A Naughty and Nice List Through an Empathy Lens

Santa isn't the only one keeping track. In this first-ever year-end empathy review, Rob Volpe sorts the moments, people, and behaviors of 2025 into two lists: the ones that showed us what connection looks like when we choose it, and the ones that revealed what happens when we don't. From politicians weaponizing fear to corporations abandoning their values without so much as a thoughtful sentence of explanation, the Naughty list is a candid look at where empathy went missing in public life this year.

But the Nice list is just as real. The hosts of a daytime talk show who actually listen to each other. A fruit shop owner in Australia who stepped in to disarm a shooter at a Hannukah celebration. The friends, colleagues, and a niece who dropped everything to show up when Rob was injured and needed help. These are not grand gestures from public figures. They are ordinary people choosing connection over indifference, and that is exactly the point.

Rob is on both lists. He will be the first to tell you that empathy is a practice, not a personality trait, and that the half the battle is having the self-awareness to notice when you have fallen short, the courage to course-correct, and enough grace to forgive yourself when you do. He gives himself a 3.5 to 4 out of 5 on a good day, and that feels about right for most of us.

In this edition of Reading Between the Lines, Rob reflects on a year of empathy wins and misses, draws on personal experience and public events alike, and invites you to think about what would make your own naughty and nice list for 2025.

👉 Read the full newsletter or watch the You Tube video to go deeper.