Effective leadership comes from results and results come from taking action. The main difference between empathy and sympathy is that empathy leads to action. In the modern workplace, as we embrace diversity, and inclusion, leaders must take courageous action to promote equity. Equity starts with understanding our differences and giving everyone what they need to thrive. Understanding of the subtle differences and nuanced thinking is how we create equity in the workplace.

Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, is increasingly recognized as a pivotal leadership trait. In an ever-evolving business landscape, leaders who exhibit genuine empathy are better equipped to connect, inspire, and drive their teams towards success. But how exactly does empathy shape leadership dynamics? How can it be harnessed to foster stronger relationships, improved decision-making, and a more inclusive work environment? As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Adriana Vaccaro.

Adriana is the CEO and Founder of Culture Redesigned.

She specializes in helping companies build winning teams that deliver on their goals. Rather than traditional consulting techniques, her company uses Behavioral Science Data to align Human Capital with Business Results.

Adriana is an experienced Human Resources leader, her areas of expertise include employee engagement, DEI driven organizational culture implementation, change management, and training and development.

She is a Senior Certified Professional by the Society of HR Management, Certified Executive Coach, Six Sigma Black Belt, Certified PI (Predictive Index) Partner, and member of the Delta Mu Delta Honor Society of International Business.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about empathy, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

Myfirst love in the business world was Process Improvement. Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to be precise. After a couple of years focusing on process and data, I realized that even the best Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will fail if you don’t have adequate leadership and culture. Slowly, while still implementing timeless wisdom of six sigma, my focus shifted more and more into Inclusive Leadership and Organizational Culture development.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

Starting my own practice has been the most interesting part of my journey. Making sure I implement internally the same practices I preach to my clients wasn’t as natural as I thought it would be. It really has given me perspective on how easy it is to get caught up in the daily transactions and the productivity wheel that you could end up following the to-do list instead of driving a purpose and a vision.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We are different! We approach Leadership Development from a Six-Sigma and process improvement perspective, while putting diversity and inclusion first. You probably must read that twice to make it click.

I am an immigrant from Colombia, I have an accent when I speak, and while I am educated and have a lot of experience, when someone wants to invest in leadership development, I might not fit the image they have in mind. However, our frameworks and the results we deliver do the real “talk” for us. That is why the data driven approach is so relevant.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Relevant to my story I would say confidence is one that has been critical to success. I worked in a corporate environment for about 12 years. I remember one time meeting with a person I admire, and someone who had built a great business. I shared my idea of starting a consulting practice focusing on guiding CEOs to create an inclusive culture. I thought, maybe he will share some insight or mentor me? I will never forget his words. He said: “You should just relax, you have a job, you have a child, you can’t start a business”. I think for the rest of the meeting I didn’t hear anything else he said. But that moment, having someone else telling me what I could or couldn’t do, was such a motivating factor. I realized that confidence starts with courage, you must take that first step even if you aren’t sure about the outcome.

The second one for me is integrity. I believe strong integrity is the best compass for fair leadership. Individual integrity and individual values have a very strong impact on the collective culture of an organization. I recently experienced a situation where my past actions were questioned and even manipulated to look as if there was wrongdoing. It has been reassuring and liberating to me, to have total certainty that I didn’t do anything questionable. I imagine how different I would feel if I had done something that didn’t align with my personal values. Don’t get me wrong it is still uncomfortable to feel under a microscope, but it is a much lighter feeling when you know there aren’t any skeletons in the closet.

Lastly, I would say resilience, which I define as the capacity to efficiently process challenges, adversity, and difficulties, while remaining connected to your vision. I have learned that sometimes the best action is a quick period of inaction, to reconnect to your direction. I see it as a “pit stop” in business. It doesn’t mean you have to leave the race, you come back to it stronger.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader? I’m curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.

Decision making is one of the most relevant exercises to put your leadership to the test. In my corporate career as a Vice President of Human Resources I often had to share the “unpopular “opinion. While I wasn’t the final decision maker, doing my job well included presenting all the facts and arguments. When it comes to promotions, for example, it is easy to promote the wrong person. I always tried to challenge the final decision makers to really understand WHY they were promoting someone. Is it because the person is a friend? because the person is nice? because the person is related to you? because the person did one thing, right? (halo effect) or is it because you have really assessed performance, character, and leadership capabilities? I have nothing against promoting people you like but to support diversity and inclusion, “liking someone” isn’t the best reason to put them in a position of power.

