What We Need More Than Empathy Is Compassion

We Should Allow Sad Days, Not Just Sick Days

Adam M. Grant | Worklife Podcast | 38′

Adam M. Grant is a psychologist, author, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania specializing in organizational psychology. 

What you need to know …

Three myths 

  • Leaders and high performers are somehow immune to struggling with mental health.
  • If you try hard enough, you can just turn off whatever’s going on in your life when you get to work.
  • Many people believe that whatever their mental health challenges are, they don’t belong in the workplace.

Over 100 studies have shown that when we have low psychological well-being, or face depression or general anxiety, our job performance suffers.

Against Empathy: The Case For Rational Compassion

Paul Bloom | The Brainwaves Video Anthology | 4:47′

Paul Bloom is a psychologist, author, professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University.

What you need to know …

  • Emotional empathy: Power to figure out what another person feels ..putting yourself in another person’s shoes.
  • Cognitive empathy:  Understanding what another person thinks or feels.
  • Empathy traps: 
    • We tend to feel empathy for individuals not groups
    • Empathy is biased
    • Empathy can drain us
  • Feeling another person’s pain can be overwhelming. We end up focusing on managing our own emotions.
  • Rational compassion = listen, show concern, caring, makes you a better helper.
  • Compassion is an organizational imperative to attracting and retaining talent people.