Empathy in Leadership is critical
More often than not, we admire toughness in Leadership. I'm a fan of the empathetic leader.
Why empathy?
I like Frans de Waal's definition of empathy: "The capacity to (a) be affected by and share the emotional state of another, (b) assess the reasons for the other's state, and (c) identify with the other, adopting his or her perspective."
The empathetic leader looks to identify with others ; the empathetic leader uses that perspective to motivate others and to act in accordance with other's perspectives. In other words, they not only look to drive to the what (the adjective) but also the how. The end does not justiofy the means for an empathetic leader.
Empathy matters in so many dimensions of Leadership.
Employees - employees want to work in an environment where their contributions are recognized, where the training and development they receive addresses their career and personal growth. The empathetic leader recognizes that. When managing , empathetic leaders think about what motivates their employees, and map their style accordingly.
Cultures - Leaders that do well managing across multiple countries do so with empathy. Recognizing the importance of unique cultures, values and norms is absolutely essential to succeeding in this environment. How many times have you seen examples of companies forcing their style, their ways onto different cultural environments. It doesn't work. You have to manage your business in the context of the cultures where you operate. That is empathy.
Social responsibility - Leaders that embed shared value , have embedded empathy into their business plans. Shared Value is about understanding how the services and products we create in our business can be leveraged to solve the social issues of our planet; not through charity but through understanding needs to be solved and mapping those to the core deliverables of the business; making them an integral part of the business plan. More and more, the new generation of employees demand shared value to address the triple bottom line - Profit, People, Planet
Empathy. Not nice to have. Critical.
Why empathy?
I like Frans de Waal's definition of empathy: "The capacity to (a) be affected by and share the emotional state of another, (b) assess the reasons for the other's state, and (c) identify with the other, adopting his or her perspective."
The empathetic leader looks to identify with others ; the empathetic leader uses that perspective to motivate others and to act in accordance with other's perspectives. In other words, they not only look to drive to the what (the adjective) but also the how. The end does not justiofy the means for an empathetic leader.
Empathy matters in so many dimensions of Leadership.
Employees - employees want to work in an environment where their contributions are recognized, where the training and development they receive addresses their career and personal growth. The empathetic leader recognizes that. When managing , empathetic leaders think about what motivates their employees, and map their style accordingly.
Cultures - Leaders that do well managing across multiple countries do so with empathy. Recognizing the importance of unique cultures, values and norms is absolutely essential to succeeding in this environment. How many times have you seen examples of companies forcing their style, their ways onto different cultural environments. It doesn't work. You have to manage your business in the context of the cultures where you operate. That is empathy.
Social responsibility - Leaders that embed shared value , have embedded empathy into their business plans. Shared Value is about understanding how the services and products we create in our business can be leveraged to solve the social issues of our planet; not through charity but through understanding needs to be solved and mapping those to the core deliverables of the business; making them an integral part of the business plan. More and more, the new generation of employees demand shared value to address the triple bottom line - Profit, People, Planet
Empathy. Not nice to have. Critical.
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