by Sharelle Burt
March 29, 2025
Author Tony Robbins defines empathetic leadership as “a style of leadership that focuses on identifying with others and understanding their point of view.”
As the workforce is under construction, with significant changes and policy changes, studies and experts have identified empathic leadership as key to effective business habits in the workplace.
Empathy expert Maria Ross labels empathic leadership as a “key driver of business success.” She highlights leaders with this “soft skill” as being curious. “You pause, listen, and ask questions to really understand other people’s perspectives without judgment,” she told Inc. “When you lead with empathy, the improvements are measurable, including employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and even retention rates.”
Research from Ross and outside studies have proven this to be true. Organizations identified with high empathy scores have lower turnover and higher customer loyalty rates, in addition to increased profits. A study from MetLife showcased “notable drops” in employee engagement and a sharp decline in holistic health, productivity, and engagement, as employees are under the stress of dealing with increased medical costs and an uncertain economic status, according to Newsweek.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, employee mental health has been challenged in the workplace in addition to heightened socio-economic issues, political conflicts, and more flowing into conference rooms and cubicle space.
Feeling empathy in a work environment from leadership helps employees feel more connected and valued, resulting in customers sensing the change. “There’s no question that empathy is an essential leadership skill, particularly as the pressure mounts to preserve workforce stability and engagement, given everything that is going on in the external environment on top of organizational change that employees across industries and across the world are facing,” chief people officer at S&P Global, Girish Ganesan, said.
Author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins defines empathetic leadership as “a style of leadership that focuses on identifying with others and understanding their point of view.” In Ross’ books, The Empathy Edge and The Empathy Dilemma, she determines the five essential pillars of empathetic leadership as self-awareness, self-care, clarity, decisiveness, and joy. Self-awareness helps leaders understand an employee’s emotional triggers, while self-care shows leading by example – with taking breaks that employees may be fearful of taking.
Clarity means a leader is communicating with purpose and with that purpose, decisiveness will result in decisions being made with empathy and confidence. Lastly, joy means bringing positive energy, celebrating small wins, and showing gratitude.
However, empathy from high-level managers isn’t all it takes for workplace growth. More trustworthy and empathetic behavior from leadership equates to an increase in consistent performance from employees – or better.
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