When Empathy becomes a liability…

In counseling and coaching folks from all walks of life, in personal and professional settings, I come across folks who have great empathy. They have that special attribute of literally ‘putting themselves in others’ shoes’ emotionally and use that awareness to change their approach to a situation. Conversely, I’ve also come across folks with terrible empathy who either cannot or do not care to know how others’ feel leaving behind them a trail littered with wounded people. The case for empathy as a positive leadership attribute is well documented and I have been a part of that school of thought too. There is, however, a case to be made, which I see just as frequently, that empathy can be a liability. When empathy enables abuse, then it is a liability.