logo image

Newsletter Article

Member Benefit

It’s Not Enough to Have Empathy—You Have to Care

Published Mon Jul 11 2022

Loading...

Empathy training’s heart is in the right place, but it’s up to leaders to take it a step further. Empathizing with employees is one thing, but it’s an entirely different thing to actually care. To understand what this means, we must better understand the two terms themselves. Empathy has to do with feeling what another person is feeling or preserving the context for their behaviors. Caring takes it a step further. Regardless of whether you feel or even understand what another person is feeling, caring means taking the time and investing the effort to improve an employee’s experience. More simply put, empathy can be equated to knowing, while caring is doing. Action is the difference. When Gallup studied empathy among business leaders and the outcomes related to it, the organization found that some of the most successful executives and managers aren’t necessarily very empathetic. Not all of them could easily detect their team member’s feelings or needs, but they took the time and effort to act on the needs their employees communicated to them.

You've Reached ATD Member-only Content

Become an ATD member to continue

Already a member?Sign In

More from ATD

Loading...

Copyright © 2025 ATD

ASTD changed its name to ATD to meet the growing needs of a dynamic, global profession.

Terms of UsePrivacy NoticeCookie Policy