Скачать или смотреть Mental Wellness Is Leadership: Corey Hart on Empathy, Joy & Human-Centered Growth

What if mental wellness isn’t a side note in leadership, but the foundation of it?

In this thoughtful episode of The Kind Leader Podcast, host Gino Degregori sits down with Corey Hart, mental wellness strategist, startup mentor, educator, and Senior Director of Growth at Mentavi Health, where he’s helped scale behavioral health innovation by over 800%.

Corey shares his unconventional journey across music, hospitality, startups, education, and behavioral health, and how saying “yes” to curiosity, joy, and human connection shaped his approach to leadership. Together, Gino and Corey explore why self-awareness, mental wellness, and empathy aren’t soft skills, but essential leadership competencies, especially in fast-growing, high-pressure environments.

From building joyful cultures and leading with authenticity, to navigating AI in mental health with responsibility and care, this conversation challenges leaders to rethink how they show up for themselves and for others.

💡 In this conversation, you’ll learn how to:
Lead with mental wellness as a core leadership practice
Create cultures of joy, empathy, and psychological safety
Balance innovation, AI, and human-centered care responsibly
Strengthen leadership by improving the relationship you have with yourself
Show up as a kind leader without sacrificing performance or impact

Whether you’re leading a startup, a team, or navigating your own leadership journey, this episode offers a refreshing and deeply human perspective on what it truly means to lead well.

🎧 Listen now and discover why taking care of yourself is one of the most powerful leadership decisions you can make.


5 Key Takeaways
Practice self-grace to lead with resilience. Leadership starts with how you talk to yourself. Acknowledging your effort and progress, especially on hard days, builds the emotional strength leaders need to show up well for others.
Joy is a leadership strategy, not a distraction. Creating moments of laughter and celebration during difficult work boosts engagement, strengthens teams, and reduces burnout without sacrificing performance.

Lead with “How can I help you?”. Shifting conversations from roles to support instantly builds trust. Leaders who lead with service create collaborative cultures where people feel seen and valued.
People’s lived experiences matter more than policy. When leaders respond to individual circumstances with empathy, loyalty and commitment follow. Human understanding often achieves what rules alone cannot.
The next generation is wired for inclusion, learn from them.
Younger workers naturally collaborate and lead with empathy. Forward-thinking leaders leverage this strength rather than trying to re-train it.


Resources & Additional Information
🔗 Connect with Corey Hart
Website: https://www.coreythehart.com
LinkedIn:   / coreythehart  

📚 Book Recommended:
Studs Terkel - Selected Works https://www.amazon.com/stores/Studs-T...
Through conversations with everyday people, Studs Terkel captures deeply human stories across all walks of life. His books are a powerful way for leaders to build empathy and understanding, especially when we can’t experience that diversity firsthand.


Chapters
00:00 Why Mental Wellness Is a Leadership Imperative
01:28 Corey Hart’s Journey: Saying Yes to Curiosity and Opportunity
06:10 What Kind Leadership Really Means in Practice
12:51 Empathy at Work: Lessons from Hospitality and Business
17:05 How the Next Generation Is Redefining Leadership
20:58 Self-Care, Self-Grace & Leading Sustainably
23:24 Rethinking Behavioral Health: Innovation with Humanity
24:28 Why Separating Diagnosis from Treatment Changes Everything
25:49 Faster, Smarter Diagnostics Without Losing the Human Touch
27:17 Navigating AI in Healthcare with Care and Responsibility
29:37 The Future of AI in Mental Health: Promise and Caution
33:25 Unpopular Opinions That Challenge Traditional Leadership
36:03 Final Leadership Insights and Personal Recommendations