Stacy Kehren Idema, PMP

Hi, I’m Stacy, 
a small-town lake country girl turned modern traditionalist, building emotionally intelligent technology and presence-based leadership systems for the future of legacy.

Since I was ten, I’ve believed business could be done differently — not just more efficiently, but more humanly.

For 27+ years, I led innovation across startups and Fortune 5 companies. I learned how systems scale and how trust breaks, whether because emotion gets edited out or because unchecked emotion runs the show.

When it was time to choose what came next, I couldn’t return to the system I once believed would take me to the top.

That decision sparked my current path, one that bridges emotional intelligence, technology, and generational wealth.

I founded Equati to help family offices, investors, and founders align values, vision, and legacy within their direct investing. Because legacy isn’t numbers on a page; it's a living system shaped by presence, trust, and the way we communicate across generations.

Alongside Equati, I serve as a Presence-Based Chief of Staff & Leadership Consigliere --- a strategic partner to founders, principals, and family enterprises navigating growth, succession, or strategic inflection points.

My work blends strategic clarity with emotional intelligence, helping leaders create coherence across their people, priorities, and processes.

Today, I work with:
→ Family Offices & Investors designing continuity and trust across generations
→ Principals and founders needing strategic partnership and grounded decision support
→ UHNW families preparing for legacy transitions and the Great Wealth Transfer
→ Companies built for patient, purpose-driven capital

Because how we invest, lead, and live isn’t separate from who we are.
It's the story of legacy in motion.

When I’m not building or serving leaders, you’ll find me between Austin, TX and Minneapolis, MN driving my Jeep with the top off, baking (my signature is banana bread with a salty crust), or on a flight across an ocean with camera in hand, writing about the messy, human side of legacy, leadership, and love.

Because the way we invest, lead, and live is the story we leave behind.

✳️ stacy@equati.ai
 | www.equati.ai

Founder & Managing Director

The Global Collective is the gateway to a new business ecosystem that empowers and harmonizes gender strengths and diversity in business around the globe.
 
We partner with investment companies that are ready to invest in female-founded/led businesses, help the businesses with which they've already invested be better winners and create a culture of performance and flow with less burnout.
​
Our vision is to eliminate the diversity gap, whilst changing gender perceptions by connecting the unique strengths of each gender, which will also increase the financial benefit and mental well-being in business.

The Empathy Clinic

The clinic is committed to the teaching, practice, and improvement of empathy. Empathy is a starting point for compassion; what we do when we care about each other. Appreciating the experience of another person is a capacity and a skill. Whether we’re in a relationship, in the family, with friends, or in the workplace, they all work better and smoother when empathy is being practised.

Founder

EmpathifyU

 Empathy Architect at EmpathifyU

AB MD PRO CORP

President

Dr. Ashok Bhattacharya

2006. C.A.K.E; a guide to reciprocal empathy. A manual for consolidating marriage relationships.
2016. Deep fried nerves. A fictional novel that follows a burnt out psychiatrist through to his recovery.

Author

Dr. Ashok Bhattacharya MD, FRCP

Private practice specializing in individual and couple psychotherapy.

Psychiatrist

Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto

Chief Resident in Psychiatry

Founder and President of the Empathy Clinic

Yes, I’m a psychiatrist…but I use the tools of empathy to diagnose and treat my clients. 

Empathy isn’t only for the office; it’s the glue of connection for all of us. 

A team that practices empathy within that team will produce more with less stress and more pride. 

I bring that to you your group. Empathy is teachable and I practice and teach it everyday. 

I write about empathy, present at conferences around the world, and build it into my family, my life as a doctor, and my art as a composer/musician. 

Let’s bring empathy to you. 


Books: 

Cake; a guide to reciprocal empathy. A manual for consolidating marriage relationships.

https://www.amazon.ca/C-K-Reciprocal-Empathy-Couples/dp/1425951937/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1617328254&refinements=p_27%3AAshok+Bhattacharya+M.D.&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Ashok+Bhattacharya+M.D.



