I was walking home past a playground yesterday when I heard a father talking to his little girl, “now Jennifer, you have to play nice”. I have no idea what had happened, but it made me stop and think.  Do we really need to be ‘nice’, or should we work

Last week I was working with a client who was a very nice older gentleman, if maybe a bit set in his ways.  I was explaining how empathy can work in a corporate setting, and talking through some examples of his behavior in the past week that maybe could’ve been

For anyone who follows the Society for Human Resource Management, you’ve probably seen the articles that workplace incivility is on the rise.  The news is saying that, after Luigi Mangione’s killing of United Healthcare Exec Brian Thompson, that others have picked up his cue and are going straight to violence,

“But empathy means I take care of everyone else and I don’t have anything left”!! I’ve heard this from more than one exec.  There’s this myth out there that having empathy means you give until you’re all deflated like a sad balloon from last week’s birthday party.  Empathy means you

Boy, that authenticity thing.  It’s been all the rage for a while now in leadership.  It’s the willingness to show others who we really are and not wear a mask.  But shouldn’t true authenticity tell us as much about ourselves as it tells others? Last week I was working with

So a few weeks ago I alluded to Dark Empathy (which is really a thing), and I’ve had a ton of people ask me about it since then.  I don’t want to leave people hanging, so yes it’s a real thing, and here’s what you need to know. As my

It’s funny – I study empathy, but I keep getting asked about toxic workplaces and toxic leaders.  I’ve never put myself out there as an expert on toxic leaders, other than the experiences I’ve had that put me on the empathy path, but people subconsciously place empathy as the antidote

I’m a Seth Godin fan going way back.  He has a way of distilling ideas down into bite-sized nuggets of wisdom. In a world where everyone is making more noise, it’s refreshing.  Shakespeare said that “brevity is the soul of wit”.  Seth’s blog is exhibit A. His tidbit for August

Who would’ve thought that something without feeling could cause such strong feelings in us humans?   If I’m being honest, social media isn’t my favorite place, but I’m told I need to be present so I’m there.  I’ve met some really cool people that I couldn’t have met otherwise so it’s

Here’s the #1 top question I get: can you learn empathy?  We’re taught that empathy is something you’re born with and that’s that, like having green eyes or red hair (present company included).  In behavioral research, we call that having a ‘trait’ – it’s something that’s almost impossible to change.