Empathy

Using empathy around the workplace.

Empathy is credited as a factor in improved relationships and even better product development. But while it's easy to say "just put yourself in someone else's shoes," the reality is that understanding the motivations and emotions of others often proves elusive.

This book helps you understand what empathy is, why it's important, how to surmount the hurdles that make you less empathetic--and when too much empathy is just too much.

This volume includes the work of:

This collection of articles includes "What Is Empathy?" by Daniel Goleman; "Why Compassion Is a Better Managerial Tactic Than Toughness" by Emma Seppala; "What Great Listeners Actually Do" by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman; "Empathy Is Key to a Great Meeting" by Annie McKee; "It's Harder to Empathize with People If You've Been in Their Shoes" by Rachel Rutton, Mary-Hunter McDonnell, and Loran Nordgren; "Being Powerful Makes You Less Empathetic" by Lou Solomon; "A Process for Empathetic Product Design" by Jon Kolko; "How Facebook Uses Empathy to Keep User Data Safe" by Melissa Luu-Van; "The Limits of Empathy" by Adam Waytz; and "What the Dalai Lama Taught Daniel Goleman About Emotional Intelligence" an interview with Daniel Goleman by Andrea Ovans.

How to be human at work. The HBR Emotional Intelligence Series features smart, essential reading on the human side of professional life from the pages of Harvard Business Review . Each book in the series offers proven research showing how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work. Uplifting and practical, these books describe the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals to master.

• 1 What Is Empathy?: And why it's important p. 1 Daniel Goleman
• 2 Why Compassion Is a Better Managerial Tactic Than Toughness: An angry response erodes loyalty and trust p. 13 Emma Seppala
• 3 What Great Listeners Actually Do: Understand the other person's emotions p. 29 Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman
• 4 Empathy Is Key to a Great Meeting: Grasp the conflicts in the group p. 41 Annie McKee
• 5 It's Harder to Empathize with People If You've Been in Their Shoes: You have to work harder to focus on their needs p. 51 Rachel Ruttan and Mary-Hunter McDonnell and Loran Nordgren
• 6 Becoming Powerful Makes You Less Empathetic: Ask for feedback to stay down-to-earth p. 61 Lou Solomon
• 7 A Process for Empathetic Product Design: Focus on people p. 71 Jon Kolko
• 8 How Facebook Uses Empathy to Keep User Data Safe: Understand the people you're protecting p. 87 Melissa Luu-Van
• 9 The Limits of Empathy: It's exhausting p. 97 Adam Waytz
• 10 What the Dalai Lama Taught Daniel Goleman About Emotional Intelligence: Beyond empathy p. 117 Daniel Goleman and Andrea Ovans
• Index p. 131