by Neil Flash
Empathy is often treated as optional in strategic health communications. A human touch layered over hard science. But what if it’s the key to building trust, inspiring engagement and improving outcomes?

For this month’s article, it was a pleasure to discuss the topic with four agency founders: Catherine Devaney (Curious Heath); Elena Mills (The Salve); Jessica Pacey (67health) and Jo Spadaccino (Stirred). We explored why empathy must evolve from being an afterthought into a strategic anchor across the health value chain – and what happens when this isn’t done.

Empathy is a core capability, regardless of function – our ability to connect with others and understand how information is received, interpreted and acted on directly shapes the impact of our work.

by Eloise Dennis  
Strategic empathy should be embedded into university curriculums in international relations and security studies, as well as in the training of public servants, military officers and intelligence professionals. It would help if ministers understood it, too.

Understanding intent is just as important as measuring capability. While capability can be quantified, intent is intangible and far more difficult to assess. Misreading another state’s intentions remains one of the greatest risks in international relations, often leading to overreaction or underestimation.

In an era of rapid escalation and shorter warning times, the ability to anticipate adversarial behaviour is crucial. Strategic planning cannot rely on waiting for declarations or overt signals. It requires interpreting ambiguous cues and unspoken motives.

Empathy is vital to this process. It demands sensitivity to the emotional, symbolic and historical meanings behind actions. Failures of empathy—as seen in Vietnam and Afghanistan, for example—have revealed the high cost of misreading cultural and psychological contexts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Empathy is usually regarded as a virtue, a key to human decency and kindness. And yet, with increasing momentum, voices on the Christian right are preaching that it has become a vice.

For them, empathy is a cudgel for the left: It can manipulate caring people into accepting all manner of sins according to a conservative Christian perspective, including abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights, illegal immigration and certain views on social and racial justice.

Jamil Zaki, a psychologist and longtime student of empathy, responds to questions about a variety of topics: his previous writing for HBR on empathy; changing professional attitudes toward empathy in the workplace; the discrepancy between how leaders and employees experience empathy in their organizations; and the effects of AI on perceptions of empathy.

February 2024), the Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki, a longtime student of empathy, turned that idea on its head. “Empathy is not a weakness but something of a workplace superpower,” he wrote, citing the evidence of dozens of studies. “Employees are more satisfied in their jobs, more willing to take creative risks, and more likely to help their colleagues if they work in empathic organizations. They are far less likely to report severe burnout or to develop physical symptoms of stress, and are more resilient in the face of adversity. They also tend to stay: A 2022 Gallup survey of more than 15,000 U.S. employees found that those with caring employers were far less likely than others to actively search for a new job.”

On Empathy
“I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the [Nazi] defendants. A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”

Captain Gustav Mark Gilbert, a United States Psychologist who was assigned to attend and closely watch the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials at the end of the Second World War identified a common personality trait among all those who testified: the lack of feelings of empathy.

As we understand in psychology, unless there is a developmental delay, infants demonstrate the rudimentary beginnings of empathy whenever they recognize that another is upset, and they show signs of being upset themselves. Very early in their lives, infants metaphorically develop the capacity to crawl in the diapers of others even though their own diapers do not need changing.

World-renowned hostage negotiator Chris Voss spoke with The New York Times’ David Marchese in a Saturday podcast interview, where he discussed how President Donald Trump demonstrates empathy.

Voss, a former longtime hostage negotiator for the FBI, was asked by Marchese whether he believes Trump and his administration “demonstrate empathy.”

“I think he has a highly evolved understanding of how other people see things,” he replied.

By Peter Ross

Empathy is often misunderstood in business. It's too easily dismissed as a “soft skill” or confused with sympathy. But I've found that for those of us responsible for both clients’ well-being and employees’ livelihoods—especially in service-driven sectors like healthcare—empathy is a hard skill with measurable impact.

I’ve led my company through workforce shortages, shifting demographics and intense competition. Through it all, one thing has been clear: Organizations that center empathy—not as a buzzword but as a daily operational mindset—often outperform those that don’t. And not only in retention or morale but also in margins, outcomes and long-term growth.

What we are cultivating in this work is more than a set of interpersonal skills, it is the foundation for a profound shift in how human beings relate to themselves, to one another, and to the systems they inhabit.

Self-empathy is the practice of building a warm, compassionate relationship with one’s own experience. It offers relief from the inner wars of criticism, self-doubt, and emotional reactivity. Through this practice, clients learn to greet each part of their inner landscape with acceptance, opening access to wiser discernment and more effective action. At its core, self-empathy is about taking responsibility for one’s experience - not as self-blame, but as the capacity to truly meet it.

Lately, empathy has gone from being a desirable trait to a politicized concept. We discuss what empathy means and the role it plays in interpersonal relationships—as well as in today's society. Can someone gain or lose the ability to be empathetic? Is feeling empathy a matter of choice?

