The Empathy Dilemma: How Successful Leaders Balance Performance and People

All across the globe, organizations are becoming more human-centric. They've jettisoned old paradigms of success that center on endless overtime and constant employee sacrifice. They’ve tied success to purpose and workforce morale and helped people balance personal and professional needs as their priorities change. They’ve made shifts that are both necessary and positive. But now, those striving to be empathetic leaders and colleagues are experiencing the dark side: Taking on extra work, avoiding conflict, spending too much time on personal issues, or simply burning out from trying to balance concern for colleagues with the needs of the business.

How can we remain human-focused and still maintain high performance, set personal boundaries, and avoid burning out, without being treated like villains? In this timely talk, you'll discover how empathy benefits your organization's performance and why your perception of empathy might be false and leading you astray. You'll also learn about five valuable pillars that shore up your ability to be both empathetic and deliver on results and how they will enable you to find success in the new world of work.

Outline

  • 00:00:00 - Introduction of Maria Ross

Maria Ross, a renowned speaker, author, and empathy advocate is introduced. She hosts the "Empathy Edge" podcast and is the author of several books, with her next one, "The Empathy Dilemma", due for release in September.

  • 00:02:00 - The Role of Empathy in Leadership)

Maria discusses the challenges faced by HR leaders and the balancing act between performance, people, and personal boundaries. She stresses the importance of empathy in leadership, noting that it is more than being nice, bending to unreasonable demands, or agreeing with everyone. Maria clears misconceptions regarding empathy and its role in generational clashes, diversity conflicts, and its misuse.

  • 00:10:46 - The 5 Pillars of Effective and Empathetic Leadership

Maria introduces the 5 pillars of effective, empathetic leadership: self-awareness, self-care, clarity, decisiveness, and joy. For each pillar, she shares practical strategies and tactics that leaders can implement.

Self-awareness: Maria emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in leadership. She shares tips for enhancing self-awareness such as seeking feedback, using self-assessment tools, and practicing deep listening.

Self-care: Enforcing boundaries and setting aside time for recharging and renewing is vital for this pillar.

Clarity and Decisiveness: Maria elaborates on the importance of communicating with radical and kind honesty, and setting deadlines for decision-making.

Joy: Encourage levity and facilitate workplace friendships.

  • 00:30:00 - The Empathy Dilemma

Announcement of impending book: Maria announces her new book "The Empathy Dilemma”. A pre-sale 30% discount is available until August 27th. Special goodies are on offer for teams that order 25 books or more.

  • 00:33:16 - Q&A Session and Wrap-up

Designation of Q\&A Time and Concluding Remarks: As she wraps up her talk, Maria shares a powerful quote about empathy by John Jacobs, co-founder of Life is Good. She invites comments, questions, and reactions and encourages the audience to connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram and tune in to her podcast for more insights on empathetic success.