In the world of business, empathy is a hot topic. Articles on empathy have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Time, and many other outlets. Empathy has also proven to be a popular theme of recent commencement addresses—last spring’s graduates of the University of Michigan and Howard University, where President Obama did the honors, heard speeches about the importance of empathy.
Why all the interest? In a word: technology. Every job that can be automated is, or will be in the not-too-distant future. As a result, organizations are shifting focus to the jobs and interpersonal skills that machines and software will never replace. A study published in the August 2015 issue of Harvard Business Review reports that, since the 1980s, occupations enjoying the highest job and wage growth are social skill-intensive. Work is becoming more team-based and requires the flexibility and adaptability that computers cannot deliver. Social or “soft” skills are now critical differentiators that distinguish organizations as both employers and competitors.
Empathy, as this article will show, is the most important of these soft skills for effective leadership. Unfortunately, while there is growing recognition of empathy’s importance, many organizations are unsure how, and if, empathy can be developed.
To bring greater clarity about empathy, we offer new research. Specifically, this research addresses the importance of having empathetic leaders, the developability of empathy, and the impact empathetic leaders can have on organizational performance.
Via David Hain