Leading with heart: The power of empathy

“Empathy is a skillset that we are born with – is built into our prefrontal cortex in our brains. Like all skillsets, it can be trained and mastered to drive relationship and performance success.” – Mimi Nicklin, Founder of the Empathy Everywhere Academy

In an era defined by rapid change and complex workplace dynamics, empathetic leadership has emerged as a transformative force in reshaping organisational success. At the heart of this movement is Mimi Nicklin, Founder of the Empathy Everywhere Academy and a global advocate for Listening-Led Leadership.

With a wealth of experience in fostering connection and collaboration across diverse teams, Nicklin has dedicated her career to bridging the empathy deficit that continues to challenge leaders worldwide.

In this interview with HRM Asia, she shared actionable insights on how empathetic practices can drive business outcomes, foster engagement in hybrid settings, and balance human connection with accountability in today’s evolving workplace.

In your experience, how does empathetic leadership differ from traditional leadership styles and what tangible business outcomes have you witnessed because of empathetic practices being implemented?

Mimi Nicklin: In recent years, the term “empathetic leadership” has gained traction in the business world as leaders increasingly recognise the profound power and positive impact of this skill in the workplace. Empathy, at its core, is the ability to understand the perspectives of others. While it is an evolutionary skillset that we are all equipped with at birth, there remains a noticeable gap in its application across industries, despite its proven benefits.

Traditional leadership often relies heavily on hierarchy, authority, and a focus on metrics, with decisions flowing from the top down and little to no engagement organisation wide. This approach frequently overlooks the realities of our human experience and the fact that we are inherently pro-social beings. The emphasis on control and power structures to incentivise growth leave little room for the impact of organisational connection and belonging for sustained success over time.

‘Listening-Led Leadership’, however, breaks this model and is grounded in the ability to see through the lens of others and recognise their ideas, challenges, and motivations. This shift moves leaders from a focus on command, to a focus on connection, trust, communication and collaboration. This is particularly key within today’s multi-generational workforces.

The Listening-Led Leadership, based on a foundation of empathetic engagement, has shifted from being a nice-to-have to a need-to-have in effective leadership that drives performance and innovation. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report 2024, only 23% of employees worldwide feel engaged with a staggering 62% stating they “are not engaged”, and 15% who “are actively disengaged”. These statistics are stated to be most driven by poor management, disconnected communication, low transparency and unsatisfactory job conditions. Collectively, these disengaged employees contribute to an astounding US$8.9 trillion in lost productivity globally.

On LinkedIn, you highlighted the significance of being truly present with your team. How can leaders actively cultivate this level of presence, particularly in virtual or hybrid settings? And how can they ensure their presence is impactful when managing a diverse, multi-generational workforce?

Nicklin: We are seeing the weakest of our shared mutual understanding and presence in our workplaces as the Global Empathy Deficit continues beyond the three decades it has already been in place. There has never been a time when we need more understanding and open communication from our leaders to overcome the large financial impact this is having, and yet we are not training our teams anywhere near enough.

Imagine if enhancing your presence in the room could instantly and significantly begin to boost your leadership effectiveness in these times. Well, it can! The reality is that whilst leaders may be physically present, they are not mentally engaged and connected to those in the room with them. They are hearing but not listening, they are instructing but not communicating. This leads to wide scale disconnection. Being fully present and in tune with your team’s goals, ideas and engagement in the room fosters a deeper connection that others can sense. It drives up alignment, improves decision making, reduces risk and ultimately improves effectiveness and growth.

Reflect on how often you truly listen to understand those around you – versus merely occupying the same space. The most impactful leaders leverage their presence for the benefit of their team every day.

While the shift towards remote work has expanded access to expertise and creativity, it also challenges leaders to cultivate this culture of engagement. Sustained success in a hybrid setting hinges on finding ways to elevate your presence across all physical and virtual environments equally. To improve your presence, focus on driving up curiosity by asking pertinent and frequent questions, enquire more than you instruct and maintain eye contact and open body language.

What are some common misconceptions about empathetic leadership you have encountered, and how can leaders balance being empathetic while holding their teams accountable for results?

Nicklin: While empathy is rising it is still often misunderstood so I thought I would share the most common misconceptions about empathy and how I address these in my keynotes and workshops all over the world.

The most common misconception is that empathy is an emotion like sympathy or pity, which is not. Empathy is a skillset that we are born with – is built into our prefrontal cortex in our brains. Like all skillsets, it can be trained and mastered to drive relationship and performance success. The data shows us that when this skill is leveraged, organisation-wide, businesses see 23% higher profit. Contrary to some belief, female leaders do not inherently possess any more empathy than males. We are all born with equal amounts of empathy.

Many believe that empathetic leadership is synonymous with being overly lenient or prioritising emotions over results. In reality, empathy is about understanding, not excusing. This is a skillset used widely in the FBI hostage negotiations and within war zones. It is a hard skill with hard results. Leaders who balance empathy and performance build higher trust and engagement over time seeing 68% higher engagement and 48% higher innovation.

The most successful leaders are those with an ongoing curiosity to understand those around them. Proving you are committed to your team does not have to involve a pre-planned corporate event or offsite activity, but a shift to creating a culture and relationships that value insight and understanding across the business.

In 2025, it will be the leaders who elevate their understanding of this deficit of humanity’s greatest leadership trait, Empathy, that will win. You and your team’s ability to empathise with each other, your clients and your customers, will be simultaneously your greatest challenges and greatest opportunity to make the coming year the year we finally turn social turmoil into a business triumph.

Mimi Nicklin is a Bestselling Author and Speaker, an Award-Winning Empathy Advocate, and a CEO with over 16,500 students worldwide. She specialises in Listening-Led Leadership and the balance of humanism and capitalism in the workplace. She is the Founder of the Empathy Everywhere Academy, the world’s widest-reaching training platform to use emotional intelligence, team communication and empathy-led leadership to drive transformational change.