George
Mason University and Arlington
Economic Development presented a panel discussion on Empathy in
Business. It focused on empathy as an asset and whether this is an
element of what makes a leader great.
The
panel composition: Jonathan
Aberman, of
Amplifier
Ventures as moderator;
Carly
Florina, former CEO of HP;
Dr.
Angel Cabrera, president of George Mason University; Julie
Rogers, president & CEO of Meyer
Foundation;
and Bill
Drayton, CEO and Founder of Ashoka.
Empathy
to an individual is like great art...they may know it when they see
it, but it is hard to put describe in a clear and concise statement.
The panel's treatment of empathy as a leadership asset was not
woo-woo, feel-good fluff; it was seen as a powerful
tool for change and engagement both
inside and outside of
the organization.
Key
points offered by the panel:
- Everyone has capacity for empathy, except for schizophrenics, narcissists, and psychopaths – most of us can be empathetic
- True leaders will discipline themselves to listen first and declare later
- Example: a situation gone bad and the leader is poised to righteously 'instruct' the errant person chapter and verse about how they screwed up (no empathy); instead the leader pauses to hear the person's view of what happened – then takes appropriate action (empathy)...this can result in better understanding by all parties, but even if no new information is garnered, the person's views were heard and is more receptive to learning from the error
- Empathy is a diminishing trait in segments of today's youth – as a society we must 'teach' and developed it in the children or face virtually unsolvable problems as the kids age into adults.
So,
we can be it, can use it, and teach it...on an applied basis – but
what is it?
For
a leader, empathy is an
ability to understand others - a willingness to listen and consider
what the other person has to offer. It is not
giving
insincere feedback to make the person right in a 'wrong' situation,
nor is it to puff up their self esteem just to win a smile or a brief
sunny outlook.
Can
a leader be both empathetic and strategic in running the organization
to meet the mission and yield results and 'profit'? Carly Fiorina
repurposed a concept from the 1700's – enlightened self interest
– to explain how individual input and financial results can coexist
for superior outcome. This captures both aspects of the spectrum.
Being
open to understanding others, hearing their ideas and offers, and
responding with consistency empowers employees and managers to
contribute ideas and be
innovative,
while truly engaging them in
the
success of the organization. The
path is doing the right things and developing internal resources to
produce better results.
In
an open source environment, a
person is invited to improve on what's been created by someone and
share the
new version
with them and the community. Leading
with empathy is
about modeling permission for employees to find
and share innovation and improvement
in your organization.
As
business structures change, organizations rely more on task teams
formed internally (probably
not
at the same location) and entrepreneurs collaborate with one
another
to create teams
with
needed skills and experience for the project. For
both, the old silos which restricted sharing are replaced with
creative approaches derived from varied backgrounds and experience.
Being
open, listening, and adopting the best ideas
truly supports an open and collaborative environment
–
Eric
Schmidt of Google summed this up nicely: No
one is as smart as all of us.
