From the April 10, 2009. Postcards, from the pinnacles of power by Fortune editor at large Patricia Sellers, "What makes a leader? Empathy"
"Empathy. It’s a not a word that usually comes up first and foremost when people talk about leadership.
But it should.
I’ve been thinking a lot about empathy–the capacity to see things as others do. Consider Detroit’s myopic auto executives, Wall Street’s clueless CEOs and the many arrogant titans of industry who have stirred populist wrath. Many have fallen because they’ve failed to understand how their actions–their planes, their perks, their out-sized bonuses–play in the public sphere.
Empathy is critical lately, but lack of it has long been a CEO career killer and will be forever more. Through two decades of reporting, I’ve seen it dozens of times. One of the most memorable: Doug Ivester, the onetime accountant who headed Coca-Cola (KO) a decade ago and knew the numbers cold, never understood the power of perception. A tipping point before his forced exit was a 1999 crisis in Belgium, when parents claimed that Coke products had sickened their children. Ivester dismissed the hullabaloo, leaning on lab tests that indicated no health hazard at all. The data, you see, didn’t matter as much as consumer perception. Ivester lacked the ability to see the problem through Belgian eyes and paid for his errors with his career."
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Relating to the people around him is one of the most important things that a man living in a world where interacting with other people makes or breaks him in all aspects. Ignoring this simple fact will give leave you in tears. Literally. You may get a few paces ahead of people, but the glory that you will get by treating people like trash or the same will be short. A taste in your lips.
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2 comments:
Learned this from the academy:
Empathy = "putting yourself in other's shoes". A good leader not only has high IQ but also has high EQ.
Got this from one of our trainings in the academy:
New behavioral research shows that IQ provides, at best, a narrow view of human intelligence. Factors such as self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, zeal, self-motivation, empathy, and social deftness contribute greatly to an individual's success. These qualities, termed "emotional intelligence," often determine if people excel in life, relationships, and the workplace.
:D
Other people boast about their IQ. What insecure people
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