Those experiences really shaped me as a leader who wants to promote fairness over politics and mitigate unconscious bias in the workplace.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define empathy in a leadership context, and why do you believe it’s a vital trait for leaders to possess in today’s work environment?

Empathy is critical to develop an effective and inclusive leadership style. I define empathy as the ability to understand someone else’s whole picture, even if it is completely different from ours. From a behavioral science perspective, we know that what we see in another person is behavior. But behaviors are outcomes driven by individual drives and needs. A leader with empathy doesn’t get stuck addressing the behavior, instead, we look to identify what is behind a particular action. Is there an unmet need? Is there a drive for social acceptance? Is there a need for more formality? Is there a drive for collaboration? It is relevant to mention that we can see two individuals demonstrating the same behavior for very different reasons. Empathy allows us to discern and authentically connect with those around us to effectively motivate, develop, understand, and lead them.

Can you share a personal experience where showing empathy as a leader significantly impacted a situation or relationship in your organization?

Conflict resolution always offers a great scenario to exercise empathy. I recently was hired by a CEO to coach one of the executives in the firm. After a couple of meetings I was able to identify that the behaviors the CEO needed me to work on with the executive were being triggered by personal past references as opposed to working factors. Through empathy not only I was able to understand what was driving some of the behaviors but also, I was able to communicate to the executive receiving coaching, how their behavior is affecting the culture in the workplace. It is like removing a tainted film from someone’s glasses. We tend to see the world from our unique perspective. While our motivations may remain the same, understanding how our behaviors affect others at work and outside of work, is usually a feeing strong enough to inspire change. Empathy doesn’t really mean having to know everybody’s entire story to be able to understand them. Empathy is about the awareness of the existence of a full story even if we don’t know it.

How do empathetic leaders strike a balance between understanding their team’s feelings and making tough decisions that might not be universally popular?

When we create consciousness around the fact that leaders have the ethical responsibility of prioritizing the greater good and the culture over popularity, we give them permission to make the right decision with confidence. The great lesson about unpopular decisions is that if made for the right reasons, the lack of popularity is temporary while the positive impact of them is permanent. When taking into consideration team feelings, it is important to understand that we don’t need to dismiss the teams’ emotions to make the right decision. Inclusive leaders can acknowledge the feelings of the collective while still effectively communicating the powerful arguments that validate their decision.

How would you differentiate between empathy and sympathy in leadership? Why is it important for leaders to distinguish between the two?

They couldn’t be any more different. Empathy is profound, provides awareness, alignment, and generates deeper connections. Sympathy on the other hand is subjective, temporary, and has no impact on outcomes. We can feel an immense amount of sympathy for someone and still go on with our life and agenda. Empathy on the other hand provides perspective. Empathy leads to inspired action while sympathy usually leads to feelings of compassion and concern.

While we all can experience both in the workplace and as leader, sympathy is an emotional response to a situation; while empathy can and should be exercised intentionally and constantly.

What are some practical strategies or exercises that leaders can employ to cultivate and enhance their empathetic skills?

I go back to the power of behavioral science. We use a tool to understand behavioral drives called Predictive Index (PI). The assessment takes about 6 minutes, and it allows us to understand the intensity of the four major drivers of behavior in the workplace. There are many other tools available in the market, but PI is the one I am most familiar with. Seeing the differences in patterns allows us to exercise inclusive leadership and connect with everyone at a deeper level from the beginning.

Another tool is developing a non-judgmental communication approach. Is it easy? No. But it is worth it. Creating mental space for curiosity to fully understand the point of views of others without getting fixated on our own opinion about their experience.

It sounds overly basic, but listening attentively makes such a difference when cultivating empathy.

How can empathy help leaders navigate the complexities of leading diverse teams and ensure inclusivity?

Empathy helps leaders develop awareness about access, or lack of. Inclusive leaders understand that personal and professional development looks different for every team member. We must recognize the whole identity of each team member to effectively craft a plan that supports their growth.

What’s your approach to ensuring that succession planning is a holistic process, and not just confined to the top layers of management? How do you communicate this philosophy through the organization?

