Pragmatic Empathy: The Missing Element in Leadership
Marcus Aurelius Anderson
Leadership and Executive Catalyst, TEDx and International Keynote Speaker, Author of "The Gift of Adversity", Proud Veteran ????Host of ACTA NON VERBA Podcast, winner of Arete Syndicate Create a Positive Impact award ??
Leadership is something that is often spoke of in broad generalities and soundbites.
“Build trust
Those things sound good on paper, but what happens when trust is lost, when those leading aren’t willing or able to lead by example, and communication is virtually nonexistent? These are the real-life complexities that need to be addressed.
Modern Leadership is messy, often dealing with situations and issues that aren’t easily resolved. Having a checklist of things that “should” be done isn’t nearly enough to solve these problems. There are specific skills that a Leader needs to cultivate to overcome these modern obstacles and lead extraordinarily well.
These skills include fostering an environment
Pragmatic Empathy
Pragmatic Empathy in Leadership does not mean that you let people walk all over you. It means that you care enough to connect with them on a human level to better understand, teach, and lead them.
Humans have known Empathy longer than they have known spoken language. In early times, our very survival was based on the ability to sense the wants, needs and fears of others.
In this modern age, Empathy has taken a back seat to technology and instant communication. Genuine connection and in person interactions have declined significantly. Subsequently, our ability to feel Empathy is at one of the lowest points in human history.
?Styles of Leadership
There are as many different styles of Leadership as there are Leaders and most will lead based on their own observations, research, and experiences. Of the numerous Leadership styles, here are 3 of the most commonly found today:
1.?????Authoritarian Leadership?is characterized by individual control over all decisions with little to no input from group members. The Leader?typically makes choices based on their own ideas and judgments without the advice from followers.
2.?????Delegative Leadership,?also known as Laissez-faire?leadership,?is a Leadership?style that lets group members to make ALL the decisions.
3.?????Democratic Leadership, also known as Participative?Leadership, is a Leadership?style that lets members of the group have a participative role in the decision-making process. This type of?leadership?can apply to any organization, from private businesses to schools to government.
Each style will have unique advantages and disadvantages and each Leader will have a style (or blend of styles) that they naturally gravitate towards. For many, it will be the style that they are the most comfortable and familiar with. Every style of Leadership, from the 3 mentioned above to the countless other styles being implemented, is a language. The best Leaders are those who are fluent in many “languages” of Leadership.
If a Leader’s coaching style is Authoritative, adversarial, and aggressive it may work on a certain percentage of employees for a limited amount of time. But there are a couple of things to consider:
1.?????Some of the employees won’t appreciate or respond well to that type of Leadership.
2.?????Of those?that do?respond to that style of coaching, at some point,?they will eventually get emotionally fatigued by it and stop responding to it.
In other words, if having an aggressive coaching style towards an employee is a Leader’s only skill set and it’s clearly not working, what next? Should the Leader simply be more aggressive more often? This is where Leadership becomes more complex.
If a Leader only has the skill of one Leadership style, if they are not fluent in many different styles of Leadership, they are limited in how well and for how long they can lead effectively. Therefore, it is imperative for a Leader to be fluent in not one, but multiple styles of Leadership. Each style of leadership is a tool and if the only tool a Leader has is a hammer, then everything becomes a nail by default.
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“Knowing is not Enough.” -Bruce Lee
Developing multiple styles of Leadership is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough. The first Martial Art the legendary Bruce Lee learned was called Wing Chun, a Chinese art created by a female nun. Legend has it that the nun Wing Chun (meaning Beautiful Springtime in Cantonese) understood that every opponent that she would encounter would be bigger, stronger, faster, and more aggressive than she was. Instead of trying to work on these shortcomings, she instead focused on the attributes that she was naturally gifted with;?her sensitivity and ability to read the physical intention of her opponents before they acted.
It was her ability?to FEEL what the opponent was about to do?that gave her the advantage and kept her multiple moves ahead of her opponent. While her opponents were playing checkers, she was playing chess. (During my Keynote on this subject I demonstrate this with a volunteer from the audience to show how powerful and effective this skill is.)
What’s this got to do with Leadership?
Having multiple Leadership styles is an absolute necessity to become a good Leader. But it is the ability to?sense what style of Leadership is the most effective?in each specific situation?in real time?is what separates the good Leaders from the great.
Pragmatic Empathy is what helps a Leader sense and understand what style of Leadership should be employed at any given time.
Having the emotional sensitivity
The reality is this:
A Leader with a plan can change a company.
A Leader with a vision can change an industry.
But?a Leader with Empathy will change the world.
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If you have a company that needs help navigating through these time of Adversity, message me today.
To learn the lessons, tactics and Mindset I used to overcome the biggest Adversity of my life, grab a copy of my Bestselling book "The Gift of Adversity: Overcoming Paralysis and Pain to Find Purpose" on Amazon and Kindle:
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Founder of KUOG Corporation | Supply Chain Management | USA Today and Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author
2 年Marcus Aurelius Anderson Spoken from Wisdom of the heart. Well articulated for having this towards self to be impactful. Much respect.
Leadership and Executive Catalyst, TEDx and International Keynote Speaker, Author of "The Gift of Adversity", Proud Veteran ????Host of ACTA NON VERBA Podcast, winner of Arete Syndicate Create a Positive Impact award ??
2 年Adam Godfrey Arron Davies
Leadership and Executive Catalyst, TEDx and International Keynote Speaker, Author of "The Gift of Adversity", Proud Veteran ????Host of ACTA NON VERBA Podcast, winner of Arete Syndicate Create a Positive Impact award ??
2 年JC Glick, LTC (R), U.S. Army, MA Steven Forti Lorena Acosta
Leadership and Executive Catalyst, TEDx and International Keynote Speaker, Author of "The Gift of Adversity", Proud Veteran ????Host of ACTA NON VERBA Podcast, winner of Arete Syndicate Create a Positive Impact award ??
2 年Wilene Dunn