Most leaders don’t avoid empathy because they don’t care. They avoid it because they were never taught how to handle it.
In this episode of Leading Through Growth, Tony sits down with Workplace Empathy Expert Liesel Mertes to unpack what empathy actually looks like in leadership—and why so many well-intentioned leaders miss the mark.
In this episode, we explore:
- Why empathy in leadership is about emotion, not shared experience
- The common patterns executive leaders fall into (like “fixing” instead of seeing)
- How your own empathy patterns show up under pressure
- What to say—and what not to say—when people are struggling at work or in your personal life
- Simple, practical ways to build empathy as a leadership skill
This isn’t about empathy as a soft skill. It’s about becoming more effective in how you lead people.