Deep Fried Nerves. A fictional novel that follows a burnt out psychiatrist through to his recovery.

https://www.amazon.ca/Deep-Fried-Nerves-Ashok-Bhattacharya-ebook/dp/B01N3Q4KN0



Ashok Bhattacharya

Me and Butterflies 


I’ve been fascinated by nature my whole life. 

At 8 yo I started wondering how other creatures felt; what they experience, and…what are they thinking. 

That’s when I realized my own experiences are not the same as others. 

We all have a unique experience of the same things. 

Even if I’ve had the same experience as someone else, I don’t say, “I know exactly how you feel.”

That’s when I started asking, “I had a similar experience, but how did it make you feel?”

#Empathy asks, listens, and clarifies. 

Image created in Gemini. (I wrote on the headstock of the guitar.)

Founder and President of The Empathy Clinic

No alternative text description for this image

I'm A Shy Introvert 

The pandemic displaced my life; my career as a psychiatrist went from in-person care to virtual. I had to learn to use virtual technologies.

My daughter, Emily, said, "you should be on LinkedIn."

I was an old-school diehard dismisser of Social Media. Reluctantly, I opened an account and very cautiously started sharing about myself. 

Medical doctors aren't supposed to do this. 

Then, I posted myself playing guitar on LI.
 
Medical doctors aren't supposed to do this. 

I waited for my regulatory bodies to shut me down for being unprofessional. 

Instead, other professionals started reaching out to me...thanking me for 'being real.'

I discovered Inclusive Leadership [thanks Sejal T.] and joined their weekly meetings. 

It was stressful because I'm an introvert. 

This gathering has changed me. I have never networked so much, met so many fabulous humans, and...yes...my hermit crab shell has been a little empty lately. Now, I'm that little crab on the beach waving my claws in the air, dancing and singing. 

Inclusive Leadership did that to me. 

Gratitude is a great attitude. 

We all met today and celebrated Thanksgiving in the only way we know; sharing stories of gratitude personally and professionally. 

Some highlights: gratitude for health, family, connection, resilience, hope, dignity, joy and happiness. 

Professionally we are especially grateful, as Matthew Cahill said, "when what we do is who we are."

I shared my gratitude for #empathy because it creates deeper meaningful connections within my universe and with others. 

If Inclusive Leadership is a forest, there's a lot of tree hugging opportunity here. And as you know, there's soil for new growth and the roots talk to each other. 

I'm not a shy introvert...I'm an Inclusive Leader. 

Join us [link in comments]  Wednesdays at 10am PST

The Side You See

Humans relate to each other by sharing perspective.

Gathering the perspective of another is the essence of empathy.

What about gaining perspective on yourself?
This is the essence of #selfempathy.

I imagine seeing myself outside of myself. 

You may not agree what people say about you, but that is their perspective. 

Seeing yourself subjectively is easy. 

Seeing yourself objectively is more challenging. It's an embedded goal of psychotherapy. 

You don't see your whole self when you look in a mirror; you see from the  perspective you're facing . Ever notice how your reaction to seeing yourself in photos is different from seeing yourself in the mirror?

Look for the perspective you don't have...that's #empathy.

Photo by Kim

Holding empathy. 


When we feel somebody else’s pain, we are sympathizing with them. 

Two strings on a guitar tuned to the same note vibrate when you pluck only one of them. They are sympathetic. A sitar works this way. 

Empathy holds space for another to share their experience, mentally physically, socially, and spiritually. 

When we are empathizing with someone, we are trying to imagine their experience from their point of view…not yours. 

The truest test of empathy occurs when someone is telling you an experience you cannot relate to, but you have to imagine their relationship to their experience. 

Can you imagine Neil Armstrong describing to you what it felt like to walk on the moon in 1969?  (No Smartphones)

#Empathy is imperfect, but is one of the most powerful ways to build deep relationships embedded in #trust and #respect.

Physician Musician 


In medical school I was terrified of being kicked out because I played in a full time band. 

Luckily for me, they never found out because it was my only source of income. 

When I joined LinkedIn I was concerned about looking unprofessional if I revealed I’m a rock & roll musician. 

I took the risk and I’m still here. 

Music amplifies my #empathy. 

Why do we have to hide who we are to be who we are?  

