Psychology

The Limits of Empathy

It can be exhausting and impair judgment.

by

Adam Waytz

by

Adam Waytz

From the Magazine (January–February 2016) · Long read

Return, 2014, aluminum (found cans), wire, vinyl paint Paul Villinski

Summary.

Empathy is all the rage pretty much everywhere. It’s touted as a critical leadership skill, one that helps you influence others in your organization, anticipate stakeholders’ concerns, respond to social media followers, and even run better meetings.

But it has its limits.

Empathy taxes us mentally and emotionally, and can even impair our ethical judgment. It’s also a finite resource: The more we spend on one person or group, the less we have left for others. Expecting employees to continually drain their reserves can impair individual and organizational performance.

Managers can prevent the ill effects of empathy and promote the good by using a few simple strategies. First, have people focus on certain sets of stakeholders, rather than asking them to understand and empathize with anyone and everyone. Second, help them meet others’ needs in ways that also address their own so that they don’t end up feeling depleted by every interaction. And third, give them empathy breaks, where they focus strictly on their own personal needs, to allow them to replenish their reserves.

Idea in Brief

The Situation

We all know that empathy is essential to effective leadership, management, product development, marketing—pretty much any aspect of business that involves people. But it has its limits.

The Problem

Empathy taxes us mentally and emotionally, it’s not an infinite resource, and it can even impair our ethical judgment. That’s why if we demand too much of it from employees, performance will suffer.

The Solution

You can take steps to prevent the ill effects and promote the good. For instance, have people focus on certain sets of stakeholders, help them meet others’ needs in ways that also address their own, and give them empathy breaks so they can replenish their reserves.

A few years ago, Ford Motor Company started asking its (mostly male) engineers to wear the Empathy Belly, a simulator that allows them to experience symptoms of pregnancy firsthand—the back pain, the bladder pressure, the 30 or so pounds of extra weight. They can even feel “movements” that mimic fetal kicking. The idea is to get them to understand the ergonomic challenges that pregnant women face when driving, such as limited reach, shifts in posture and center of gravity, and general bodily awkwardness.

A version of this article appeared in the January–February 2016 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Adam Waytz is the Morris and Alice Kaplan Chair in Ethics and Decision Management and a professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is the author of The Power of Human: How Our Shared Humanity Can Help Us Create a Better World (W.W. Norton & Company, 2019).

The Limits of Empathy

Idea in Brief

The Situation

The Problem

The Solution

Partner Center

Explore HBR

HBR Store

About HBR

Manage My Account

Follow HBR