The Empathic Leaders


Empathic Leaders realize more than anyone, the power of our beliefs. Our beliefs shape our identity, our actions, and our work. If we can change people’s beliefs, we can change the world. ELs have strong values, values that if developed, can make them into visionaries. Due to their strength as story-tellers, they tend to be popular speakers, capable of inspiring the masses and getting people to rally behind them. Due to their proactivity, they can sometimes be divisive, causing conflicts and polarization. ELs seek to push their limits of their beliefs, seeing how far they can get with vision as their primary fuel.

They are dreamers, adventurers, and philosophers, they dream of exploring the world, but are sometimes held back by their fears. ELs need time to get over this fear – they are sensitive, careful, and studious, and they overcome their fears by being able to explain the unexplainable, by understanding what might happen, and allowing themselves the time to prepare. When an EL experiences true understanding, they can take incredible, calculated risks, and because ELs are incredibly curious, studying everything around them, they overtime become more and more brave, using their knowledge and awareness as their armor when exploring the uncertain and the complex. They enjoy sharing this insight with others, and they can use their instincts to fill in the uncertain, taking a good guess as to what might be going on.

ELs see messages and stories in everything. Being empathetic, they are strongly shaped by the world they live in, and the beliefs that circulate in their time, but they seek alternative routes, ways to change the society, and to take it in another direction. They are rebellious and often anti-establishment figures. As empaths, they aren’t unfamiliar to changing their lifestyle or their behavior in order to live up to their values and beliefs. ELs are proactive in their desire to connect, constantly bonding with new people. They are firm in their beliefs, and it’s very hard to change their values. They are naturally driven to spread and express their values and ethics to others, finding great pleasure in getting others to work together with them, as well as confronting those who disagree with them in heated debate.



Primary emotions

The primary emotions for an Empathic Leader are fear, curiosity, shame and appreciation. As an EL, you need to identify positive strategies of dealing with these emotions.

Fear

When experiencing fear or curiosity, an Empathic Leaders first response is to study, self-reflect on, and explain the things they are curious or fearful of. Asking an Empathic Leader complex questions is a key strategy to getting an Empathic Leader to get past their fears. You need them to define it and understand it, because when they can explain it, their fears quickly lose control over them. Empathic Leaders are instinctively driven to act on and make their beliefs and theories into reality. They are curious to test if their speculations are correct. Healthy ELs always have an idea, an answer, or a theory about how to proceed or how to move forward – no matter how complex the situation.

Shame

When experiencing shame, an Empathic Leaders first response is to work harder, to push themselves more, and to go out of their way to connect and impress the people around them. Showing them interest for their causes, beliefs, and values, is a key way to motivate Empathic Leaders. Empathic Leaders are highly confident in their beliefs, values and causes, they know for certain, what they like and dislike, and are less open to experimenting. They strive to be champions for the causes they believe in and enjoy confrontations that can bring disharmonies to the surface. Healthy Empathic Leaders have opinions about everything, and find the world and the people in it beautiful, interesting, and worth helping.

Relationships

In relationships, healthy empaths value authenticity and honest expressions, striving to live up to their values and existential beliefs. Empaths tend to engage in various causes, working towards something which inspires them. They often daydream about travel, meeting new people, or going on some kind of adventure. Empaths often discuss values and existential issues with others, discussing how to live life. More negatively, unhealthy empaths can sometimes lie to or manipulate their partners, or they suspect their partners are lying or being inauthentic towards them. It’s important for empaths to go against their inner fears and to do things they dream about, as well as to engage in recreative activities or existential causes frequently, or their health in this area will drop.

Leaders give us a sense of direction. They help us find a resolve and a goal. They make good mentors, helping us understand past events and decisions. We often consult them to understand problems we are facing. They help us make reality of plans and fantasies, pushing us in a direction. But leaders sometimes forget others have a free will, trying too hard to control others decisions and behavior. It's important for Leaders to maintain their need for direction, goals, as well as their need for understanding themselves and the choices they have made so far, in order to maintain healthy relationships with others.

The ideal pairing for an Empathic leader is with an Empathic Explorer.