ROB VOLPE, CHAIRMAN/FOUNDER

Rob is driven by a boundless curiosity about human nature and a passion for the use of empathy to achieve positive results.

Rob loves empowering teams and organizations to better connect, collaborate and succeed.

Rob started Ignite 360 with the intention to push beyond asking ‘why’ in order to deliver real-life business implications for his clients in creative ways that help the clients retain the learning. Since the company started in 2011, he has interviewed thousands of people around the world helping clients generate billions of dollars in new revenue.

A recognized leader in the insights industry, Rob was named a Laureate by the Insights Association in 2023 and is a member of the invite-only Market Research Council.

As an Empathy Activist, Rob writes, speaks and provides training on how to utilize empathy to succeed in business and in life. He is the author of the award-winning book Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time which draws on his many adventures doing ethnographic research for Ignite 360 to bring to life the challenges to being empathetic in the moment.

Rob is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences, corporations and college classes as well as regularly appearing in interviews on TV, radio, print and podcasts.

When he's not spreading understanding of empathy or adding to his 2 million-plus miles flown, Rob can be found at home in San Francisco with his husband, Charles, and their three cats, reveling in the rare luxury of standing still.

Have a question or project you’d like to discuss?

Let’s chat at rob@ignite-360.com

Q&A

What 1 piece of advice would you give to someone looking to build empathy?

Some people have a natural gift of empathy but most of us have to work at it, and even then, we can only achieve sympathy. As the saying goes, you have to understand what it’s like to walk in another person’s shoes, as them. That means letting go of your own biases and stereotypes. True empathy requires you to let go of what you know and consider the 360 of a person.