It’s so draining to suppress yourself. 

Ok… I’m out.  

“Your move chief.”  
(Robin Williams’s line in Good Will Hunting.)

When Empathy Stands On A Mountain 


It doesn’t look down on others; it invites others to join to share the view. 

It reaches beyond the horizon to see beyond oneself. 

It’s not high and mighty; it’s humble and vulnerable. 

It helps others climb their mountains. 

It builds safe and trusted connections, no matter where others are at, because they matter. 

It sings the joy and gratitude of life, and the chance to participate in it with all its natural beauty. 

Photo by Gemini AI

What Do You See?



Our state of mind determines how we see things. 

Does your mind put things together or take things apart? 

Do you connect the dots? 

#Empathy sees the parts, formulates a story, reflects the story, and edits for accuracy according to the feedback. 

My reflections are in the comments.

My Generation

Is a famous rock song written by The WHO. What happens when generations come and go. Which generation is leading society, and which generation is changing societies? If you can't keep up with the times, will you become extinct? Who are you, and can your 'who' be flexible?

Angela Dunz, MBA calls herself The “Accidental Entrepreneur,” having moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with her shiny new MBA and dreams of being a CMO. Instead, she started her own business. Angela works with Attorneys sharing her expertise in Business Development, Professional Branding, Content Strategy, Video, and Thought Leadership on LinkedIn. Without a website, she built her entire vibrant business using free LinkedIn! She is a former Rock Climbing Guide and lives in Marin, where the hiking and the weather are fabulous. 

Angela's presentation was clarity in motion about the emotion of human connection. The theme of empathy accuracy resonated through her words.
Being clear is golden, sharing a video [especially an imperfect one]...also golden. She emphasised: "LinkedIn is not about you."

The majority of LI users are 25-34. Most don't own a home and won't be in the same job for too long.  My generation [Boomer] represent  3% of the population on LinkedIn. I've had the same job for 40 years!

She described the Emotional Decision Matrix: "Most decisions are a blend of:
Fear (safety), Pride (identity & status), Connection (belonging), Ease (comfort),  and Desire (vision)."  

"Assuming is trouble, take the time for real connection," she affirmed. 
Real connection is one on one. 

Angela had some marketing takeaway to share: "Who are the people you are serving now? Do you need new offerings? Do some market research, right now. How formal is your tone? Are you using humour, emojis, savvy graphics, storytelling...? Is it time to 'freshen up" your brand and make it more relevant?"

The Breakthrough rooms were asked: What percentage of your clients are younger than 50? And do you change the way you do business to work with younger generations?

Tom Drucker eloquently mentioned the power of listening carefully [empathically]. 
Judith M. Weigle asked who is actually active on LI. I've always supported others by commenting. It brings engagement. 
Edward Calder reminded us to 'tell the story, not the glory. '
I always say: Stories are packages of #empathy.

Angela's presentation was a wake up call to the LinkedIn generation gap. 
It's up to us to 'mind the gap' and bridge it. We're all in this together. 

Join us next Wednesday at 10 AM PST for another illuminating hour.
Link to join in comments.

Empathy searches for the truth in another. 


For most of my medical school years (1980-1984) I pretended to be OK. 
I hid in plain sight. 

No one asked because I was there but not there at the same time. 

I went to all my classes and passed all my tests, but I was ashamed, lost, hurt, angry, and isolated. 

I isolated myself. 

40 years later at my Medical School reunion, I gave a keynote… and told them the whole story. 

There were tears in the room and lots of hugs. 

There was even guilt. 
People said, “We didn’t know.” 
How could they?
I was acting and hiding. 

I’m here now sharing my truth. 
We don’t have to hide, we chose to. 

People can’t empathize with you if you’re not telling them the truth. 

You can’t empathize with yourself if you’re not telling yourself your own truth.

taplio

The Battle

Stacy Kehren Idema, PMP

Ashok Bhattacharya

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreAshok Bhattacharya's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Stacy Kehren Idema, PMP

Ashok Bhattacharya

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ashok Bhattacharya's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAshok Bhattacharya's LinkedIn Performance