According to Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in her newest book, Leadership: In Turbulent Times, which looks at several presidents who served during the most difficult years of our country, the most important characteristic for a leader is empathy. Not charisma, not decisiveness, not the ability to brainstorm creative solutions to problems, but empathy.
“…the most important characteristic for a leader is empathy.”
Her theory is that empathy is what makes people want to follow you. Without followers, there can be no leaders. That empathy, of course, may simply be a hat trick as opposed to any kind of authentic offering. Yet people respond to the idea that a leader cares what they think and feel, as anyone who has watched the movie Lincoln, based, in part on Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, can attest.
I have written before about my experience giving presentations to Southwest Airlines and watching their co-founder Herb Kelleher relate to every employee in the room as an individual he cared for deeply.
He routinely remembered birthdays, weddings, graduations and other events and jumped into helping the baggage crew whenever they were struggling. Kelleher’s employees would follow him off a cliff.
What Should You Do?
How can you convince people that you care?
October 15, 2018
