By Elizabeth Bruenig

Five years ago, Elon Musk told Joe Rogan during a podcast taping that “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit.” By that time, the idea that people in the West are too concerned with the pain of others to adequately advocate for their own best interests was already a well-established conservative idea.

Instead of thinking and acting rationally, the theory goes, they’re moved to make emotional decisions that compromise their well-being and that of their home country. In this line of thought, empathetic approaches to politics favor liberal beliefs. An apparent opposition between thought and feeling has long vexed conservatives, leading the right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro to famously declare that “facts don’t care about your feelings.”

In place of our annual POS Breakfast at the Academy of Management, this year the Center for Positive Organizations scholarly community is gathering online in advance of the conference. We are celebrating community and the transformative power of deep listening. In a world where we are surrounded by noise yet starved for genuine understanding, the art of listening is one of our most powerful tools for creating thriving organizations and flourishing communities.

“By Carolyn Crist

Empathy isn’t just good for people — it’s good for business,” said Jon Shanahan, president and CEO of Businessolver. “Collectively, companies that fail to operationalize empathy are leaving $180 billion on the table and missing out on a high-ROI lever for long-term growth.”

In a survey of U.S. workers, employees who viewed their workplace as unempathetic also reported three times higher toxicity and 1.3 times more mental health issues, which can contribute to lower productivity and absenteeism costs. These workers were also two-times more likely to feel disconnected from their leaders and four-times more likely to feel disconnected from their CEO.

Empathy redefines how we interact. It reminds us that behind every angry post, every bad decision, every seemingly cold act, there’s likely a story—a wound, a worry, a moment in time where someone wasn’t seen or heard. And that awareness changes everything.

In boardrooms, it sparks collaboration. In families, it saves relationships. In politics, it could mend an unraveling democracy. In conflict zones, it’s often the last fragile thread between survival and collapse.

Movements that have truly changed the world; civil rights, women’s rights, climate action, anti-genocide efforts have all been ignited by the simple but revolutionary act of seeing someone else’s pain and saying, "That’s not okay, and I won’t turn away."

Lead With Empathy And Build Psychological Safety
When leaders lead with empathy, individuals—whether direct reports or peers—feel heard, seen and valued. This creates a climate of psychological safety, where trust and openness flourish. In such environments, team members are more likely to speak up, share ideas and admit mistakes without fear of blame. That openness drives collaboration, creativity and resilience—especially critical in high-pressure or fast-moving settings.

Empathy also helps buffer against today’s constant stressors. In a world shaped by geopolitical upheaval, social division and AI disruption, leaders are not navigating occasional challenges; they are steering through a state of continuous crisis.

Theologian Joe Rigney received a torrent of bad press after claiming in his recent book, “The Sin of Empathy,” that “The so-called virtue of empathy is the greatest rhetorical tool of manipulation in the 21st century.”

“Because love is a real virtue, empathy's power is in posing as selfless care for victims,” Rigney continues. 

Political commentator Allie Beth Stuckey echoed this idea in her 2024 book, “Toxic Empathy,” explaining how the left frames their cause as the only compassionate or kind position one could have, essentially emotionally bullying Americans, especially Christians. 

he definition of empathy is: “the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.” 

Except, of course, when it comes to politics.

Recently, Elon Musk, tech titan and the richest person in the world, said, “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy”.

Additioanlly, some leaders of the Christian Right have been evangelizing that empathy is a sin.

Have we lost our way when it comes to understanding that there may be a place for empathy in our current political environment and that the failure to understand that basic concept just might be making things worse?

Her message, delivered to a packed hall of professionals, executives, and change-makers in the field of Human Resources at the National HR Conference 2025 ogranised by CIPM at Monarch Imperial, was both simple and profound: stop treating empathy as a discretionary soft skill and start wielding it as a strategic necessity for growth.

“Empathy is not soft. It is not sentimental. It’s science. And in the world we live in today, it’s survival,” she declared, her voice resonating with conviction. Nicklin, the internationally bestselling author of Softening the Edge and a globally recognized voice for workplace well-being, argued that many of Sri Lanka’s most pressing challenges from productivity slumps to talent drain are symptoms of a deeper, more pervasive issue: a critical and growing “empathy deficit.”

 

Graham Bodie is an internationally recognized expert on listening and has published over 90 monographs, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. His most recent co-edited project, The Handbook of Listening, is the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary resource on the topic. Graham is professor of Media and Communication at University of Mississippi.

He wrote a blog post on LinkedIn titled Is Empathy Really About Perspective-Taking? Edwin and Graham discuss his blog post and Edwin's Wholistic Empathy definition model.

Graham writes; Listening well is about perspective-getting.

• Perspective-taking centers you - your imagination, your lens, your interpretive filter.

• Perspective-getting centers the other person - their voice, their experience, their meaning.

I’m new to the “empathy is sin” debate, which has been bouncing around for years in the rightwing Christian echo chamber.

It’s gained new traction in the wider culture recently as rabble rousers such as Elon Musk and JD Vance have pushed variations of it.

