Page 22 - RenderFeb26
P. 22
April Bell is an empathy-driven, innovation consultant based in Texas. As the founder of Made with Empathy and author of The Fire Starter: Igniting Innovation with Empathy, she’s dedicated her career to uncovering the emotional truths that drive action for businesses and individual leaders.
The Role of Empathy in Leadership
By Sharla Ishmael
Does empathy have a place in the modern workplace? It other hand, Render
She has spent over 20 years working with Fortune 500 companies and believes empathy is a crucial leadership skill. it’s connected to leadership skills at work.
“What I mean by that is if you think about people with understanding of what they’re going through. It does not mean they’re going through.”
she adds. “Sympathy starts from a place of, ‘I can understand something about what you’re saying — let me tell you what my experience is and help you with that.’ With empathy, it’s more
In other words, empathy is the ability to listen with the sole
I work with really understand that there’s such a similarity
20 February 2026 Render
she explains. “Those same listening skills are required whether you’re trying to understand a customer or a group of employees.
“That process of listening to understand instead of listening to judge applies to leadership in terms of engaging with the disengaged stakeholders, you can do everything that you want
things you don’t agree with or want. She says empathy doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with tolerance — it just has to do with understanding. So, if you can understand someone’s quality she says is wrongly associated with empathy is toxicity.
“When people refer to toxic empathy, what I believe they are that it becomes your own. And that does become toxic, but it’s
In her line of work, whether it’s a consumer focus group,
www.rendermagazine.com
