“The trouble with sanctions: Organizational responses to deviant anger displays at work,” co-authored with University of Baltimore’s Lisa T. Stickney, stated that “when companies choose to sanction organizational members expressing deviant anger, these actions may divert attention and resources from correcting the initial, anger-provoking event that triggered the employee’s emotional outburst.”
Managers who recognize their potential role in angering an employee “may be motivated to respond more compassionately to help restore a favorable working relationship,”
The “empathy response” is chiefly the fault of women, we’re — unsurprisingly — asked to understand. “Toxic female empathy” lies at the heart of progressive politics, evangelical pastor Joe Rigney contends.
On Jan. 21, Right Rev. Mariann Budde issued a plea from the pulpit of Washington National Cathedral to the newly sworn in president to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”
Her plea triggered an uproar among some of the president’s supporters. “Do not commit the sin of empathy,” tweeted Christian podcaster Ben Garrett. “This snake is God’s enemy and yours too.”
Allie Beth Stuckey, another Christian podcaster, tweeted: “This is to be expected from a female Episcopalian priest: toxic empathy that is in complete opposition to God’s Word …”
Known for railing against “the sin of empathy”, Pastor Rigney wrote in the evangelical publication “World” that Budde’s exhortation “is a reminder that feminism is a cancer that enables the politics of empathic manipulation and victimhood that’s plagued us in the era of woke-ness … [it’s] a clear example of the man-eating weed of Humanistic Mercy.”
WELLNESS WORKS: IN MAY WE'RE EXPLORING EMPATHY Upper Grand District School Board
May 1, 2025
This month we are exploring the theme of EMPATHY with students as a part of their mental health skill building. Empathy is about being able to consider what someone else may be going through and imagining how they might be feeling or thinking. It is about walking in another person’s shoes, about listening to another perspective non-judgmentally. It's about voicing our understanding of their emotions and validating them. It's about recognizing the humanity of others and challenging ourselves to be present. Empathy is often the first step towards compassionate action and helping others.
Empathy is important because with empathy we:
Are more likely to treat people the way they wish you would treat them
Are better able to understand the needs of people around you
Are able to more clearly understand the perception you create in others with your words and actions
Are able to better understand other people’s needs
Here are some activities you can do at home to reflect and bu
In this episode, I sit down with Maria Ross, a speaker, author, and empathy advocate who helps leaders and brands achieve radical success through emotional intelligence.
From working in brand strategy to writing The Empathy Edge and The Empathy Dilemma, Maria has dedicated her career to showing how empathy isn’t just a soft skill—it’s a business superpower that drives performance, innovation, and customer loyalty.
What You'll Learn: ✅ Why empathy is the missing key to stronger leadership & branding ✅ How top businesses use empathy to boost engagement & revenue ✅ The difference between cognitive & emotional empathy (and why it matters) ✅ How leaders can balance high performance with emotional intelligence ✅ The biggest empathy mistakes that hold businesses back
In This Episode: (00:00) - Introduction (02:16) - What empathy is (and what it’s not) (06:18) - The ROI of empathy in business (12:52) - How brands build trust & loyalty through empathy (18:35) - The hidden dangers of "weaponized empathy" (24:15) - How empathy improves leadership & team performance (32:02) - Balancing empathy with setting boundaries (39:00) - The power of listening & curiosity in business (46:22) - The biggest myths about empathy in leadership (54:10) - How to apply empathy without burnout (1:05:30) - Why every leader needs an "Empathy Strategy" (1:20:15) - How to make empathy your competitive advantage
If empathy is a sin, most of those saying so don’t seem to have been tempted beyond their ability to bear it.
That’s one reason I’m not too worried about the latest rhetoric of empathy as the great danger to the church and the world, mostly from those who previously told us that danger was yoga, or yoga pants, or Harry Potter, or hip-hop....
The ironic danger is that an anti-empathy religion becomes—and very quickly so—a sin-coddling religion the like of which the old religious liberals could only dream.
Empathy is not a biblical term. It refers specifically not just to compassion for others (though it certainly includes that) but to a specific aspect of that compassion: the process of seeking to understand a person through imagination.
