Empathy: The Underrated Key to Leadership Adaptability
Empathy is often spoken about in leadership circles as a way to support others, foster psychological safety, and build trust. All true. But what’s not discussed nearly enough is this: your ability to empathize with others directly increases your own adaptability—and that might actually be the most valuable payoff.
Tuning into others’ feelings might be the smartest move for your own growth
Leaders navigating today’s environment of constant change are already under pressure to make fast, informed decisions while managing talent that’s shifting in expectations, location, and even values. The leaders who thrive in this kind of environment—the ones who evolve rather than burn out—aren’t just empathetic because it’s the “right” thing to do. They’re empathetic because it’s strategic. Here’s how that works:
Empathy expands and deepens your worldview
When you tap into someone else’s perspective—what they’re experiencing, fearing, or hoping for—you’re not just being kind. You’re gaining insight. You’re collecting nuanced, real-time data about how your people (and by extension, your company) are reacting to change. This deeper understanding gives you a more layered view of your organisation and the wider world it operates in.
In this article about meeting teams where they are, I talk about how leaders who can see the world through different lenses are better positioned to anticipate disruption and build more flexible strategies. Empathy gives you that viewpoint.
It sharpens your communication skills
Understanding how someone else feels also helps you shape your message to meet them where they are. Instead of repeating the same talking points and hoping they land, you learn how to tailor your communication to resonate—whether you’re addressing fear, resistance, or fatigue. Leaders with strong empathy skills communicate with more clarity and influence because they’re grounded in relevance, not assumption.
It strengthens relationships and increases influence
This one seems obvious, but let’s look at it through the lens of adaptability in the workplace: When people feel seen and heard, they’re more likely to buy into change. They trust you. And when trust is present, it’s easier to bring people with you through transitions. The truth is, most large-scale organisational shifts succeed not because the strategy was perfect, but because the relationships could withstand the stress of the shift.
Empathy keeps you grounded—and human
Empathy reminds you that leadership isn’t just about decision-making. It’s about people. Connecting with someone else’s experience—especially in times of uncertainty—keeps your leadership rooted in purpose. That sense of shared humanity also buffers you against burnout. It helps you remember why you started doing this in the first place.
Empathy builds adaptability—yours
These four benefits together build one of the most critical leadership traits for the current moment: adaptability. The more you can understand, connect with, and respond to the people around you, the more agile and flexible you become as a leader.
What often surprises senior leaders is that empathy might be helping them even more than it’s helping the people they’re empathising with. When framed that way, they usually lean in. They see empathy not as a soft skill, but as a strategic advantage.
And if you’re working on succession planning—developing the next generation of leaders—this is the mindset you want to embed early. The future of leadership requires people who are both responsive and resilient. But adaptability comes with discomfort. Your next-gen leaders will have to navigate fast-changing contexts—and that means they’ll need more empathy, not less. Empathy is what will allow them to adjust, pivot, and lead through complexity without losing the human connection that holds organisations together.
Yet here’s the challenge: 42% of employees and 63% of CEOs report struggling to show empathy at work. If those at the top are finding it hard, it’s even more important to start developing this skill early among leadership generally. Inevitably, you can’t develop in others what you don’t do yourself, so embedding it into how you lead and coach, is the first step.
The fundamental takeaway is that empathy isn’t just something you give, because it’s the right thing to do. It’s something you build to become a more effective leader with a more productive team. The empathy itself is not only a way to make people feel better–but work better.
This article first appeared on The Robert Kovach Blog.
Dr. Robert Kovach has spent his entire career working as a trusted advisor to senior leaders wanting to improve the effectiveness of themselves, their teams and their companies. Prior to starting his own consulting firm, Robert led the global executive assessment and development team for Cisco. Earlier in his career Robert held leadership roles with RHR International, PepsiCo, Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School and the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.