Have you ever wanted to obtain empathy? People have asked me on multiple occasions, “How can I obtain leadership empathy?” This is a great question, so let’s talk about leadership empathy.
What is Leadership Empathy?
Before developing leadership empathy, one must understand what it means to have empathy. Here’s a few dictionary definitions of empathy:
- The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. (Google)
- the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; (Merriam-Webster)
- Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other person’s frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another’s position. (Wikipedia)
When you have empathy, you can understand, relate to, and feel what others are feeling as if you were in their shoes.
How Does Empathy Relate to Leadership Empathy?
In leadership, you lead others. Those you lead have many things going on in their lives. They go through challenges, trials, and other difficulties.
When one has leadership empathy, they feel for those they lead. They pay close attention to the feelings and thoughts of those they lead. As they are in-tune with others, they change their behavior to help those they lead in the best way for them. [Read more…] about How To Develop Leadership Empathy
This is a great quote! When you want to be a great leader, you must love those you lead to be effective. You show that love by doing what’s best for those you lead and those impacted by your decisions. When you love those you lead, you show them through your words and actions. 
