Welcome to the Monthly Newsletter by Amer Kaissi 

In the age of Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence, some might assume that a “soft skill” like empathy is becoming irrelevant. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” writes Maria Ross in her remarkable book The Empathy Edge (2019). Qualities like empathy that make us uniquely human will be our competitive advantage. The evidence supports this: According to a recent study, most employees are willing to work longer hours and to receive lower pay if it meant working for an empathetic organization!

The main idea in The Empathy Edge is that leaders and organizations can be compassionately competitive, kindly ambitious, and empathetic yet decisive. Ross notes that being empathetic doesn’t negate a leader’s ability to make rational, reasoned business decisions. It also doesn’t mean caving to demands or accepting a weak place in the market. Empathetic leaders “try to find a good balance by considering all viewpoints and then making informed decisions. They collect information, consider, and act decisively.”

 How can leaders train themselves to lead more empathetically? Ross has very practical advice: 1) Practice presence; 2) Listen more, and stay humble; 3) Be curious; 4) Explore with your imagination; 5) cultivate confidence; 6) get in the trenches; and 7) find common ground. She expands on these ideas in great depth in the book.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Newsletter. Every month, I will share with you one leadership or management book that I am reading, and tell you what I learned from it.

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Dr. Amer Kaissi is a Leadership Keynote Speaker and a workplace culture and high-performance teams’ expert.