ABSTRACT
Empathy is more than feeling for someone else or to understand someone's feelings. Beyond being a positive character trait, empathy is a skill that enables leaders to get a sense of people's state of mind and win them over. But empathy reaches further: it enables people to subliminally access other people's intentions, picking up visual, auditory, and olfactory cues – important information in complex business settings. Empathy and altruism are linked, and both are rarely used influencing techniques, but they are powerful. Empathy facilitates another key leadership skill, essential in negotiations: ensemble perception or “reading the room.” It draws on observational skills, an understanding of subliminal influence, and cultural sensitivity.
