Trampled by Unicorns

CHAPTER 9We Should All Be Chief Empathy Officer

When I left the Boston Consulting Group over a decade ago, I genuinely believed that you could solve any problem with the right Gantt chart clearly defining roles, responsibilities, key performance indicators (KPIs), and deadlines. That if something wasn't working, I just needed to work a little harder. That empathy and emotions were weaknesses and people just needed to toughen up a bit.

It took the kind yet relentless feedback of people I admired and who cared about me to change my mind. Not to mention many hours of executive coaching, quite a few heartless decisions on my side that had negative repercussions that I couldn't understand, and for my dad to be discarded like trash by the company to which he had given 18 years of his life. Eventually I was convinced that empathy had to be a baseline requirement for the companies I was leading if they were to succeed, both commercially and ethically. Or, as Daniel Lubetzsky, the CEO of the snack company Kind put it:¹ “For me, empathy is an existential question—it's about the survival of the human race. That is, it's imperative for us to overcome the challenges we face. Unless we can join forces and recognize each other's humanity, how can we do business together, let alone make progress on the increasingly complex and difficult problems in society?”

There are plenty of books about how to cultivate empathy on a personal level. I have a lot of them at home, and they've been tremendously ...