Empathy is often described as the ability to understand and share the emotions of others, and it has been widely studied in the context of negative experiences like sadness or distress. However, researchers have paid less attention to how positive empathy—feeling joy for others’ successes—may be influenced by hormones such as testosterone. Most prior research has focused on whether testosterone impairs empathy, particularly for others’ suffering. Much less is known about how it might shape more complex forms of social responsiveness in both positive and negative emotional contexts.
The research team sought to bridge these gaps. They designed a study to test whether testosterone affects both positive and negative empathy when people observe social inclusion or exclusion events. They also aimed to understand whether testosterone could change brain activity at rest, setting the stage for different emotional reactions even before social interactions begin.
We will be joined by Phillip Kanske (TU Dresden; Psychology and Neuroscience) and Leda Berio (Ruhr University Bochum; Philosophy). They will discuss the nature of empathy, each presenting talks on their work and then discussing interdisciplinary considerations about empathy with each other and the webinar audience.
"Empathy is the essence of our human connection. It is an essential part of healing – body, mind and spirit," said Maureen Sullivan, Vice President, Patient Experience & Service Excellence.
“A little empathy goes a long way," said Jennifer Lastic, Director, Experience Excellence, Office of Patient Experience. "You never know what someone you encounter is experiencing, whether a patient or family that we serve or one of own cherished colleagues."
To further test the boundaries of rat empathy, researchers designed experiments pitting altruism against self-interest. In one particularly revealing study, rats were given a choice: they could either eat chocolate all by themselves or free a distressed companion and share the chocolate.
Consistently, rats chose to free their companions first and then share the treats. This behavior persisted even when researchers modified the experiment to make helping more "costly"—requiring more effort or resulting in less reward for the helper.
The rats' willingness to sacrifice immediate gratification to aid others challenges long-held assumptions about animal behavior being driven purely by self-interest. Some rats even demonstrated what appeared to be consolation behavior, staying close to the previously trapped rat and engaging in increased physical contact, similar to how humans might comfort someone in distress. These findings suggest that prosocial behavior—actions benefiting others—may be more deeply rooted in mammalian evolution than previously thought.
While the relationship between proven models of youth engaged empathy education leading to greater prosocial behaviours has been well established its actual implementation, across self, family, school, community and society has been not been given equal attention. This talk will focus on three core functions in this regard:
The essence of activated empathy and kindness by youth for others as an enabler of self-resilience and social support enlistment. The links between empathy and positive youth development theory specifically to Lerner’s ‘5 Cs’ and as a mechanism for the development of better intergenerational relationships. The importance of viewing positive youth development as part of the reciprocal socio-ecological systems from youth (micro) to society (chrono) will be explored. Dr. Sean Campbell, CEO of Foróige, (Ireland’s leading and largest youth NGO) will share implementation models involving youth mentoring and youth leadership that have been developed, tested, and proven to work in Ireland.
The talk will also introduce the fledgling model of a UNESCO Empathy and Engaged Citizenship Observatory currently under design as a future framework for a better world for youth and civic society.
New research has provided insight into how bonobos and chimpanzees demonstrate empathy, challenging previous beliefs about their social behaviors. Scientists have long known that comforting distressed peers is a key marker of empathy; however, a direct comparison between these two ape species had never been conducted—until now.
This study examines how empathy influences the execution of the Army mission command philosophy. This timely discussion of empathy partly reveals how leaders can be better prepared to win in a future operating environment shaped by the complexity and speed of human interactions.
Through the analysis of case-studies involving General Stanley McChrystal and Colonel Michael Steele, this thesis describes how each individuals empathetic mindset resulted in both favorable and unfavorable mission outcomes for their respective organizations.
The results of the analysis point to the surprising and important ways that a leaders capacity for empathy impacts everything from shared understanding, team-building, and even accepting risk. This study concludes with a recommendation for an increased emphasis on empathy development within the Army and a list of suggested topics for future research.
Edwin Rutsch and Kevin Waldman discuss Kevin's article published in the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers entitled, "The dangerous consequences of radical empathy unchecked by reason." Kevin criticizes "radical empathy" on campuses as performative and harmful, emphasizing the need for genuine empathy that maintains critical assessment and reason. Edwin introduces his Wholistic Empathy definition model, which includes sensing into others' experiences, self-empathy, imaginative empathy and the level of overall empathy within a community. He advocates for making mutual empathy a primary social and political values.
