The Empathy Advantage

9Emerge the Empathic Leader

On March 11, 2020, after more than 118,000 cases and 4,291 deaths in 114 countries, the World Health Organization declared Covid‐19 a pandemic. Within weeks, if not days, the world came to a halt. Offices emptied and businesses closed as people went home to wait. And wait.

Despite assurances from government agencies that we needed just “15 days to flatten the curve,” it soon became clear that this pandemic was about to change everything.

Our first book together, The Adaptation Advantage, dropped in the midst of this upheaval – an upheaval that put us to the adaptation test. Plans for in‐person book events were scrapped for virtual interviews that invariably turned to the question on everyone's mind: “When will we get back to normal?” From the earliest days of the pandemic through to today, we have the same answer: “You won't be going back, ever.” In fact, on March 23, 2022, Heather wrote an article in Forbes based on our conversations predicting that not only was the pandemic accelerating our transition into a future of work, but it might be the greatest catalyst for business transformation.

The premise of that first book pivoted on the singular idea that change is inevitable, constant, and quick. The pandemic‐induced lockdowns put that in sharp relief. Change in the circumstances around you requires change in understanding, change in methods, change in process, change of mind, change in self‐perception. And, we get it, change is hard, and the magnitude ...