Old and young, famous and not, rich and poor – you will find “Swifties” everywhere you look. She’s a talented performer, a world class business leader, an artist, composer and lyricist, but most of all she’s beloved.
There are a lot of things leaders need to be successful. Fundamentally, there’s only one. Leaders need followers and finding and keeping followers whether they are fans, like Taylor Swift’s tribe or team members, customers, suppliers and creators, engaging stakeholders of every sort is rooted in a level of trust that grows out of empathy.
Christine Porath and Adrienne Boissy writing in the February 10, 2023 issue of The Harvard Business Review under the heading, “Practice Empathy as a Team”, write…
Lifting up both individuals and teams and recognizing emotions builds stronger communities, more trust, and helps people feel cared for. With the environment continuing to feel uncertain, engaging employees in this way is more important than ever.
As just one of many, many examples of her powerful example of empathy the Huffington Post shared the following note from Taylor to her fan:
Kaileen — I love you so much and can’t imagine what you must be feeling today. You’ve lived through my worst fear. I’m so sorry you can’t spend today with her. It’s not fair, and there’s no reason why you should feel OK about it. No one should ever expect you to feel normal today. I admire and respect your ability to put forth such a sunny, sweet disposition when you’ve been through something so dark and tragic so recently. I never would’ve guessed by your attitude or your posts. I never would’ve known if you hadn’t told me. Sending you a huge hug today. Gonna go get iced coffee and cheers to you. 🙂
Most of us are not dealing with the loss of a loved one to cancer but, in today’s environment it can seem that more days are difficult than easy, more scary than calm, more unknowns than knowns and, in that environment, with forces inside and outside the organization seemingly tearing things apart leaders who can connect, with empathy, to their teams increase the potential to hold on to those teams, to replace fear with focus and to unleash the positive even in the face of so many negatives.
Start Leading With Empathy
Years ago, in a book I wrote called “The 7 Laws of Learning” I pointed out that we are emotional beings trying to be rational, not rational beings trying not to be emotional. We feel before we think – this is the premise of emotional connection. Think of emotion like a gate blocking the way to the rational mind. No matter how good my argument or my pitch is it can’t get past the gate – unless it opens, even a little bit. What opens the gate? Emotional connection. And, one of the most powerful forms of emotional connection is empathy.
Be That Leader
The price of emotional connection through empathy is time – connection is costly in the short term. It is resistant to efficiency. Empathy comes from long term investment in listening, understanding, connecting and ultimately showing genuine empathy for all your stakeholders.
Make a choice today to let this very special form of “inefficiency” into the crowded calendar of your leadership. Decide what to delay or drop that will give you the time to connect. Taylor Swift, CEO of a global powerhouse is the example – she always finds the time for “the one”. If she can do it so can we.
For more insights into how to connect more powerfully with your teams read our book, Connection Cures Contention and join the conversation on the power of connection at www.avec-me.com
