The Role of Empathy in Leadership with Teresa Johnson
Teresa Johnson, CEO of Color Me Mine, joins The Bliss Business Podcast to explore empathy in franchise leadership: the open-ended questions, diagnostic habits, and "dream manager" mindset that scale care across more than 150 studios.
Empathy in franchise leadership is easy to talk about in a keynote and hard to build into 150 studios you will never personally visit. In this episode of The Bliss Business Podcast, we sit down with Teresa Johnson, CEO of Color Me Mine, the industry-leading paint-your-own-pottery franchise, to explore how she turned a simple definition of empathy into training systems, diagnostic habits, and a leadership philosophy she calls being a “dream manager.”
In this episode we explore:
• How to practice empathy without lowering standards or avoiding hard conversations
• The systems and rituals that help empathy show up across an entire franchise network
• Why “tell me more” is Teresa’s simplest empathy tool
• How empathy works as a diagnostic tool when a studio underperforms
• Why purpose matters when you are leading creatives, entrepreneurs, and local communities
• What it means to bring love into business in practical, everyday ways
Teresa defines empathy simply: “that ability to understand and feel and really appreciate someone else’s experience or perspective, without having to take those feelings on as your own.” She has watched what happens without it: a friend lost his brother, and his boss’s first call afterward wasn’t about that. “That ended a career.”
Her tool is simple: ask open questions, then say “tell me more.” It scales into real systems at Color Me Mine, including the “Color Me Mine Way” that trains part-time staff, and weekly one-on-ones with new franchisees during build-out.
When a studio underperforms, she doesn’t start with the numbers. “The first thing I really want to understand is why,” she says. “We can solve anything we can understand.”
Underneath it all is purpose. Teresa calls herself a “dream manager,” and tells of a 17-year-old employee who nearly quit, convinced she wasn’t leadership material. A decade later, that employee texted Teresa as a high school principal, crediting her for the confidence to lead.
That same discipline, a repeatable system that still feels human at every touchpoint, is what Zero Company helps brands carry into their own marketing.
Key Takeaways
• (3:16) Teresa’s definition of empathy: “that ability to understand and feel and really appreciate someone else’s experience or perspective, but without having to agree with them or take those feelings on as your own.”
• (4:54) On the cost of skipping it: a friend’s brother died, and his boss’s first question afterward was not about him. “That ended a career with a company that he had been at for a very long time.”
• (7:07) Her simplest tool: “All you have to do when you’re in a conversation with someone is say, tell me more.”
• (20:46) On diagnosing an underperforming studio: “The first thing I really want to understand is why… empathy is not a soft skill, it’s kind of a diagnostic tool.”
• (26:18) On purpose: “I really want to help other people live their dreams. And that is my why… I really like to think of myself as a dream manager.”
• (32:55) On love in leadership: “Love is a verb in business. It’s a presence, it’s care, it’s follow through. It’s how people feel after they interact with you.”
FAQ
What does empathy in franchise leadership actually look like day to day?
For Teresa Johnson, CEO of Color Me Mine, it starts with open-ended questions and one simple follow-up: “tell me more.” It is not extra time spent, she says, it is intention, noticing what people are dealing with and following up on it consistently.
How does Teresa Johnson diagnose an underperforming Color Me Mine studio?
She starts with why, not the numbers: is there personal crisis, family stress, or burnout behind the decline. She calls empathy “a diagnostic tool,” not a soft skill, because understanding the root cause is what actually lets her build a plan that works.
What does Teresa Johnson mean by calling herself a “dream manager”?
She means helping franchisees, employees, and customers move toward what they actually want in life, not just what the business needs from them. Her proof point: a 17-year-old part-time employee she refused to let quit, who texted her a decade later as a high school principal, crediting Teresa for the confidence to lead.
Empathy, in Teresa Johnson’s hands, is not a personality trait, it is a system you can train, diagnose with, and scale. Learn more about Teresa Johnson and Color Me Mine at colormemine.com. See her guest profile, and explore more Featured Guest Series conversations.
CEO of Color Me Mine
Teresa Johnson is the CEO of Color Me Mine, the industry-leading paint-your-own-pottery franchise. In 2005 after working in HR and marketing for several companies, Johnson purchased her first business, an independent paint-your-own pottery studio she'd been a frequent customer at with her daughter, despite having no experience running a business.
Within a few years, she had four studios, co-founded a boat manufacturing business and was holding down the fort as a single mom. She later became a franchisee with the industry-leading paint-and-sip brand Painting with a Twist.
In 2021 after acquisitions and leadership changes, Johnson became co-owner and CEO of Color Me Mine. Since then, she’s worked to refresh the brand for the next generation of franchisees — leading the brand to unprecedented growth in both sales and studio expansions. A self-described serial entrepreneur, Johnson believes her true calling in life is to help future entrepreneurs discover their passions and help guide them to success.
