The Value of Empathy

Empathy, “the capacity to recognize or understand another's state of mind or emotion,” is a powerful competitive advantage within a business organization.

Truly empathetic managers are often the best, most effective managers because they have a better, clearer understanding of how their employees operate and what motivates them, and so are better able to lead a cohesive team focused on a common purpose.

The surest path to empathy is the personal, first-hand experience. Many of the best managers, those with profound empathy, are those who worked their way up in their organization – which is why the wisest company founders/owners don’t merely pass on the mantle of leadership to their children but make them earn it.

I witnessed this first hand a number of years ago at a client company. Founded in the early-1960s, the specialty-manufacturing firm grew and thrived on the genius and drive of its founder, who had left a promising career at a global industrial company with nothing more than his ideas for a better company around a core product line and how best to produce it and deliver it to a target customer base.

As a youngster, his son Ollie often hung out with him on weekends, walking the factory floor, listening in as his dad talked shop with his employees.

In high school, Ollie swept floors and did general janitorial work as his summer job. Over the years, through college and post-graduate business school, he always worked part-time during the summer months in the plant doing the dirtiest jobs. It was what his father wanted. Upon graduation, his dad put him through the paces and by the time he reached his late-30s, Ollie had worked in every department, including billing, field sales, manufacturing and customer service.

By the time I got to know him, Ollie was head of marketing, a capable marketer with a keen understanding of his company’s product lines, its markets and, especially, its customers and their world.

Ollie eventually became president while his father moved into an advisory role as chairman. The company continues to thrive, and I know one of the biggest reasons for its success is the fact that its president knows his company intimately, from every perspective.

Most important, though, he knows the people who make it work. He knows from hands-on experience and first-hand observation what it takes to do each job. He knows the dedication, intelligence and perseverance of the many employees that are the foundation of the company’s success.

So it would stand to reason that a company that hires an outside manager or CEO with little or no first-hand knowledge of the company’s inner workings and its people is asking for trouble. And the truth is, statistics show that outside CEOs and senior managers have a less than positive track record. So consider how one company approaches that dilemma when they have no choice but to hire an outsider.

A friend and colleague told me the personal story told to him by the general manager of one of the premiere hotels at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

This eminently qualified gentleman had been hired by Disney to run its newest, plushest hotel. He had come from a major hotel chain where he had gained a number of years’ experience running several of its properties around the world.

He reported for his first day on the job impeccably dressed in suit and tie, but soon learned he had over-dressed. Handed a workman’s jumpsuit, he was told that his next six months would be spent learning how the hotel really operates – from the ground-up, starting with maintenance.

It was an eye-opening experience as he rotated between behind-the-scenes jobs. He unclogged toilets and fixed balky air conditioning systems. He cleaned guest rooms and changed bed linen, bussed tables in the restaurants, toted room service trays, served drinks at the bar, hauled garbage, cleaned the swimming pools, and worked the front desk and the reservations line.

In all his years in the hospitality business, he said, he had never fully appreciated how hard so many people worked to make the guests’ stays pleasant and enjoyable experiences. Imagine what he learned about his employees’ workaday lives and how he carried that empathy back with him when he returned to his suit-and-tie uniform in his role as hotel general manager. Imagine the unique insights he gained into the inner workings of the marvelously complicated machine that such a hotel really is.

The Walt Disney Company is a unique organization, focused on innovative engagement at all levels. Every employee, no matter the operation, no matter the job, is referred to as a “cast member.” A concerted effort is made to maintain a positive work environment, which in turn leads to engaged employees who feel motivated, inspired and committed. Workers at all levels have the ability and control to deliver on the Disney mission statement: “To make people happy.”

The company’s namesake and founder, Walter E. Disney, said it best: “Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.”

That’s a pretty good definition of empathy, too. Don’t you think?

Postscript: In response to this blog post, a good friend sent me the following link, a story from the May 21 (Portland) Oregonian about a CEO who, upon being hired to lead family-owned Platt Electric, spent six months in the field learning first-hand how the company operated. Employees thought he was a temporary worker. He never said anything to the contrary. Upon taking charge, he managed it through a tough housing and real estate market without any lay-offs or pay cuts. And now, he's growing the company in the face of a weak economy, stealing market share from larger competitors.

I considered excerpting it for another blog entry, but realized I couldn't improve on it. Besides, I'd have to truncate it and necessarily lose the heart and soul of the story. It's pretty inspiring stuff. Enjoy...

Exec helps re-energize Platt Electric