Empathy in Higher Education Leadership Without Losing Your Edge

Empathy is easy to talk about and harder to practice when the pressure is high. In higher education, leaders are often navigating conflict, fatigue, and urgency, which is exactly when empathy gets misread as weakness instead of treated as a leadership competency.

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Laura Parson, Associate Professor at North Dakota State University and founder of The Empathy Classroom, about building empathy as a practical skill leaders can use without surrendering standards or authority.

Parson breaks empathy down into usable behaviors, including perspective-taking, emotional self-management, and question framing that reduces defensiveness. The discussion also addresses “empathy light,” when leaders perform empathy for external outcomes instead of practicing it authentically, and why that approach erodes trust.

This conversation is especially relevant for institutional leaders who want stronger communication, better decision follow-through, and a healthier leadership culture in environments where people are stretched thin and reactions run hot.

Some of the Topics Covered

• What empathy is as a competency and how it differs from sympathy
• Why empathy does not require agreement or abandoning standards
• How to reduce defensiveness through better questions and language choices
• Self-other distinction and why absorbing others’ emotions accelerates burnout
• Mindfulness and emotional literacy as leadership tools
• “Empathy lite” and how performative empathy undermines trust
• How leaders can develop empathy through practice, role play, and scenario rehearsal

Real-World Examples Discussed

• Reframing accusatory “why” questions into curiosity-based questions that invite explanation
• The “waves” metaphor for managing constant emotions as a senior leader without burning out
• An executive’s post-meeting reset ritual to physically “shake off” emotional residue
• Using breath work or box breathing after emotionally charged interactions

Three Key Takeaways for Higher Education Leadership

1. Model empathy visibly so others understand what it looks like in your environment.
2. Listen, demonstrate that you heard what was said, and reinforce it through action.
3. Treat perspective-taking as a discipline by learning to see issues through multiple stakeholder lenses.

Read the extended show summary or transcript:  https://changinghighered.com/empathy-in-higher-education-leadership/

 

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