Does Empathy Help Leaders During Crisis?

Empathy is defined as sensing another in emotional distress and wanting to share in the experience of those feelings. Organizational crises can illicit strong emotional reactions. Researchers in the Academy of Management Review explored whether or not empathic CEOs can help or hurt an organization through a crisis.

The researchers hypothesized that empathic CEOS should be better in dealing with crises because they are able to see potential warning signs that may signal impending crisis. Due to their empathic nature, they will be less likely to be biased when processing crisis-related information. However, this same quality may also increase likelihood of raising false alarms if the CEO is too empathic.

During the crisis, empathic CEOS also show care and compassion in a crisis. In terms of taking responsibility, empathic CEOs are more likely to take ownership and not defer blame. During crisis decision-making, empathic CEOs are oftentimes guided by their empathy. However, too much empathy can lead to poor decision-making.

When it comes to repairing an organization after a crisis, empathic CEOS excel at repairing relationships. However, they can lack the ability to repair operational systems. This is due to the tradeoff that is being made—more time and energy is put into repairing relationships and is taken away focusing on operational tasks.

König, A., Graf-Vlachy, L., Bundy, J., & Little, L.M. (2020). A Blessing and a Curse: How CEOs’ Trait Empathy Affects their Management of Organizational Crises. Academy of Management Review, 45(1), 130-153.