Do you watch the television show “Undercover Boss”? I do, and I am continually amazed what leaders learn from the bottom up perspective.
Honestly, in the old days, I would have said emotional intelligence was psycho babble threatening the very fabric of our military. Today, I am grateful to understand the need for emotionally intelligent leaders.
Humans (yes that includes Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines) desire supportive relationships; empathy allows leaders to build and maintain these supportive relationships.
SO WHAT IS EMPATHY?
Empathy Defined
Dr. Carl Rogers defined empathy as “entering into the private perceptional world of the other and becoming thoroughly at home in it…To be with another in this way means that for the time being, you lay aside your views and values in order to enter another’s world without prejudice. In some sense it means you lay aside yourself.”
by TJ Trent
