The Cost of Unempathetic Leadership

Right now, the world is watching what happens when leaders don’t have empathy.

It’s bad.

Leadership - empathy = a big problem.

When you have leaders who weren’t blessed with the gift of empathy, the wrong motivators shape our culture. That’s how things in our society have become this divisive. This bad.

Greed. Power. Status.

Those are the things driving the madness we are watching. Those are the things that have fuelled the anti-intellectualism movement and the sharp decline in respect for human rights that we’re seeing every day.

But what if we changed not just how we do things, but who does them?

What if we saw “soft” skills for what they really are: critical? What if the things that can’t be taught became our number one requirements for positions of leadership?

I can tell you this: not only would the world be a better place, it would be a more profitable place. For everyone.

If the right leaders are doing the right things to support their teams, productivity rockets. Teams with the right support from leadership report productivity increases of up to 30%.

That means fewer sick days, less presenteeism, happier and healthier workers, and far less turnover. Less turnover means higher profits. Higher profits mean more — and hopefully better-paying — jobs for more people.

Empathy doesn’t just affect a single team. It ripples. Leaders affect teams. Teams affect organizations. Organizations affect communities. Communities affect provinces. Provinces affect countries. Countries affect the globe.

Neurodivergent people often have those qualities in spades, but this is something bigger than neurotypical or neurodivergent. It’s about seeing the ills of today and doing something to cure them for tomorrow.

This is about doing what’s right for humanity.

Alex Knight President & Neurodiversity Strategist Iron & Ember Consulting Inc. **Written without AI**