Does leadership kill sympathy?
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Research suggests it can.
Psychologist Dacher Keltner at UC Berkeley has studied power for decades. He found that as people gain power, they often become less accurate at reading others’ emotions and more likely to interrupt, multitask, and focus on their own goals.
Power changes your vantage point.
When you’re leading, you’re thinking about strategy, deadlines, risk, results, etc., but your team is thinking about security, recognition, belonging, fairness, etc.
Different altitudes. Different pressures.
The trap is that the more responsible you become, the more you default to solving problems instead of feeling them.
Someone says, “I’m overwhelmed” and you respond with “Let’s prioritize.”
You delegate.
You adjust timelines, thinking you’re accomodating.
But empathy isn’t problem-solving.
Leadership doesn’t automatically kill empathy — but speed, authority, and distance can erode it if you’re not careful.
The best leaders fight that drift.
Instead of immediately fixing, they ask:
“What’s making this hard?”
“How is this affecting you?”
“What would support look like to you?”
Empathy isn’t softness. It’s data.
Sources:
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