The Business of Empathy

The Oxford English Dictionary defines empathy as “the ability (and willingness) to understand and share the feelings of another.” The parenthetical is mine—but it’s important.

Brené Brown draws a powerful distinction between empathy and sympathy in one of her well-known videos. Sympathy, she says, is standing at a distance and feeling for someone; empathy is climbing down into the hole with them and feeling with them.

But what does that have to do with business, leadership, and management?

Too often, empathy gets dismissed as an “after five o’clock” construct—something that belongs in our personal lives, not our professional ones. We assume that caring too deeply might interfere with performance or profitability.

Yet perhaps empathy should be the prism through which we view all business encounters.

I haven’t always been empathetic. After once hurting a good friend’s feelings, I confessed, “I can be a bit obtuse sometimes.” It was a humbling and valuable moment. That experience became a turning point, helping me grow not only as a leader but as a human being.

Recently, a friend told me about having to let an employee go after a poor decision. The former employee was now likely to be without a job for a significant time and potentially a place to live.

Neither my friend nor I, both undeniably privileged, will ever truly understand the former employee’s predicament. But we can try. We could pause, imagine, and feel with this person. That is empathy.

Empathy doesn’t always lead to solutions. It doesn’t erase accountability or change the outcome. But it does allow us to see others more fully, and to act with a measure of humanity even in difficult situations.

Empathy isn’t easy. It’s rarely black and white. It requires reflection, humility, and growth. But it’s necessary—in leadership, in life, and in the world, both before and after five o’clock.