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Grow Your Brain · August 25 · 46 min

Padmini Mangunta: Empathy As A Discipline

Padmini Mangunta is a strategist whose career spans senior roles at Interbrand, Barkley OKRP, Intouch Group, McCann New York, and McKinney. Padmini and Pedro discuss why strategists need to get more comfortable with human contradiction, tension, judgment, and emotional nuance. They unpack the limits of personas when they stand alone, the importance of asking better questions, and why great strategy often comes from understanding people as fluid, dynamic, and sometimes inconsistent human beings. Padmini will be teaching a class on the APG Canada School of Strategic Goodness on September 9, 2026 titled: “No more cliches: How to defy stereotypes and meaningfully connect with consumers”. Register here: https://www.apgcanada.ca/event-calendar/#id=198&cid=1396&wid=201 Resources talked about in this episode: The More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger Ted Lasso World Cup fan video: https://x.com/AllFutbolMX/status/2071719403331232091?lang=en Follow Padmini Mangunta: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/padminimangunta/ Follow Pedro Porto Alegre: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedroportoalegre/ Join APG Canada to connect with, learn from, and support the country’s strategic planning community. Become a member at http://apgcanada.ca/join-us. Grow Your Brain is proudly sponsored by The Gathering, the award-winning yearly brand festival hosted in the Canadian Rockies. Learn more at http://thegatheringfestival.com. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Grow Your Brain Podcast 00:53 Introduction and Background 05:28 Career Journey and Transition to Advertising 10:48 The Role of Journalism in Strategy 17:31 Understanding the Customer: Beyond Personas 22:20 Exploring Human Tension and Judgment 26:07 Balancing Nuance and Simplification in Strategy 31:15 The Importance of Empathy in Storytelling 38:29 Understanding Empathy and Human Connection

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Padmini Mangunta is a strategist whose career spans senior roles at Interbrand, Barkley OKRP, Intouch Group, McCann New York, and McKinney.

Padmini and Pedro discuss why strategists need to get more comfortable with human contradiction, tension, judgment, and emotional nuance. They unpack the limits of personas when they stand alone, the importance of asking better questions, and why great strategy often comes from understanding people as fluid, dynamic, and sometimes inconsistent human beings.

Padmini will be teaching a class on the APG Canada School of Strategic Goodness on September 9, 2026 titled: “No more cliches: How to defy stereotypes and meaningfully connect with consumers”. Register here: https://www.apgcanada.ca/event-calendar/#id=198&cid=1396&wid=201

Resources talked about in this episode:

Follow Padmini Mangunta:

Follow Pedro Porto Alegre:

Join APG Canada to connect with, learn from, and support the country’s strategic planning community. Become a member at http://apgcanada.ca/join-us.

Grow Your Brain is proudly sponsored by The Gathering, the award-winning yearly brand festival hosted in the Canadian Rockies. Learn more at http://thegatheringfestival.com.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Grow Your Brain Podcast
00:53 Introduction and Background
05:28 Career Journey and Transition to Advertising
10:48 The Role of Journalism in Strategy
17:31 Understanding the Customer: Beyond Personas
22:20 Exploring Human Tension and Judgment
26:07 Balancing Nuance and Simplification in Strategy
31:15 The Importance of Empathy in Storytelling
38:29 Understanding Empathy and Human Connection

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