Empathetic is Pathetic; Sympathetic is Admirable.
Ed Kless of Verasage Institute has a quick post contrasting empathy and sympathy, the former being a trait that would limit a person’s leadership ability, and the latter being a perfect complement to a person’s leadership ability.
He explains, “Empathy implies that the leader would share in the anxiety of the follower. This would hamper the ability of the leader to lead and therefore not be in alignment with great leadership.” He continues, “Leaders need to be self-differentiated. They need to exhibit a strong sense of self. They need to be autonomous, independent, individualistic, and, yes, sympathetic”.
Managers, take note!
