CEOs: Chief Empathy Officers
The future of conscious leadership means greater empathy
Public Relations firm Edelman recently posted an article on their website offering the perspective that due to the current coronavirus crisis, the CEO’s new role is Chief Empathy Officer. It offers some excellent insights and tips for leaders who want to truly connect with their teams during times of crisis, especially an international crisis like the coronavirus pandemic that we’re collectively experiencing right now. It’s encouraging to see corporations and major companies like Edelman taking skills like empathy seriously. It’s part of a larger trend towards conscious leadership in companies around the world.
Empathy is an essential skill of any conscious leader—especially for virtual teams. It is the ability of a leader to understand, sense, or feel what another person is experiencing—and doing so from their frame of reference. In other words, the emotional skill of putting on their shoes and experience the world as they experience it.
In leadership, this means putting yourself in the place of each team member and beginning to understand their fears, doubts, desires, and passions. Many of these thoughts and feelings are commonly shared because they are essential aspects of human nature. But each person is unique and has their own set of motivations.
Many organizations that lack conscious leadership have been and continue to be characterized by lack of empathy. While there are growing improvements in the workplace such as remote or flexible options, personal and professional development opportunities and other benefits, there is much room for improvement. These companies are too often characterized by greed, which is the opposite of empathy.
For leaders who want to develop conscious leadership and empathy, a powerful tool to start the process is using holographic thinking. Holographic thinking entails considering every decision based on your analytical mind, intuitive mind, and emotional mind/body. Think of it as a triangle where you review each side, but each side needs to be balanced against the others:
Your logic tells you that cutting salaries will be good for profits. But your intuition tells you it will be bad for company culture and mission. Your emotional mind tells you that if you engage your empathy, you’d understand what it means to each employee’s life. The conscious leader keeps looking for the right decision and knows they have the solution when it makes sense, it feels right to them, and they know how it could feel for others. Begin using this exercise for every decision and you’ll be surprised how quickly you’re able to engage in greater empathy.
During this time of great change and growing consciousness, there is so much opportunity for engaging in these types of practices that will benefit you as a leader, your team, our communities, and expedite the future of more conscious work.
I will soon be launching a training series for employers and employees to hone their remote work skills. Stay posted for these exciting and timely new courses!
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