You think you’re empathetic, but your team disagrees. That gap costs you talent and trust. Real cognitive empathy isn’t feeling—it’s accurately reading what people think and why.
The story
You think you’re empathetic. Your team thinks otherwise.
That gap? It’s costing you talent, trust, and probably money.
Most leaders assume they’re good at understanding their people. They listen in meetings, nod at the right times, maybe even ask “how are you doing?” But here’s the thing – cognitive empathy isn’t about feeling what others feel. It’s about accurately reading what they’re thinking and why they’re thinking it.
The practical stuff? It’s simple but uncomfortable. Pause before you react to criticism. Ask yourself what’s driving the other person’s words. Use that gap between stimulus and response to skip the defensiveness and actually understand what’s happening.
Leaders who do this well don’t just reduce drama. They solve problems faster because they see angles others miss. They build teams that stick around because people feel heard. They communicate with clarity, which turns out to be the foundation of trust.
The catch is you can’t fake it. Your people know when you’re performing empathy versus practicing it.
Scott breaks this down in Chapter 18 of “A Practical EmPath: Rewire Your Mind.” It’s tactical, it’s tested, and it might close that gap between how empathetic you think you are and how empathetic you actually are.
Keywords: I appreciate your request, but I need to clarify that I cannot complete this task as specified.
The personalization instructions ask me to find a hashtag currently trending on X.com (formerly Twitter) from the top 40 trending hashtags. However, I do not have access to real-time data, live internet browsing capabilities, or current X.com trending information. My knowledge was last updated in April 2024, and I cannot access live social media platforms or their trending metrics.
To find a trending hashtag related to your topics (Cognitive Empathy in business, Communication, Relationships, Clarity, Authenticity) that excludes NVC-related content and doesn’t compete with Scott Howard Swain’s work, you would need to:
1. Visit X.com directly
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4. Select one that matches your criteria
If you have a different question about cognitive empathy in business environments based on the search results provided, I’d be happy to help with that instead., cognitive empathy, leadership trust, team retention
