The Mel Robbins Podcast - This One Skill Makes Every Relationship Better

If you want stronger relationships with the people in your life, there’s one skill you can get better at right now: empathy. Empathy isn’t just something you feel. It’s something you practice – in the small, everyday moments when someone needs to feel understood, supported, remembered, or cared for. In this episode, Mel teaches you 4 simple, research-backed ways to practice empathy and build more trust, connection, and closeness with your partner, family, friends, coworkers, and even people you’ve just met. You’ll learn how to stop assuming you know what someone is feeling and truly understand them. You’ll see how to turn the thought “I should reach out” into real connection. And you’ll know how to show up for someone who is struggling without putting the burden on them to tell you what they need. Mel also shares fascinating research on connection, a powerful lesson from organizational psychologist Adam Grant on the small gestures that strengthen relationships, and an unforgettable story from the late Judge Frank Caprio about what it really means to see the person standing in front of you. You’ll learn: -The simple question that can help someone feel truly understood -How to get people to open up to you without pushing -How to stop overthinking and finally reach out -A better way to support someone who’s overwhelmed -How to show up for people in the good moments, too -The small actions that quietly build trust over time - How to create more moments of connection in your everyday life Strong relationships are built in the small moments. And when you start showing up differently in those moments, you don’t just make someone else’s life better. You make your own life better, too. This episode is sponsored by our exclusive insurance partner, Amica. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page. If you liked this episode, listen to this one next: Harvard Psychologist Shares 6 Words That Will Change Your Family. . Mel also wants to tell you: Try the 23g protein shot I drink every single morning Join 2 million readers loving my weekly newsletter - full of tips, tools, and inspiration The Let Them Theory: read the book everyone’s talking about Watch the episodes on YouTube Connect with me on Instagram Follow the show’s Instagram for clips, behind the scenes, and more Find some daily positivity on my TikTok Want zero ads? Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes ad-free Disclaimer

Duration: 47m
Broadcast on: 17 Oct 2026
Audio Format: other

In this episode, Mel teaches you 4 simple, research-backed ways to practice empathy and build more trust, connection, and closeness with your partner, family, friends, coworkers, and even people you’ve just met.

You’ll learn how to stop assuming you know what someone is feeling and truly understand them.

You’ll see how to turn the thought “I should reach out” into real connection.

And you’ll know how to show up for someone who is struggling without putting the burden on them to tell you what they need.

Mel also shares fascinating research on connection, a powerful lesson from organizational psychologist Adam Grant on the small gestures that strengthen relationships, and an unforgettable story from the late Judge Frank Caprio about what it really means to see the person standing in front of you.

You’ll learn:

-The simple question that can help someone feel truly understood

-How to get people to open up to you without pushing

-How to stop overthinking and finally reach out

-A better way to support someone who’s overwhelmed

-How to show up for people in the good moments, too

-The small actions that quietly build trust over time

- How to create more moments of connection in your everyday life

Strong relationships are built in the small moments. And when you start showing up differently in those moments, you don’t just make someone else’s life better.

You make your own life better, too.

This episode is sponsored by our exclusive insurance partner, Amica.

For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page.

If you liked this episode, listen to this one next: Harvard Psychologist Shares 6 Words That Will Change Your Family. .

Mel also wants to tell you:

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Hey, it's your friend Mal, and welcome to the Mal Robbins Podcast. If you want more people to like you, there is one skill that you really need to get better at. And here's the good news. You can. Today, I'm going to teach you four things you can start doing every single day based on research that will not only make other people like you, you're going to have more friends, better relationships, less frustration at home. You will become a master at resolving conflict. And when people talk about you, they're going to say great things. And it's not hard to learn this skill. What's super cool is you're going to learn today based on the research. This is an easy skill to learn because you are hardwired for it. And the more you practice the skill, the more you'll notice an immediate change in how you feel about yourself. And you're going to see this difference everywhere you go because the more you do these four simple things, the more you're going to like yourself and the more other people will like you too. This episode is brought to you by Amika. Amika offers auto home and life insurance, but what really sets them apart is the way they take care of people. Their representatives take the time to understand you, answer your questions and help you feel confident in your coverage. And if you ever need to make a claim, they work to make the process as seamless as possible and look for ways to say, yes, visit amika.com today. As they say at Amika, empathy is our best policy. Now let's talk about this one skill that makes everyone like you. And I'm going to teach you four simple ways to practice it. And so you're probably wondering, Mel, I'm in. What is this magical skill? What is the thing that makes other people like me? The skill is empathy. Hold on. You didn't see that coming. I don't want you to roll your eyes. Do not turn off this episode. I want you to learn this and I want you to really embrace the research that I am going to unpack. So let's just start with the word empathy because I have a feeling that like I used to, maybe right now, you don't really understand kind of what empathy is or how powerful of a skill it is in life. Empathy is a skill that powerful people have. Empathy is also not the same thing as feeling sorry for somebody, right? Because feeling sorry for somebody else, depending upon the edge or the softness that it has could either be sympathy or it could be pity. That's not empathy. Empathy is something else entirely, but let's just talk common sense first. I want you to think about your favorite person, like who is the person that when you think about them? Oh my God.

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