In the end, they agree on the importance of mutual empathy, listening and dialogue in fostering understanding and reducing extremism. Edwin proposes using empathy circles to facilitate empathic listening and dialogue, aiming to bridge political and social divides. Kevin plans to host Empathy Circles at his University to foster constructive dialogue.
In this episode Scott welcomes Gad Saad, professor of marketing at Concordia University in Montreal and visiting professor at Northwood University. Professor Saad has pioneered the use of evolutionary psychology in marketing and consumer behavior. His works include several books and published papers, many at the intersection of psychology, advertising, medicine, and economics.
He’s also working on a new book Suicidal Empathy which follows the 2020 release of his previous bestseller The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense. They discuss the psychology behind irrational behavior of the public, especially young adults, and what might come next in the interplay between the media, universities, politics, and public behavior.
Positive Empathy Can Enhance Well-Being Empathy is not a simple experience. It involves understanding the perspective of another, feeling what another is feeling, and caring about another’s emotions. The impact of empathy on well-being depends upon how each of its dimensions are used. The impact on well-being varies also with the emotion that is shared, with different outcomes resulting from sharing another’s sadness or sorrow and participating in another’s joy.
Recent research suggests that while psychology has focused primarily on empathy with suffering, it is important to explore also how empathizing with positive emotions can provide benefits for the well-being of the empathizer (Depow, Oldemburgo de Mello, & Inzlicht, 2025). Empathy with positive emotion has been shown to be protective against depression.
When you share another’s joy, they can celebrate it again with you, to your mutual benefit and the strengthening of the relationship. Empathizing with another’s happiness, together with compassion—care or concern for the other—has been referred to as appreciative joy.
India has a rich history of innovation driven by empathy, where brands have created successful products by understanding the real needs of users. One of the most notable and recent examples in the digital product space is UPI (Unified Payments Interface) by NPCI.
Small businesses and individuals struggling with digital payments and financial inclusion were provided with a seamless, instant mobile payment system without the need for credit cards. A perfect example of how an idea driven by empathy revolutionised digital transactions in India, with over 10 billion transactions per month.
Innovation by Observation Over a span of two decades, I have had the opportunity to work with many brands that have leveraged on my unique design process “Innovation by Observation”, which holds empathy at the heart of innovation. So, what do I do? Well, nothing much… just observe people in their surroundings and empathise with their genuine needs, which are seldom spelt but often felt. And… bingo! I have my new innovative product idea!
I recently developed a leadership communication seminar for a large global organization. Upon seeing that my draft program included a session on empathy, the CEO reacted, “Oh, God! We all know empathy’s good, but doing all that touchy-feely stuff feels off!”
Leaders often overestimate how good they are at being empathetic. Per the 2024 State of Workplace Empathy Report: A Game Plan, “55% of CEOs think they lead [with] empathy at work, but only 28% of employees and 22% of HR share that view.” During another leadership workshop, one participant said: “I don’t feel comfortable listening to people’s feelings like a therapist. I’ve tried it with my staff; I don’t feel authentic, and it didn’t come across well.”
The second "Expanding Empathy" panel, slated for Wednesday, May 14, noon to 2 p.m., will be about the positive and negative aspects of empathy in social life. Presenters Sara Konrath (Indiana University, psychology) and Fritz Breithaupt (Indiana University, Germanic studies) will each give short talks on the strengths and limits of empathy and then allow discussion with each other and the audience.
What can stoicism teach us about empathy in modern life? This centuries-old philosophy can directly apply to what we face now in our workplaces and our world.
Shermin Kruse is here to talk to us about her latest book, Stoic Empathy. She shares what stoic empathy means and how the fusion of these seemingly opposing forces is particularly relevant today. She shares her personal story and how her immigrant journey shaped her understanding of empathy and stoicism. Sher also talks about how she leveraged stoic empathy as a lawyer to great success. We discuss practical tools for building influence and emotional regulation that you can start using today with your employees – or your partner or kids!
Whether you’re a corporate leader, educator, parent, or simply seeking tools to navigate personal and professional challenges with integrity, you will love this conversation!
The role of empathy goes far beyond storytelling, though. Margaret Mead, one of the world’s most distinguished anthropologists, supposedly said that the first sign of civilisation in an ancient culture was a healed femur. Not a tool, a clay pot, a figurine or a hunting weapon, but the longest bone in the human body.