The main objective of an inclusive culture is to create an environment where ALL can thrive. That requires understanding levels of power and oppression and creating equitable avenues for access. It is relevant to note that certain level of privilege is not a reason to feel shame. We all experience some level of privilege, using that access and power to lift someone else is the best way to embrace inclusion in the workplace. Creating safe spaces where individuals from underrepresented groups feel comfortable enough to share their ideas and explore their vision. Spaces where it is acceptable to receive constructive feedback to rise into new positions. Spaces where regardless of our differences we can connect to a shared vision and purpose and support each other.

There are exceptional benefits of diversity and inclusion as pillars of organizational culture including creativity, performance, innovation, adaptability, employee retention, and client loyalty. Cultivating cultures where traditional levels of power can be disrupted to create a greater and more equitable outcome is the true objective of inclusive leadership.

Based on your experience and research, can you please share “5 Ways Empathy Will Affect Your Leadership”?

1 . Empathy leads to effective listening.

When we listen to understand, and not to reply, we create space for empathy. Leaders who develop this skill stop themselves from “drafting” a response while someone else is speaking, which leads to better relationships based on open communication. This doesn’t mean that the thoughts or potential responses won’t come up for those leaders, those immediate thoughts and responses are a natural part of the communication process. Empathy helps create that space for genuine interest where you can let your thoughts come and go and remain committed to the sole objective of understanding the message that is being transmitted. It also doesn’t mean that we need to agree. We are just allowing the message to be communicated. Half of the conflict in the workplace comes from lack of effective communication and 50% of that process lies on effective listening.

2 . Empathy triggers action.

Effective leadership comes from results and results come from taking action. The main difference between empathy and sympathy is that empathy leads to action. In the modern workplace, as we embrace diversity, and inclusion, leaders must take courageous action to promote equity. Equity starts with understanding our differences and giving everyone what they need to thrive. Understanding of the subtle differences and nuanced thinking is how we create equity in the workplace.

3 . Empathy contributes to character development.

In the ever-evolving conversation about organizational culture, effective leaders must be able to build trust. Trust is such a complicated concept. In the words of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, when defining trust; “You know it when you feel it.”

There aren’t many metrics scientifically validated to measure trust, however, we do know that trust is connected to performance. As we embrace empathy, our character rises to higher levels of ethics and integrity. While we might not be aware of it, every situation, challenge, event in which we tap into our ability to show empathy is naturally improving our ability to build trust. Let’s say building trust is a side effect of practicing empathy.

4 . Empathy fosters a culture of inclusion.

Empathetic leaders ensure that not only the loudest voices are heard. This principle has an effect not only in idea generation but also hiring, promoting, evaluating performance, and designing development programs for employees. In a culture of inclusion, people come before profits, cultivating connection, and empathizing at the team and individual level to be able foster personal and professional growth for all.

5 . Empathy and motivation are significantly intertwined.

When a leader is implementing a transformational approach, there are three factors that must be present to facilitate the development and adoption of a new behavior. We are talking about capability or competency, knowing how to do it, opportunity, having a chance to do it, and motivation, wanting to do it. Empathetic leaders can inspire others and encourage collaboration and a strong sense of culture. Empathy is very relevant to inspiration because it is triggered by very different factors in every individual. When you try to motivate everyone using the same strategy you don’t get the same results that a transformational leader can achieve by tailoring the approach according to the lived experiences of each team member.

Are there potential pitfalls or challenges associated with being an empathetic leader? How can these be addressed?

In a way yes. For empathy to remain effective we must establish, and more importantly, enforce individual boundaries. When we have boundaries but don’t practice them, we can end up at a state of burnout. Empathy must be supported by healthy and enforceable boundaries which lead to resilience and emotional wellbeing.

Off-topic, but I’m curious. As someone steering the ship, what thoughts or concerns often keep you awake at night? How do those thoughts influence your daily decision-making process?

I always think about the impact we are having. I do feel a great sense of commitment to both my clients and my team. Sometimes that desire to exceed expectations on both ends can be overwhelming. But it is also motivating and inspiring.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I think the world would be a different place if we could learn emotional intelligence earlier in life. Most of us learn and really develop EQ as adults. A lot of adults never get to it. I firmly believe society would look different if we cared more about each other.

How can our readers further follow you online?

Here is the link to our website and my profile on LinkedIn.

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!