• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • blog
  • Resources
  • news
  • Contact
Ontos Global

Ontos Global

  • Who We Are
    • Our Associates
  • What We Do
    • Culture Transformation
    • Global Leadership Development
    • Integrated Talent Development
  • What We Believe in
  • Clients & Case Studies

A Tip for Global Leaders: One Way to Increase Your Empathy Across Cultures

Empathy, in my experience working with certain leaders, has been one of those skills that is incredibly difficult to inculcate when not somehow already present, so this story got my attention

  • Blog Topics   Blog Topics  
    • Change / Change management
    • Coaching
    • Communicating across cultures
    • Diversity
    • Global business strategy
    • Global teams
    • Integrated talent management
    • Leadership
    • Ontos News
    • Organizational change
    • Organizational culture
    • Partners
    • Uncategorized

October 14, 2013 by Lisa Koss

A Tip for Global Leaders: One Way to Increase Your Empathy Across Cultures

On the front page of the New York Times last weekend, in case you missed it, was an interesting story written by Pam Belluck about one way to increase empathy — read a book.

The study she references, published by the journal Science, found that “after reading literary fiction…people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence — skills that come in especially handy when you are trying to read someone’s body language or gauge what they might be thinking.”

Empathy in my experience working with leaders is one of those  skills that is difficult to inculcate when not somehow already present, so this story got my attention. Empathy, in fact, is one of the hardest leadership skills to develop, according to much of the research. Moreover, when working with those from other cultures, empathy can replace premature judgment.  Being culturally adept includes delaying one’s need to evaluate others too quickly, and instead fostering your curiosity in a new approach, and a focus on mutual gains.

There was significant comment about this story in its online version — everything from the kinds of literature that were discussed to the critiques of the quality of the study itself, but the importance of the topic is hopefully not lost.   If lacking empathy is akin to difficulty in understanding someone, then one can see how literary fiction might help the reader take the time to understand the situation and nuances of another through character development and context.  Reading a description of someone’s experience provides insight that allows us to connect to that experience personally.

Taking time to explore situations and nuances of a particular situation from a book is similar to what is necessary in our own lives.  Taking the time to understand someone — put oneself in others’ shoes — often loses out to the more expedient judgmental conclusion.

I remember having a particularly difficult client whose approach was entirely opposite to mine.  I was frustrated at my lack of understanding about how to work with him more effectively. Exasperated, I began a list of all the questions I had about his ethos — forcing myself to get curious  — and ended up with 3 pages of unanswered questions.  The exercise was the beginning of a better relationship and better business result.

 

Category iconCommunicating across cultures,  Leadership Tag iconcommunication,  compassion,  empathy,  leadership,  leadership development

Footer


80 Whitaker Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94708
+01/ 415.323.0398


© 2022 Ontos global LLC

  • Who We Are
    • Our Associates
  • What We Do
    • Culture Transformation
    • Global Leadership Development
    • Integrated Talent Development
  • What We Believe in
  • Clients & Case Studies
  • blog
  • Resources
  • news
  • Contact

SIGN UP FOR UPDATES