Join the
kindness
revolution
Emmy- and WGA-nominated Melinda Hsu reveals leadership insights from Hollywood's frontlines that transform teams, boost creativity, and drive exceptional outcomes.
The Power of Leading With Kindness
A practical guide to creating meaningful relationships, leading with authenticity, and building a life and career rooted in generosity, connection, and purpose. Discover how kindness can become your greatest advantage in business, leadership, and everyday life.
"Living with intention to transform with awareness as well as kindness is what the ‘Lead with Kindness’ movement is all about.”
— Ann D. Blanchard, Creative Artists Agency agent
The #1 Podcast in kind leadership
Lead with Kindness, hosted by showrunner Melinda Hsu, is a podcast where we talk about how kindness and inclusion, and intentionally fostering both in your environment, leads not only to better business results and higher standards of professionalism but PS - is the right thing to do.
"There's no one I trust more to speak from experience on how to be a good leader in Hollywood—or anywhere. Melinda's advice is not just practical and thoughtful, it's inspirational. She is one of a kind—and she's worth listening to, in her book and on her podcast."
Maureen "Mo" Ryan, TV critic, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, and author of Burn It Down: Power, Complicity and a Call for Change in Hollywood.
"Living with intention to transform with awareness as
well as kindness is what the ‘Lead with Kindness’ movement is all about.”
Ann D. Blanchard, Creative Artists Agency agent
“If you are lucky enough to lead artists, then take my advice and sit at Melinda Hsu’s feet (or crack open this book) immediately. Her sacred tenets: that one can lead with kindness, that creatives need safe environments to explore, and that humility—not the ability to instill fear—is her greatest strength, transformed me as a manager and can help create better workplaces for all those who hope to create and lead."
Cameron Johnson, TV writer-producer and creator of TOM SWIFT
Meet Melinda Hsu
Hi! I’m a TV writer-producer who’s been in the trenches of Hollywood for over 20 years. As a showrunner in charge of multiple shows, I used kindness as a superpower because I empowered my teams with my trust, and created structures and transparency that respected their time and celebrated their lived experiences – and then I reaped the incredible benefits of working with people who felt safe to innovate and motivated to commit. That’s how I proved that leading with kindness is good for business (as well as being the right thing to do), and that’s why I wrote my first book: Lead With Kindness.
The book isn’t just for leaders – its practical, doable strategies will improve your life anywhere you interact with humans. I hope the kindness revolution reminds you of what you already know to be true. Thank you for joining the movement!
When I received this mentorship award in recognition of my work with the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, I told the audience that whenever I meet a young writer, I tell them, “I want to see you succeed.” It gives me joy to bring out the best version of someone, even if they can’t see if for themselves yet. Lifting up the people I can reach is truly my metric of achievement and personal meaning.
Receiving the Mentor Award
from CAPE
Featured Honoree at Girls Inc.
Here’s one of my favorite moments of my career: connecting with the audience at the 2024 Girls Inc. National Luncheon in Beverly Hills. In my acceptance speech as an honoree, I encouraged everyone to figure out what they would shout from the mountaintops if they knew the world would act on it – and to use that manifesto as their North Star. Everything in life can be viewed from the lens of your North Star, because everything you do, every choice you make, either takes you closer to your North Star, or farther away from it.
Center for Scholars and Storytellers
This was an uplifting panel about representations of masculinity on screen, and I got so much out of sharing ideas and visions with the other creatives and nonprofit leaders on the panel. In this moment, I was talking about my storytelling mandate, which is (in addition to lifting up intersectional identities and telling stories that generate community and hope) that I don’t put gun violence on screen in anything that I create. I made this choice after taking a long look in the mirror and asking myself, as a TV writer-producer, what I was doing to help or not help the national conversation about gun violence.