Grief Leadership
The question isn't whether grief will show up at work.The question is whether leaders will be prepared when it does.
I'm Mindy Corporon. I was a CEO when grief walked into my company, and nobody around me knew what to say. I wrote Grief Leadership so you will know what to do when it walks into yours.
Preorder opens November 18, 2026. Publishing January 2027.
By the numbers
Grief comes to every workplace eventually
- 1 in 4
workers are bereaved in any given year.
Sue Ryder and Censuswide, 2020 - 100 days
How long an employee may be impaired after a personal loss.
Empathy, 2024 to 2025 - 5.6 days
The average bereavement policy.
Empathy, 2024 to 2025 - 73%
of managers say they need training to better support grieving employees.
Center for Creative Leadership
Grief arrives in many ways
Not every leader recognizes when they happen.
Caregiving
Death
Disability
Divorce
Illness
Job loss
Loss of a dream
Pet loss
Suicide loss
Traumatic loss
Where this comes from
I didn't choose this topic. I was shaped into the person who could carry it.
In 2014, my father and my oldest son were murdered in a hate crime. One moment, I was leading a registered investment advisory firm with over $500 million under management and 12 employees. The next, I was staring down at a reality no leader, no mother, no human should have to face. Grief entered my workplace before I knew what to do with it.
When I returned to work, I was not the same person. And no one around me knew what to say. My team was supportive in spirit, but ill-equipped in practice. They tiptoed. They avoided. They meant well, but they were silent when I needed presence. Not because they didn't care, but because they didn't know how.
“I was the CEO of a company. I know that we needed a return on investment for our clients and our business, but I couldn't leave my feelings in the parking lot. They came with me.”Mindy, on Jaws of Justice, KKFI, 2020
The whole story is in my first book, Healing a Shattered Soul. Read about the memoir
My work has been honored with the WIN for KC/Lockton Companies Resiliency Award. I speak to leadership teams, HR audiences, and conferences, and I have given more than 60 podcast and radio interviews.
Three things I ask every leader to do
-
Acknowledge the loss
Say something, even if it comes out clumsy. Here is what I tell leaders to say:
I don't know what to say, I'm not exactly sure what to do, but I care about you and I'm sorry this happened.
-
Ask about capacity
How are you?
is a loaded question for someone who is grieving. Ask this instead:How much capacity do you have today?
Then plan the work around the honest answer. -
Have an ABLE conversation
Ask, Befriend, Listen, Encourage. It is how I teach leaders to talk with a grieving employee, in the first week and on the anniversaries that follow.
The book
Why I wrote Grief Leadership
In the years after my son and father were murdered, I began to notice just how often grief shows up at work, and how rarely we're taught to respond with courage and compassion. It isn't just death that brings grief to the workplace. It's caregiving. Divorce. Chronic illness. A child's diagnosis. A death by suicide. A lost home.
Every organization will encounter loss. Yet most leaders have never been taught how to respond when life changes the people they lead.
You may not know what to say. You may be afraid of saying the wrong thing. But I promise your presence matters. Your words can comfort. And your leadership can become the anchor someone needs to survive the hardest season of their life.
Six standalone chapters, so you can start with the one you need today. Practical tools, conversation prompts, what to say, and what not to say.
Preorder opens November 18, 2026. Publishing January 2027.
What leaders say about Grief Leadership
Most leadership books teach you how to improve performance. This one teaches you how to guide people through life's hardest moments with courage and care.
Diana Kander, New York Times bestselling author and global expert on innovation and curiosityHow you show up for people during the hardest moments of their lives is everything. In Grief Leadership, Mindy Corporon takes a personal tragedy and turns it into constructive lessons for all of us. Listening, emotional safety, and caring are all characteristics of a strong leader. Mindy walks us through how those traits can shine through, even in the darkest hours.
Peter Mallouk, President & CEO of Creative PlanningAs a pastor who has cared for grieving people for 38 years, I found Mindy Corporon's Grief Leadership to be a compelling, beautifully written, and practical guide for all who care for those who mourn. Every leader, manager, and HR director should read this book.
Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor of Resurrection, the nation's largest United Methodist church with more than 24,000 membersAny leader who desires a productive workplace grounded in connection and care for those who grieve should read this book. It provides a storehouse of wise counsel and practical advice from one who has been there both personally and professionally.
Bob Cutillo, MD, grief expert and author of Holding on in the Storm
Bring Grief Leadership to your organization
I speak to leadership teams, people and HR functions, conferences, and associations. Bring me in for a keynote, an executive education session, or a Grief Leadership conversation with your team, with the book in every seat. If you host a podcast, I would like to talk.
As heard on WNYC's The Takeaway · Majority 54 with Jason Kander · NPR affiliate KCUR · BYUradio's The Lisa Show · Grief is a Sneaky Bitch · Grieving Out Loud · 60+ podcast and radio appearances
-
Beyond the Loss · "Grief Leadership" · 2026
Grief is part of life and therefore part of our work.
Watch the episode -
Are We Good? · "She Lost Her Family to Hate" · 2025
We have to realize as leaders that we can't fix it. But what we can do is we can have space for that person.
Watch the episode -
Enterprise.ing · "Managing Grief in the Workplace" · 2024
There is a problem in corporate America. Leaders do not know what to do or say to their team members, their co-workers, their associates, their right-hand person, when they've experienced a life disruption.
Listen to the episode
From the hosts
- “A brilliant, brilliant way to bring something that is unspoken into corporate America.”Dr. Sharon Spano, host of Beyond the Loss, on grief leadership
- “Her life is really a testament to the incredible capacity of the human spirit to really rise from the depths of despair and create an impact because of it.”Matt Gilhooly, host of The Life Shift
Resources
If someone on your team is grieving right now
Start with this guide. It is free, and it is what I wish everybody knew.
“I know I cannot change that story. I cannot change what happened. But I can look ahead and ask, ‘What difference can I make going forward?’Every day we have that choice.”