Episode 321
#318 Lars Kure Juul Founder at GNTL - Gentle Giants and Purpose-Driven Leadership
Michael welcomes returning guest Lars Kure Juul, author of The Happiness Sweet Spot and his new book Compassion in Action, to discuss why leaders gravitated most to the compassion chapter and how it led to deeper work on self-compassion and implementation.
Lars argues compassion is active (beyond empathy): interest in others’ difficulties plus a desire to act, building trust, psychological safety, and high-performing teams.
They explore leadership challenges amid rising burnout, declining engagement and belonging (citing Gallup), and why strong leaders aren’t loud.
Practical themes include presence and deep listening, avoiding distractions like phones and laptops, asking better questions (“tell me more”), and servant leadership as serving others and the future by downplaying ego.
They critique leaders hiding behind complex systems, emphasize belonging (seen, able to contribute, proud), and frame compassion and humanity as the next leadership revolution.
Connect with Lars:
Connect with the podcast
Join the Hospitality Mavericks newsletter
Tune in via your favourite podcast platform - here
More episodes for you to check out here
A big thank you to our episode sponsor Monotree.
They help hospitality operators strengthen operations and scale company culture by creating a "Branded Front Door" for your workforce.
Head to their website to sign up.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
