist, a certified yoga teacher, an empath, and the daughter of a top-notch therapist (!), Jackie’s perspectives on physical and emotional healing are multifaceted. They are also earned. Her daughter began suffering from hemiplegic migraines at age 11. That was the wake-up call they needed to heal naturally. The migraines are gone (knocking wood!). Other health issues have been uncovered and resolved. The journey continues. With humility for the design of our bodies and the world, and clear eyes about the benefits and limitations of science and technology, Jackie is grateful to share her family’s story and hear yours.
Living Healthy in a Toxic World: Confessions of a Recovering Chemist
Panel Discussions/Fireside Chats/Improv
Jackie loves co-creating and discovering new truths with others. Including all voices helps us better understand and find common ground on difficult and divisive topics. She has moderated and been on many panels through the years. Q&A is her favorite time because she loves the conversation most of all. Here are a couple of recent favorites:
The Empathy, Innovation, and Inclusion Workshop - for the Accenture/Keybank celebration of International Women’s Day (featuring Jack Ricchuito, author of Simple Listening)
Currency of Empathy Book Discussions
The book is the whole enchilada. If you/your organization are ready to dive in and understand how our myths around work, home, and sex have degenerated our culture, you can order it here: Currency of Empathy: The Secret to Thriving in Business & Life. Jackie has enjoyed joining book discussions in companies, at retreats, and in homes. Bulk discounts are possible. Top of FormBottom of Form
Spirituality and Empathy
Why are we here and how should we spend our time? These questions have been constant companions for Jackie. Her spiritual studies have varied from Education for Ministry in the Episcopal Church, to the ancient texts that inform modern day yoga, to Judaic traditions, to pre-colonial matriarchal African traditions. She believes the answers lie in the space between them all, and empathy is central.
“Jackie led two forums for our church this past year. She was a delight to work with from the beginning of the projects until the end. She works hard to get to know the audience, its context, and its needs, before she works collaboratively to put together an excellent presentation. Jackie made sure her forums for our church were exactly what we had dreamt of, and then even still she exceeded everyone’s expectations with her warmth, empathy, and humor. To top it all off, Jackie is extremely well-connected and can use her relationships to bring together other excellent speakers to create panel conversations that are truly unique and powerful.”
Reverand Jessie Dodson, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights, OH