Episode 103 - Empathy in Leadership - Underrated? Overrated?

<h2 data-pm-slice="0 0 []"><strong>Summary</strong></h2> <p class="">Empathy seems to be essential for effective leadership, but can it be overdone? This week we explore empathy in leadership, and whether it’s underrated or overrated.</p> <p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true"> </p> <h2><strong>Transcript</strong></h2> <p class="">Hello and welcome to episode 103 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore empathy in leadership, and whether it’s underrated or overrated.</p> <p class="">The topic of empathy in leadership can lead to some really interesting conversations. Many leaders will talk about empathy being absolutely essential to leading others effectively - and they’re right. Others will talk about the risk of empathy leading to burnout as we take on the concerns of others - and they’re right too. So is it just a trade off? Is being empathetic to others and the impact on my own well-being just something I need to accept? Or might there be a different way of thinking about empathy altogether.</p> <p class="">Dr Paul Ekman was the co-discoverer of micro-expressions and inspiration for the TV series Lie to Me. He describes three types of empathy - cognitive empathy, emotional empathy and compassionate empathy. </p> <p class="">Cognitive empathy is being able to see someone else’s perspective and understand what they might be thinking. So when a new person starts with your organisation, cognitive empathy might help you appreciate that they’re unlikely to know their way around the office. You might offer to show them around or leave them hanging. Cognitive empathy is just about perspective taking - putting yourself in their shoes to see the situation from their perspective.</p> <p class="">Emotional empathy involves feeling what someone else is feeling. For example, if a colleague’s computer crashes and they lose a document they have been working on for an hour, emotional empathy allows me to understand that they might be frustrated and