The word ‘empathy’ can make some people roll their eyes thinking it’s some coaching woowoo buzzword, something soft with no place in business. But it’s not a weakness or a soft skill or being wishy washy.
People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Otherwise, you’re just another boss barking out orders and only focusing on the outcomes. Those more traditional traits of leadership: decisiveness, results-driven focus, and authority are still important but when you add empathy to the mix it’s smart business. Empathy separates the leaders who burn bright from those who burn out.
With businesses and work culture shifting, so has our understanding of empathy. Now, more than ever, empathy is seen as a powerful leadership tool. It is an essential ingredient in building meaningful connections, motivating teams, and the long-term success those running businesses are striving for.
With remote work the norm, teams spread across time zones, and the shift from the show up to work at 9 and clock out at 5, our expectations of leadership has changed. People don’t want to be led by robots or bosses stuck in the old-school way of doing things.
People want leaders who show up as humans. They want to work for people who listen, care, and genuinely want to understand what makes them tick. When leaders connect on a real, human level, everything changes. People trust more. They stay longer. They want to give their best, not because they’re told to, but because they feel like they matter. People want to matter.
What the world needs now are more leaders who pay attention, hear the struggles people are having, and come from a place with as much heart as they have business nous. Choosing empathy as a business imperative, means the leader is choosing to see their ‘business asset’ as another human who has value way beyond the bottom line or the latest productivity stats. You do that and success takes care of itself.
A study by the Centre for Creative Leadership showed empathy is positively linked with job performance among employees. Leaders who are empathetic create supportive workplaces. The result? Higher employee engagement and reduced turnover. Logically, that makes sense. People want to know you care. Gone are the hamster wheel days of business where people clock in, work like crazy and then go home depleted, worn out and resentful. People stay longer when they feel supported. They perform better too. When your team know you’ve got their back and you’re on their side, they’rll give their all.
Being empathetic doesn’t mean you’re always the feel-good leader or you have to be concerned about everyone’s feelings all the time. It’s about listening and learning, whether you’re talking about staff, clients, or community. It’s seeing things through their eyes, hearing the things they struggle with, and stepping in to support them in ways that make sense to them, not just you.
The World Economic Forum says empathy is a game-changer. Empathic leaders, their research shows, are more likely to build teams that innovate and adapt because they see through others’ eyes, listen to what people need, and use that insight to make better decisions.
When I first started Caring Lotus, I didn’t know exactly what the journey would look like. I knew I wanted to build a business that was different. I wanted the kind of business where care, compassion, and understanding weren’t just trite phrases but the rock solid foundation. What I didn’t know even then, was how much leading with heart would inform not only how we care for our client, but how we run the whole business.
Over the past few years running Caring Lotus, I can think of many examples of decisions we’ve made based on empathy rather than business must-dos that have shaped our business, for the better AND changed the lives of the people we care for. One stands out. We had a client struggling to open up about the challenges they were facing. Everything felt forced and transactional with the care they were getting. We knew they weren’t happy and neither was their support person. Instead of barreling in with solutions, assumptions or assuring them that everything was going to be OK, we heard them out. We gave them space to share when they were ready. We took the time to understand the deeper issues at play. That act of listening, not just making the right noises, helped us match them with the right support worker. It transformed their experience with us entirely. Empathy in that moment wasn’t a matter of making everything OK right then, it giving them space to feel safe to be themselves.
The same goes for my team. It’s not easy to manage a business. There are many hard days where I feel the world is on my shoulders. But when I show vulnerability, when I talk about the challenges I face, it creates space for them to be vulnerable as well. That’s when we can really unite as a team. When we’re all in this thing together, not just as co-workers, but as humans who care about each other.
It doesn’t mean avoiding difficult discussions or sweeping things under the rug. It’s about treating difficult circumstances with respect and compassion and making tough decisions with fairness and integrity. Balancing heart with head. I know I have had to make tough choices many times before, but I always strive to do so with kindness, fairness, and transparency.
Business is about people. The relationships you build. The trust you create. The impact you have on those around you. When people feel acknowledged, respected, and cared about, they’ll go to the moon and back, for you, for themselves, and for your customers.