Today, every manager needs to show empathy towards their team members. In a complex and uncertain world, attentive listening and solicitude are indispensable for reducing the stress of teams and facilitating their commitment. But at what cost?

A 2022 study by the Future Forum shows a significantly higher rate of burn-out among middle managers than among all other categories of workers. Another study shows that teenagers whose parents are empathetic are less prone to depression than others, but that these same parents suffer from greater cellular aging! An excess of empathy can thus be detrimental to one's health.

Should we harden ourselves and return to a more distant management style? The challenge is rather to set limits in order to cope over the long term:

– Have as much empathy for yourself as for others: you will only be able to help them if you yourself are hanging in there!

– Nuance your empathy: concern yourself with others, but do not take on their feelings to avoid an overload of negative emotions.

– View empathy as a skill, rather than as a trait of your personality: you will more easily be able to choose whether to activate it or not according to the situation.

Source: How to Sustain Your Empathy in Difficult Times, Jamil Zaki, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2024.