Making room for empathy at work
Many executives tout the importance of demonstrating empathy at work, and for good reason. Empathic work environments are more collaborative, less stressed and have higher morale, writes Stanford’s Jamil Zaki. But work environments are influenced far more by prevailing norms and behaviors than pleasant values statements. To spur real change, Zaki suggests leaders consistently and publicly reward empathic behavior, and recruit those who exhibit empathy to encourage it among others.