The Alphabet Game is underway! For the letters B, C, and D, there were no winners. Neither did anyone submit the winning E-word: EMPATHY! In choosing the winning E-word, it came down to choosing between a leader having empathy or a leader being ETHICAL. It wasn’t an easy choice. Later in the Alphabet Game, I’ll explain why I chose empathy over ethical. (Despite highly visible examples of unethical leaders, I believe being ethical is a necessary condition for someone to be exemplary leader.)
Instead of empathy or being ethical, I considered choosing empowering, encouraging, enjoying, being engaged, or having edge, among others such as excelling, being effective, or being efficient. Why empowering? Isn’t an exemplary leader’s goal empowering people to step up and lead. In Why It Matters, I state that leaders are teachers and teachers are leaders.[i] One thing leaders teach is how to lead. They do so by being examples of exemplary leaders, empowering followers and giving them opportunities to lead, coaching them, and providing opportunities to attend leadership training courses. Too many believe the best way to teach leadership is to throw people into the deep end of the pool and see if they can swim, i.e., put them in leadership positions without preparing them to lead.
Leaders need to be encouragers. Motorola’s Greg Brown advised students in my leadership class to be energy givers, not energy takers.[ii] They need to enjoy what they do; although there will be times when they don’t, in general, leading should be fun for the leader and for the leader’s team. If they don’t enjoy what they do, they won’t be fully invested. Tyson’s Donnie Smith was an encourager; he told my students, “When you believe in you like I believe in you, there’s no end to what you’ll accomplish.”
Exemplary leaders need to be engaged. They need to be involved, albeit with noses in and fingers out. They shouldn’t be like the person Chris Lofgren described when he met with students in my leadership class. Chris said that he would go into the office on Saturdays to answer phone calls from his boss who, while enjoying the day by his pool, called the office to make sure people showed up for work on Saturday. The boss wasn’t engaged, but Chris, the leader, was!
Another essential attribute exemplary leaders must have, one seldom mentioned in leadership books, including mine, is edge! Exemplary leaders must be able to and be willing to make tough decisions. Just as it’s important to stay above the fray, but dive into details when necessary, it’s important for leaders to have edge, to wear “the black hat” and be “the bad guy” when necessary. In retrospect, I should have addressed this in the chapter on balance, the winning B-word.
If being empowering, being encouraging, enjoying, being engaged, and having edge are important attributes for an exemplary leader, why did I choose empathy for the winning E-word? Listen to the interview at https://soundcloud.com/user-561194034/chancellor-john-white and you’ll learn that I said my top values are faith, integrity, empathy, vision, and flexibility. Also, in Why It Matters, I provide a list of ten attributes that are important for leaders to possess, which includes empathy, as well as accountability, commitment, communication, confidence, creativity, decision-making, delegation, empowerment, honesty, innovation, integrity, inspiration, and passion.[iii] Throughout the book, empathy is emphasized by leaders who met with my leadership students, by me, and by authors of leadership books.[iv]
Daniel Goleman includes empathy among the five skills needed for a person to possess high emotional intelligence (EQ).[v] Having a high EQ trumps having a high IQ. Having been led by someone who didn’t evidence empathy, I can attest to how important empathy is for exemplary leaders. If a leader cares only for self, not for those being led, if a leader is unable to identify with members of the team, then alignment won’t exist within the team.
As Walmart’s Judith McKenna reminded my students, “Tough decisions need to be approached with genuine empathy, something learned but not taught.” Strive to be an empathetic leader!
By the way, I recently watched the second episode of the fourth season of Professor T on Prime video. In response to a student’s question about empathy, Professor T says there are limits to empathy and recommends compassion, instead.
As you know, my winning C-word was character, not compassion. Interestingly, one of the AI packages I used to generate C-words for consideration placed compassionate first in its list of attributes of exemplary leaders. Regardless of what the AI software package and Professor T “think”, I still rank character above compassion.
Next: Leadership ABCs—F
Rules for the game to receive a signed copy of Why It Matters: 1) limited to U.S.A. mailing addresses; 2) limited to a single selection for the word; 3) cannot submit entry sooner than one week before the blog is posted on LinkedIn; 4) be the first correct entry I receive; and 5) send entries to me at johnaustinwhitejr@gmail.com. The soonest you can submit your F-word entry is 12:00 am, EDT, October 8, 2025; the latest time is 12:00 am, EDT, October 15, 2025.
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[i] John A. White, Why It Matters: Reflections on Practical Leadership, Greenleaf Book Group Press, Austin, TX, 2022, p. 281.
[ii] ibid, p. 240.
[iii] Ibid, pp. 34-35.
[iv] Ibid, pp. xii, 19, 33, 158, 169, 191, 195, 257, and 270.
[v] Daniel Goleman, “What Makes a Leader,” Harvard Business Review, Volume 82, 2004, pp. 82-91.