Panelist:
Daryl Cameron, associate professor of psychology and director of the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making, Penn State University

VIP Caller:
Julie Quimby, licensed psychologist; founder/CEO, Psychology Specialists of Maine
Nirav Shah, former principal deputy director, federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; former director Maine CDC; visiting professor, Colby College
Steven Dyer, instructor of criminology & criminal justice, campus chaplain, Thomas College
Cavenaugh Kelly, assistant professor, College of Health, Husson University

Listening in health care is more than politeness—it’s healing. Researchers describe “values-driven listening,” where curiosity, presence, and compassion lead to stronger trust and better care. Credit: Shutterstock

When you visit a doctor, you expect them to listen. But in today's fast-paced health care system, real listening -- the kind that makes you feel seen, heard and understood -- can be the first thing to go.

A new article, co-authored by Dr. Leonard Berry of Texas A&M University's Mays Business School, argues that listening isn't just a nice gesture, it's a powerful tool that can improve your care and even help heal the health care system itself.

by Max Jeganathan

Many now equate empathy with relativism. Yet empathy does not demand an open mind, but an open heart; it is not about persuasion but humanisation.

Vance is not alone. In recent months, Elon Musk referred to empathy as “the fundamental weakness of Western civilisation”. Evolutionary psychologist Gad Saad coined the term “suicidal empathy”, claiming that ignoring self-interest leads to self-destruction. Such thinking may be newly emboldened, but not new. In the middle of the twentieth century, Ayn Rand’s objectivist philosophy resisted the obligation of empathy.

Empathy has always had its detractors, but its efficacy is difficult to ignore. “ 

Empathy is usually regarded as a virtue, a key to human decency and kindness. And yet, with increasing momentum, voices on the Christian right are preaching that it has become a vice.

For them, empathy is a cudgel for the left: It can manipulate caring people into accepting all manner of sins according to a conservative Christian perspective, including abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights, illegal immigration and certain views on social and racial justice.

“Empathy becomes toxic when it encourages you to affirm sin, validate lies or support destructive policies,” said Allie Beth Stuckey, author of “Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion.”

Leading with empathy
Empathy takes this further by helping us understand personal aspirations, internal pressures, and hidden pain points. Instead of only asking about business objectives, teams dig deeper:

"What keeps this person up at night?"
"What are they genuinely excited to achieve in the next year?"
B2B buying is complex, often involving several people across a myriad of departments, each with different goals, priorities, and tolerance for ambiguity. Effective account planning focuses on creating a truly customer-centric buying experience, recognizing the stakes that each participant is putting on the line.

Empathy is about seeing the world from the other person’s perspective and understanding what the other person is thinking, feeling, and experiencing. It involves mental, emotional, and somatic processes.

What is Toxic Empathy?

Toxic empathy, or hyper-empathy syndrome, occurs when someone can thoroughly understand and empathize with the feelings and experiences of others, but they take it too far and end up placing others’ needs ahead of their own. Toxic empathy can cause you to lose sight of your needs, harming your well-being.

For example, feeling sorry for a friend who has lost a loved one is natural. However, toxic empathy occurs when you become despondent and unable to continue your regular life due to your sorrow.

Or, if you’re that friend that everyone goes to for advice and support, this can make you feel really overwhelmed and start to cause you damage.

Empathy vs. Toxic Empathy: What’s the Difference?

Right-wing beliefs are ultimately attempts to rationalise and justify selfishness. Fascism, ‘conservatism’, US Republicanism—call them what you will: the differences are essentially procedural. “My needs matter. Yours don’t”. But in order to explain much of what motivates those in the MAGA cult it’s necessary to understand the state which precedes selfishness. That is the primacy of the self devoid of empathy.

Members of the MAGA cult thrive on the stark clarity of its identity and their adherence to it… badges, merchandise, flags, clothing. This applies less to other (far right) systems imposed on majorities in most other polities and other shades of élite, hierarchical, coercive political opinion—notably the Democrats in the US. But they too take what’s useful in selfishness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS_IQ7JvcCM

World-renowned relationship expert Dr. Les Parrott sits down with host Steve Cuss for a raw discussion about reclaiming your mind and soul. Parrott shreds toxic beliefs about empathy, parenting, and vulnerability that have infiltrated Christian culture, replacing them with a vision for emotional and spiritual health that actually works. Together, Steve and Dr. parrott dissect the razor-thin line between empathy and enmeshment, reveal how technology can fuel genuine human connection, and unpack why hearing God’s voice without shame is a game-changer.

by Shubhangi Chowdhury
Treating empathy as optional could produce superintelligent systems with no loyalty to humanity. Just as children learn empathy through seeing and hearing others, like watching a parent comfort a sibling or hearing the tone of reassurance in a friend’s voice. AI could be taught compassion through multimodal learning. By perceiving the full spectrum of human expression and pairing that with embedded values of care, AI could grow into an agent that safeguards humanity rather than replaces it. It can augment our experience.

The confusion between empathy, sympathy, and compassion is costing us real connection.

Most of us are using the wrong emotional tool without even realizing it.

Science shows empathy isn’t just one thing—it splits into two very different powers.'

The secret to influence and connection isn’t more kindness, it’s precision.

If Joseph—a war hero, top-tier business leader, and lifelong problem-solver—could confuse empathy with sympathy or compassion, it’s no wonder the rest of us do too. But when we blur these lines, we risk using the wrong emotional tool for the moment in front of us. We might offer sympathy when empathy is needed, or act from compassion when understanding alone would have been more effective.