Last year, we coined the term “Chief Empathy Officer” to describe the new mandate for CEOs to act with empathy as the pandemic brought unprecedented global turmoil on businesses and the workforce.

Fast forward a year, and the call for empathy has only intensified. But the good news for executives: Empathy, especially cognitive empathy, the act of intellectually relating to another person – is a muscle that can be trained and honed. When practiced by leaders with their people, empathy can build stronger teams and cultures, answering the call for inclusion that’s increasingly heard in modern workplaces. Empathy is critical to building high-performing teams that deliver tangible impacts to your bottom line.

Executives agree that empathy is critical, but embedding it into their everyday way of leading can be a challenge. In our conversations with executives over the past year, one question was consistent: Yes, but how?

That’s why we’ve published a practical guide to building, using, and deploying your empathy as an organizational superpower. We hope you’ll read and enjoy.

Jamil Zaki and Cydney Roach 
May 2021