How so? The fact that a femur healed meant someone stayed behind with the injured. Someone sacrificed their own safety by separating from a larger group and cared for the injured person. That’s empathy rewriting history, challenging the ‘survival of the fittest’.
Bottom line, empathy is the cornerstone of our civilisation. There’s a good reason lack of empathy signals several personality disorders such as narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and psychopathy. Keep that in mind as you evaluate statements by the likes of Elon Musk about empathy being the fundamental weakness of Western civilisation.
The Empathic Leader: Integrating Nonviolent Communication Into Leadership
A 12-Week Immersive Training for Purpose-Driven Leaders
Empathy has emerged as the cornerstone of effective leadership in our complex world. While empathy is an innate human capacity, the skill of empathic communication and the ability to create collaborative relationships that honor everyone's needs requires deliberate practice and development.
The Empathic Leader is an intensive 4 month programme designed for purpose-driven leaders who want to integrate Nonviolent Communication principles into their leadership approach.
by Kenneth Hamner Most of us grew up hearing about the golden rule: treat others as you would want to be treated. But today, in a country that feels more divided than ever,
'
Empathy Under Fire From The Right
More and more, voices on the right are not just questioning empathy. They are vilifying it as a threat to society itself.
On Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, billionaire Elon Musk described empathy as a “bug” in the human moral system. He warned that Western civilization suffers from what he called “suicidal empathy,” where unchecked compassion undermines its ability to defend itself.
This skepticism is not limited to the richest man on Earth. Among some conservative thinkers, empathy is seen as a threat to moral clarity.
For example, commentator Allie Beth Stuckey argues in her book Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion that when people get too caught up in emotions, they can lose sight of sound judgment. She warns that unchecked empathy can pull well-meaning people into supporting causes that look compassionate on the surface but run against deeper moral or religious principles. In her view, empathy without discernment is not just risky. It becomes a tool that pulls people away from truth under the banner of kindness.
Recently, Elon Musk’s and others have made headlines claiming that empathy is “dangerous,” “toxic,” or even a “weakness.”
And you know what? They’re right.
Empathy is dangerous to the world they’re trying to build. It is kryptonite to systems that are built on power, control, and greed.
...
Empathy is the catalyst for:
💛 Stronger families and healthier communities. 🌱 Ethical food systems and responsible consumption. 🌍 Environmental stewardship and planetary resilience. 🤝 Innovative, inclusive leadership that can meet complex global challenges.
I see Christians debating about the “sin of empathy.” Is that a biblical teaching?
I think the phrasing might be deliberately provocative, verging on clickbait. But the point, I believe, is that any virtue, even empathy, can be twisted and weaponized. Although that is true, I worry that some people use that to disparage calls for genuine empathy and compassion or to justify behaviors lacking in empathy and compassion in the name of zeal for God’s truth. People have often distorted and weaponized the virtue of zealous truth telling too.
Play Video WeSchool's PGP in Entrepreneurship and Family Managed Business (EFMB)(PGP-Entrepreneurship Management explores and analyzes the best management, governance practices, and family continuity challenges, including issues relating to first generation entrepreneurs. The Program structure is based on AAA (Acquisition, Application & Assimilation of Knowledge). The PGP in Entrepreneurship and Family Managed Business (EFMB) consists of two Semesters spread over a period of 11 months. In every month, one week is devoted to Acquisition of Knowledge, three weeks to Application of Knowledge in one's own business and one day for Assimilation of Knowledge.
Thousands of gen Z students in Greater Manchester are to learn “soft skills” such as empathy and time-management in a UK-first trial aimed at teaching “everyday but essential” tools.
The pioneering programme will teach young people how to thrive in the workplace after employers said “digital natives” were too afraid to speak on the phone or do job interviews.
Prof Sandeep Ranote, a leading child psychiatrist, said those born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s – known as gen Z – had grown up in a very different global world that had left them lacking some key social skills.
A hallmark symptom of frontotemporal dementia, which sets it apart from other forms of dementia (such as Alzheimer's disease), is early loss of empathy. This often manifests as diminished warmth and concern for loved ones. This symptom can be profoundly unsettling for family members and loved ones close with the patient. They may feel as though the patient's personality has transformed—and that their efforts to help and support are met with indifference.
While loss of empathy has been the focus of much research from the scientific community, the precise brain mechanisms underlying the loss of empathy in frontotemporal dementia remain unclear.
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