Connecting with Susan McPherson

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, angel investor, and corporate responsibility expert. She is the founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships (McGraw-Hill). Susan has 30+ years of experience in marketing, public relations, and sustainability communications, speaking regularly at industry events including Massachusetts Conference for Women, BSR, DLD, Worth Women and Techonomy, and contributing to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes.

How have relationships influenced your professional development and leadership style?  

For the last 35 years of working professionally, I’ve had the extraordinary privilege to meet and engage with thousands of people spanning countries, ages, roles, industries, cultural nuances and so much more. I feel that each person I encountered symbolize a piece of the puzzle or they represent the ingredients in the soufflé that has become the company that I founded and now lead. Each and every individual that I met along the way has played a role in how I lead – the good, the bad and yes, the ugly. When I founded McPherson Strategies in 2013, my fundamental goal was to build an organization based on kindness, curiosity and compassion. For the most part, I have done what I could to stay true those ideals. 

Do you have any tips for maintaining and building strong relationships?  

Lead with supporting and helping others. I hate to sound so very simple, but I fervently believe that if more of us focused on helping one another the world would be a starkly alternative place than what we are finding ourselves heading into in 2025. That means showing up with kindness and compassion, listening and caring and doing everything we can to understand those with differing backgrounds than us. It also means reaching out to connections long before you are in need of something. It means reminding those in your life how valuable they are and it means showing up and saying yes.

How have you intentionally built inclusiveness into your circles?  

Since my early 20s, every time I would move to a new location, I would find at least 2 nonprofit organizations and then sign up to volunteer. FareStart when I moved to Seattle in 1992 and Bpeace when I moved to New York in 2003. That way I would meet people from entirely different walks of life than my own, often different ethnicities, backgrounds and age ranges. Doing so not only expanded my horizons, but also helped me learn new skills that I might not learn about my day job. Additionally, I have never been shy to ask for introductions from my various communities to those who are different from myself. 

What community or communities are you proud to be a part of?  

Oh so very many and honestly, I would be nowhere in life with the extraordinary benefits such communities offer. Reboot, TheLi.st, The WIE Suite, Executive Women on Boards, various Signal and WhatsApp groups, and the various boards I’ve served on over the years including Bpeace, USA for UNHCR , The 19th , Apolitical Foundation , The Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York and more.

Who’s a Connector that's made a difference in your life?   

My late mom and dad who taught me from a very early age that all people were deserving of our curiosity, compassion and our kindness and led by example, and of course, ALL of the 89 extraordinary individuals we have featured in CONNECTED over the last 3 years. Let us know if you have interest in being featured at a later date.

It's an honor to feature inspiring change-makers across industries who share their stories and words of wisdom about how to build meaningful relationships. Catch up on #CONNECTED with our previous guests, including Sana Kapadia , Shruti Ganguly , Rachel Goldstein , and more!

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, seasoned communicator and founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships.

Follow Susan on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram and order her new book, The Lost Art of Connecting, also available on Kindle and Audiobook.