Empathy, Standards, and The Work Of Real Leadership

Many leaders are taught that results came from control, speed, and decisiveness. If you hit your numbers, the “how” did not get much airtime. That approach is breaking down.

Today, people want to know if their leaders actually care. Franchise owners want to know if their investment is respected. Employees want to know if someone will notice when they are not okay. In that environment, empathy is no longer a nice idea. It is the difference between a system that technically works and a culture that people actually want to stay in.

On The Bliss Business Podcast, we sat down with Kim Gubera, President and CEO of Pertek, a hydraulic hose repair franchise system that has grown unit count by more than ninety percent since she stepped into the CEO role in 2019. With more than twenty years in franchising, a background in accounting and finance, and deep experience leading in male dominated industries, Kim shared how empathy, clear standards, and follow through can reshape an entire network.

Empathy Is Letting People Know You Care

When Kim talks about empathy, she does not reach for buzzwords. She started by looking up the formal definition, then simplified it into something more actionable. Empathy, to her, is “letting others know that you care.”

That shows up in very specific moments.

• Delivering hard news to a franchisee who has invested years and savings into their business.

• Sitting with an employee who is struggling, and resisting the urge to jump straight into solutions.

• Taking the time to explain not just the “no,” but the “why” behind a decision.

Kim is naturally a problem solver. Her instinct is to move quickly from issue to answer. Empathy has required her to slow down, listen all the way through, and make sure people feel heard before she offers a path forward. That shift is not cosmetic. It changes how decisions land, how much trust they build, and how willing people are to stay engaged when the answer is not what they hoped for.

When Busyness Erodes Trust

One of the biggest threats to empathy is not malice. It is busyness.

As Pertek has grown rapidly, Kim has seen how easy it is for leaders to get swept into deadlines, expansion plans, and operational fires. In that rush, they stop noticing small changes in behavior, the franchisee who suddenly goes quiet, or the employee who used to be engaged and is now just going through the motions.

In franchising, distance magnifies the risk. A franchisor and franchisee might be separated by a thousand miles and months between in person visits. When there is no intentional check in, unspoken frustration hardens into resentment. Issues that could have been resolved through a candid conversation become legal threats.

Kim has seen how dangerous it is when leaders rely solely on contracts and compliance. If the franchise agreement is the first tool you reach for, she says, several other steps have already failed. Empathy, in practice, means refusing to let busyness become an excuse for ignoring early warning signs in relationships.

Listening Tours That Turn Into Culture Change

When Kim moved from CFO to CEO, she stepped into a male dominated industrial business and a system with cultural scars. Some franchisees had never had anyone from the executive team visit their location, despite being in the network for five or more years.

Rather than making assumptions, she went on the road.

She visited every franchisee, often in person, and asked a simple open question: “Tell me your Pertek story.” Then she listened. What she heard was the full spectrum: gratitude, anger, frustration, loyalty, and disappointment. There were tears, raised voices, and long histories of feeling unheard.

That listening tour was more than a gesture. It gave her:

• A clear picture of where trust had been broken.

• Insight into what franchisees valued most from the brand.

• Motivation to rebuild systems that had been too narrow and transactional.

Back at the home office, empathy demanded action. Kim and her team broadened the support they offered, upgraded tools, and began operating as true partners rather than distant rule enforcers. Over time, franchisees did not just hear that leadership cared. They saw it in new resources, better communication, and a shift in tone.

Systems That Keep Empathy From Being Optional

Kim is clear that empathy cannot depend on one leader’s personality. If it does, it disappears the moment that person leaves. To endure, empathy has to be built into systems.

At Pertek, that looks like:

• Clearly articulated values and leadership behaviors that are expected every day, not only during good times.

• Policies that make it unacceptable to hang up on a franchisee, ignore emails, or respond with disrespect, and the same standard applied to how franchisees treat the home office team.

• Regular site visits and check ins that create space for real conversation beyond performance reports.

• Support that does not get cut off when there is tension or even litigation, so long as both sides are genuinely working toward resolution.

Kim talks about “empathy plus delivery.” Listening without changing anything is not enough. Franchisees felt cared for in the room, but they also needed to see new tools, better training, and more robust support show up afterward. That is where trust was rebuilt.

