After a decade-long legal battle that dismantled her business and personal life, serial entrepreneur Staci Wright transformed her approach to leadership, founding Heart Profit to address workplace disconnection and its impact on the mental health crisis. Drawing on lessons from 20 years and six businesses, Wright shifted away from the “command and control” model that prioritized profit over people. Initially, her pivot to pure compassion led to operational struggles, but she discovered that sustainable leadership required balancing empathy with high expectations. Heart Profit now equips organizations with tools to foster genuine employee connection while maintaining performance, emphasizing transparency in finances and decision-making, and encouraging healthy relationships even when employment ends. Wright’s vision extends to systemic change through the Million Who Care movement, aiming to mobilize a million small donors to fund heart-centered workplace initiatives. This model empowers businesses to implement programs like onsite childcare or mental health support without sacrificing financial stability. Her approach blends faith-driven values with inclusivity, demonstrating care and respect without imposing beliefs. Corporations are beginning to recognize that employee wellbeing is a business imperative, with some warning that failure to address “people problems” could threaten their survival. Wright sees this shift as part of a broader cultural transformation where businesses become engines for human flourishing, proving that compassion and connection are not just moral choices—they are strategic necessities for the future of work.