Leading with Empathy

Chapter 9Actions for Empathy

If you cannot invest in yourself, how can you expect an organization to invest in you?

The world has been transforming at a rapid pace over the last few years. It is hard to keep up with the sheer velocity of change introduced in our lives. But it is not just the last couple of years. I would venture to say that this entire millennium has been a crazy rollercoaster, starting with Y2K. It has indeed been a trial by fire for many of us. But we are resilient as a human race, and we continue to adapt to adversity, emerging stronger each time.

In this chapter, I include some ways to develop empathy as an adult. It also covers how to encourage empathy in children. I provide some tips and techniques that you can follow to lead with empathy in your personal and professional life. If there are exercises and techniques that have helped you develop empathy, I would love to learn about them! At the end of this chapter, I included ways to share your information to help others.

Empathy for Adults

Tips for Practicing Empathy

Fortunately, empathy is a skill that you can learn and strengthen. If you want to build your empathy skills, there are a few things that you can do:

• Work on listening to people without interrupting.
• Pay attention to body language and other types of nonverbal communication.
• Try to understand people, even when you don't agree with them.
• Ask people questions to learn more about them and their lives.
• Imagine yourself in another person's ...