“I believe in empathy, like, I think you should care about other people, but you need to have empathy for, for civilization as a whole, and not commit to a civilizational suicide,” Musk said on Joe Rogan’s podcast in February. “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”

Culture in Sports' webinar series continues with industry experts (Dr. Chris Barnhill, Dr. Amy Rundio, Dr. Peter Sear, and Cara Hawkins-Jedlicka) diving into the importance and immense impact of #empathy and creating a new generation of empathetic #leaders. This #webinar is introduced by Dr. Jeremy Piasecki.
 

by Matthew Boland, PhD 
Empathy is a fundamental part of building meaningful connections. But for some people, developing it may be a challenge. Learn what causes a lack of empathy and how to gain more.

The different components of empathy
Researchers tend to recognize at least two components of empathy: affective and cognitive.

Affective (or emotional) empathy is the ability to feel what others are feeling. If your spouse is stressed and sad, you might mirror those emotions. If a friend is jovial and upbeat, you might find yourself grinning as their happiness seems contagious.

Cognitive empathy is the ability to recognize and understand another person’s mental state. It gives you insight into the other person’s perspective and emotions. If you recognize that your spouse is angry, you can predict that your joke isn’t going to land well. If you can tell that your friend is feeling helpless, you won’t be surprised by their sudden outburst.

By Dev Patnaik,

Empathy, when practiced with intention, still delivers results. It leads to better products, stronger teams, deeper loyalty, and faster adaptation. It makes companies more resilient because it keeps them in touch with reality. It helps them stay relevant because they sense change sooner than others. But maybe more importantly, it keeps them decent. And in this moment, decency is a competitive advantage.

Though Musk is wrong almost 100 percent of the time, he is right about one thing: empathy can be taken advantage of, and used a weapon. However, he underestimates its strength and ability to create permanent and positive change.

In a cultural landscape often confusing emotional sensitivity with fragility, a growing body of research suggests empathy is not only a powerful social tool – but one of the strongest human traits. Recent studies from psychology, neuroscience and leadership development reveal empathy – when understood and practiced with intention – fuels resilience, effective leadership and healthier relationships with those around us.

The school was using resources from EmpathyLab, a U.K. organization that aims “to raise an empathy-educated generation” through the power of reading. Independent research has shown that this is one of the best ways to understand other people’s perspectives. 

Stories allow us to “walk around” the character, and to consider their viewpoint in a safe way, says Imogen Bond, managing director at EmpathyLab: “We might think of reading as something that you do in isolation … actually, it’s something that really connects us to other people.” 

EmpathyLab is just one of a number of initiatives built on the premise that empathy is not so much a trait one is born with, but rather a muscle that can be trained. Many educators and experts see such training as vital — for individuals and for wider society.

Hunt wants to make sure it’s those “Walking Dead” who are remembered, and it was a key part of his talk during a recent Veteran Empathy Training session at the Milwaukee VA.

Started five years ago, the program involves Veterans meeting face-to-face with third-year medical students so they can learn, firsthand, about the Veteran experience.

“It gives them an eye-opening experience to the Veteran culture,” said Veteran Chris Swift, who has been with the program since the beginning. “A lot of medical students don’t have any experience with Veterans, but they likely are going to cross paths at some time with Veterans.”

The goal is to get them attuned to the unique needs of Veterans, which, in turn, will make them better doctors, said Milwaukee VA psychologist Zeno Franco.

“It’s about trying to get the students to better understand Vetera

Love and emphathy are always good.
Love and empathy shouldn't be blamed for a poor outcome.
We have never needed love and empathy more than we do today.

A recent claim that empathy is evil garnered a lot of public attention. Empathy, so the assertion goes, is the devil in disguise, luring people into foolish actions and sentiments. Some described empathy as “suicidal” or as the “fundamental weakness of Western societies”. Empathy is to blame for “wasteful” social programs and “lax” immigration policies. Most did not discriminate against any empathy but specifically disparaged “untethered” empathy.

Denver, Colorado, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Businessolver®, a leader in benefits and HR technology solutions, released findings from its 10th annual State of Workplace Empathy study which has surveyed more than 26,000 CEOs, HR professionals, and employees over the past decade. This year’s findings highlight 5- and 10-year trends alongside the tangible ROI of empathy in today’s workplace, including an estimated $180 billion at risk annually due to attrition at organizations perceived as unempathetic.

“Empathy isn’t just good for people—it’s good for business,” said Jon Shanahan, President and CEO at Businessolver. “Collectively, companies te and missing out on a high-ROI lever for long-term growth.”  hat fail to operationalize empathy are leaving $180 billion on the tabl

Research from Wharton professor Rebecca (Becky) Schaumberg and PhD student Zhiying (Bella) Ren reveals how disagreement in a conversation is often mistaken for bad listening, regardless of how engaged the listener is. Schaumberg explains their findings.

Empathy is popularly defined as "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another." Research indicates that it is a vital force in creating better relationships and having a positive impact on our well-being and society. However, when viewed from an ecological perspective, empathy becomes much broader. It can provide a more in-depth understanding of our interdependency with others and the resources with which we coexist.

There is no doubt that empathy can have a transformational impact on our world. Helen Riess, author of The Empathy Effect, stresses that in this era "the ability to connect empathically with others—to feel with them, to care about their well-being, and to act with compassion—is critical to our lives, helping us to get along, work more effectively, and thrive as a society."