Billion Dollar Problem Solver Reveals His Secret Weapon: Empathy

Cincinnati, OH – Absolut, Gatorade and Pizza Hut. These are just a few of the companies that have come to Marco Marsan, the “Billion Dollar Problem Solver” with Marco Polo Explorers, asking for innovative ideas that can generate sales, stimulate growth and build profits. For over a decade, Marsan has employed a specific methodology to create new ways for corporations to remain productive.

“Empathy is the ultimate problem solving tool,” proclaims Marsan, Idea Engineer and Corporate Anarchist, who has also written three books – the latest entitled “The Lion’s Way.” He explains, “If we want to solve problems today, we have to be able to effectively influence others.” Marsan points out that the most influential people the world has ever known were empathic!

Whether it is an advertising campaign, steering teenagers away from dangerous behaviors or keeping terrorism at bay, Marsan says, “the ‘my way or the highway’ approach doesn’t work.” He continues, “By suspending preconceived beliefs, we can solve problems from a blank slate.” Marsan adds that smart people always gather data and think about the consequences of actions before making a decision.

According to Marsan, there are five benefits of employing empathy and he applies them to different walks of life:

1. Higher level of response: “Advice is always given to us, whether we seek it or not. But, we’re more likely to accept a suggestion if we feel the person relating it has actually listened to us and considered our dilemmas.”

2. Greater loyalty: “At work, employees gravitate to bosses who understand and sympathize with their job and home concerns and, in turn, they work harder out of a feeling of mutual respect.”

3. Fewer Challenges: “In a marriage setting, understanding the daily issues your spouse faces may encourage more teamwork and lessen the amount of time spent bickering.”

4. The evoking of passion: “As seen in this political climate, candidates who can genuinely convey their compassion to the plights of voters often have the largest grassroots organizations run by volunteers.”

5. Meaningful solutions: “Parents, reflecting on their child’s point of view can positively impact their child and strengthen the relationship, simply because the parent fully appreciates their child’s perspective.”

All of this needs to start with the leaders of any given situation, be it heads of family, heads of business or heads of state, continues Marsan. In a blog entry entitled, “Reason over Force,” on www.TheLionsWay.com, he writes, “Only the strongest member of a group has the opportunity to disown violence and lead its friends and adversaries with reason and compassion. For this reason, the strongest must never initiate force or respond to aggression with violence.” Therein lays the premise of his latest book.

Marsan, who has written two other books about business and self-development, purposely chose fiction – he calls it self-help fiction – as a platform for “The Lion’s Way” themes, including political unrest, seen today in America, “As a reader, fiction just seems to flow over you, I wanted to let the reader absorb the principles and theory rather than beating them over the heads with it”. Set in an alternate version of the Roman Empire, Marsan shows how even the best intentioned governments can become corrupt, “As we are seeing everyday, good ideas can certainly go bad.”

But Marsan notes the strategies used to solve those problems is what will determine whether or not there will be success. His creative tactics, which are based on empathy, have helped Marco Polo Explorer’s clients ship more than five billion dollars worth of products.

“Empathy will make you money, build relationships and steer you in the right direction rather than you taking a bad first step,” but Marsan concludes, “You have to be brave enough to apply strength from a soft approach.”

Marco Marsan is an idea engineer, corporate anarchist and founder of Marco Polo Explorers. As an author, he has written two business and self-development books, but “The Lion’s Way” is his first work of “self-help fiction.” Marsan is also a renowned motivational speaker who has been featured on Montel Williams, The View and Dateline NBC. The Mazda Corporation recognized Marsan as one of America’s top Out-of-the-Box thinkers. “The Lion’s Way” was co-authored by Peter Lloyd and has an online home with blogs, podcasts and other media at www.TheLionsWay.com.