S5Ep 30: Peter Margaritis: FLIPPING THE SCRIPT: MAKING IT ALL ABOUT THEM AND NOT ABOUT YOU (Part 2)

“Great leaders inspire and motivate through empathy, not through ego agenda and emotion.” Peter Margaritis It can be hard to teach leaders to flip the script when it comes to being more empathetic and even vulnerable, if those leaders are wearing a thick protective armor over their humanity in the workplace. Two-face, empathy-devoid leaders take pride in their distance. Their aloof and impersonal workplace behavior starts degrading relationships, and then projects start to fail. Self-absorption creates a toxic work environment. Empathetic leadership creates an empowered workplace. One person's behaviors and attitudes can impact many. A very effective way to increase empathy is by replacing assumptions with a sense of curiosity that opens us up to empathy. You achieve this through conversation, and by questioning to reveal what lies beneath the surface of the other person's issue or perspective. Curiosity is a good thing. It helps us to ask the questions and gather more facts and information, which leads to eliminating unfounded assumptions. The more questions we ask, the closer we get to the root of any issue, and once discovered, we can help devise a plan to help solve the problem at hand. The word improv looks a lot like the word improve. It's a powerful reminder that when we master improv, we improve relationships, teams, organizations, products and careers. Improv is all about empathy for business leaders, and provides an excellent foundation to empathize with others. First, as a leader, you need to be a great listener and be fully present during every conversation. When ego, agenda and emotion are infused too strongly in a conversation, the conversation halts, and negativity is nearly always an immediate result. Great leaders inspire and motivate through empathy, not through ego agenda and emotion. Developing the kind of empathy to improve your leadership in this way can start with an improvisers mindset. People still find it difficult to understand that a leader’s emotional intelligence, of which empathy