Empathy is all the rage pretty much everywhere. It’s touted as a
critical leadership skill, one that helps you influence others in your
organization, anticipate stakeholders’ concerns, respond to social media
followers, and even run better meetings. But it has its limits. Empathy
taxes us mentally and emotionally, and can even impair our ethical
judgment. It’s also a finite resource: The more we spend on one person
or group, the less we have left for others. Expecting employees to
continually drain their reserves can impair individual and
organizational performance. Managers can prevent the ill effects of
empathy and promote the good by using a few simple strategies. First,
have people focus on certain sets of stakeholders, rather than asking
them to understand and empathize with anyone and everyone. Second, help
them meet others’ needs in ways that also address their own so that they
don’t end up feeling depleted by every interaction. And third, give
them empathy breaks, where they focus strictly on their own personal
needs, to allow them to replenish their reserves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]