The systems do one more critical thing. They protect empathy under pressure. When something goes wrong, the default is not “Who can we blame?” It is “How do we uphold our values and still solve this problem?” That framing keeps leaders from abandoning empathy the moment things get hard.

Scaling Empathy Across A Franchise Network

As Pertek has approached two hundred franchise locations, Kim has watched empathy move from a leadership trait to a network habit.

Franchisees support each other with labor, equipment, and advice. The company created a “Good Neighbor Award” to recognize owners who go out of their way to help peers through a crisis or a busy season. That peer to peer empathy matters as much as anything coming from headquarters.

Kim describes the system as “Team Pertek,” a shared identity that includes the franchisor, franchisees, and their employees. When empathy is embedded in that identity, it becomes normal for owners to ask, “How can I help my neighbor succeed?”

Scaling empathy also shows up in how the company handles conflict. There have been situations where lawyers were in the room. Instead of writing those relationships off, Kim and her team invested in one on one conversations, multiple visits, and concrete changes. Some of those franchisees are now among their strongest partners. Turning an adversarial relationship into a healthy one is, in her view, one of the clearest signs that empathy and standards are working together.

Leading With Empathy In Male Dominated Spaces

Kim’s journey includes another layer. When she became CEO, she was the first woman to lead a hydraulic company of this kind in the world, stepping into a network of mostly male franchise owners in a traditionally industrial space.

Asked about advice for women entering male dominated industries, she does not start with gender. She starts with identity and capability.

Her approach is to:

• See herself first as a business leader, not only as “the woman in the room.”

• Build credibility through competence, consistency, and results.

• Refuse to compromise on values, even if that means changing environments to find a better fit.

She is also clear that empathy does not mean being perceived as weak. Franchisees know she will enforce brand standards and say no when necessary. The difference is that those “no’s” are delivered with respect, context, and a track record of listening.

For Kim, empathy and strength are not opposites. Empathy is part of what gives her the confidence to lead in rooms where she once wondered whether she would be accepted.

Love, Purpose, And The Legacy Leaders Leave

Late in the conversation, the topic turns to love. It is a word that can feel awkward in business. Kim frames it through the Greek concept of philia, the kind of love that shows up as deep friendship and shared purpose.

Over decades in franchising, she has built relationships that outlast any individual role. Former franchisees still care for her company’s lawns. Former colleagues still call for advice. Current owners know that even after hard conversations, she will show up at their location, sit at their table, and work through the problem with them.

Underneath it all is purpose. Kim describes her personal purpose as helping the people within her influence become the best version of themselves, whether they are franchisees or employees. Growth and financial performance matter, but they are anchored in that deeper commitment. Her faith shapes how she evaluates decisions, especially on the hardest days.

That combination of love, purpose, and empathy leaves a different kind of legacy. It is not just a larger network or stronger numbers. It is a system where people can say, “I was challenged, I was held to a standard, and I was cared for.”

Key Takeaways

• Empathy Is A Daily Signal That You Care
  Empathy is not abstract. It is how you listen, explain decisions, and stay present when delivering hard news.

• Busyness Can Quiet The Voices You Most Need To Hear
  Rapid growth and full calendars make it easy to miss the early signs of disengagement and frustration, especially at a distance.

• Listening Must Lead To Action
  Listening tours, site visits, and open conversations only build trust when they are followed by concrete changes in systems and support.

• Systems Turn Empathy Into A Shared Standard
  Values, leadership behaviors, policies, and rituals are what keep empathy from depending on one leader’s personality.

• Conflict Is A Chance To Practice Empathy, Not Abandon It
  Working through tension, even with lawyers involved, can transform relationships when both sides stay committed to understanding and resolution.

• Purpose And Love Shape The Legacy Of Leadership
  When leaders anchor decisions in a clear purpose and genuine care for people, performance and culture reinforce each other over time.

Final Thoughts

Empathy in leadership is not about being softer. It is about being more honest, more attentive, and more committed to the humans who make a business possible.

Kim Gubera’s story at Pertek shows that you can enforce high standards, grow aggressively, and still lead with empathy, purpose, and love. In a world where contracts and metrics often dominate the conversation, that combination might be the real competitive advantage.

Check out our full conversation with Kim Gubera on The Bliss Business Podcast.