4 Surprising Truths About Empathy and Managing People |
4 Surprising Truths About Empathy and Managing People
New analysis of 4,000 managers uncovers the emotional patterns behind successful leadership.
EXPERT OPINION BY MARCEL SCHWANTES, INC. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, EXECUTIVE COACH, SPEAKER, AND AUTHOR @MARCELSCHWANTES
Modern workplace culture champions the “empathetic leader” as the ideal standard—but in practice, empathy isn’t always what drives the toughest decisions.
To better understand the personality profiles of successful managers, Zety, a resume templates service, analyzed nearly two decades of SIGMA’s JPI-R (Jackson Personality Inventory – Revised) assessments across more than 4,000 managers.
The research shows that managers score lower than the general population on traits associated with emotional sensitivity (including empathy), challenging a common assumption about leadership.
While empathy still plays an important role, understanding when to lean in and when to maintain emotional distance can help leaders navigate high-stakes situations more effectively.
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Here are four key takeaways.
1. Strong Leaders Aren’t Always Highly Empathetic
One of the most surprising findings from the study is that managers consistently scored lower than the general population on all personality traits in the Emotional cluster, which includes empathy, anxiety, and cooperativeness.
Among all JPI-R clusters measured, this was the only category where managers fell below average (50th percentile). More specifically, they fell within the 27th–39th percentile for empathy, 21st–29th percentile for anxiety, and 33rd–47th percentile for cooperativeness.