# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Empathy in Business | Matthew Gonnering | TEDxMadison

# data[].attributes.body
Humans aren't as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. So maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were 'reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.'
Niel deGrasse Tyson
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/empathy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
More and more leaders are becoming aware of the role emotional intelligence plays in a successful workplace. Long gone are the days of harsh authority generating positive results - in today's world, you need to establish real connections with your team and show empathy if you want them to follow you.

Demonstrating emotional intelligence often happens verbally, but it can also be conveyed through body language. If you want to create camaraderie with your team members, experts at Forbes Coaches Council offered their best nonverbal tips for accomplishing it.
1. Practice Engaged, Active Listening (Without Taking Notes)
If you take notes like a court reporter, it may come across as you are documenting something. Listen and verbally summarize what your team is saying and ask questions to get the team to respond. Don't furiously take notes on your laptop or a notepad. Engage with your eyes and let people talk, listening with compassion. Say things like, "Let me know if this is what you are saying." - John M. O'Connor, Career Pro Inc.
2. Sit Next To Your Team Members Instead Of At The Head Of The Table
Preferably, change the shape of your decision-making tables from rectangular to round. If that's not possible and you are stuck with rectangular tables, don't sit at the head of the table, and don't always run meetings yourself. Rotate that responsibility, and then participate as if you were one of the team. That's the strongest body language -- being one with them, not standing apart. - Gaurav Bhalla, Knowledge Kinetics
3. Adopt Empathetic Mannerisms
Empathy is one of the components of emotional intelligence, and 55% of communication is body language. Empathy can be communicated by being fully present to your team through squared shoulders, a soft focus in your eye contact, nodding of your head when they are expressing themselves and having your arms at your sides. When it is time to respond, first reflect back to them what you heard them say. - Melinda Fouts, Ph.D., Success Starts With You
4. Use Your Eyebrows
Eyebrows express empathy really well. While no one body part alone will ever cut it, you can convey so much with your eyebrows. While making eye contact, shift your eyebrows upward slightly as you tighten your forehead. This shows that you are concerned. You care. You're right there with them. Add a little squeeze of your cheeks, purse the lips and a slight tilt of your head to really connect. - Laurie Sudbrink, Unlimited Coaching Solutions, Inc.
5. Mirror The Other Person's Body Language
When speaking to a group, open yourself up. Put your shoulders back with arms relaxed and slightly out to the side. Use your hand to motion to the group and then yourself, as though connecting the two. For one-on-one conversations, match/mirror their body language and voice tone, speed and energy to leverage the like attracts like principle to build a bond of trust naturally. - Lisa Kaye McDonald, Career Polish, Inc.
6. Relax Your Face
You know those people who look like steel but are said to have a core of marshmallow fluff? Showing empathy just doesn't come naturally to them. Realize that showing empathy for you may be a physical, practiced art to achieve. Softness is the key here in expression, smile and eyes. Stop moving, let your face relax, let your eyes linger gently. If nothing else, focus on the open smile. - Laura DeCarlo, Career Directors International
7. Get Out From Behind Your Desk
It may sound simple, but seating is important. Come around from behind your desk when meeting with your team in your office, or even better, move the meeting to a more open and collaborative space that sets a level field for everyone to feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts. - Tonya Echols, Thrive Coaching Solutions
8. Be Present
Be truly present in the conversation -- not thinking about your reply or what you'll have for lunch or the last conversation you had. Be present. Listen, breathe, see. People know when you're present with them. It's not about manipulating your body language. Frankly, your body will take care of itself. When you are present, your team will know it. - Debra Russell, Debra Russell Coaching, LLC
9. Open Your Palms
The best body language for expressing empathy are physical triggers that prompt you to express openness and receptivity. Signaling others before you're in your desired state of being will work against you. When sitting, place your palms up. It promotes openness. When standing, get your hands out of your pockets, open your palms out at your sides. You'll feel more open and people will feel it, too. - Jay Steven Levin, WinThinking
10. Convey Respect Through Your Handshake, Smile And Gaze
The body language of respect offers a firm handshake or greets all with a smile. It acknowledges the presence of all, looks others in the eye and holds the gaze. It lets others speak first, allows others to finish speaking, listens actively with neutral hand placement and nods to convey understanding. It refrains from eye-rolling or negative facial gestures and offers a handshake at departure. - Elaine Rosenblum, J.D., ProForm U®
11. Sincerely Smile And Slowly Nod
Nodding your head slowly or offering a sincere smile signals you are present and that you are there and listening. Even in our hardest situations, those small nuances communicate support and humanity without an overuse of authority. When we convey empathy for a situation, we show our own vulnerability, and in turn, our teams trust us more for opening up. - Christine Mann, Mann Consulting, LLC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
11 Nonverbal Ways To Express Empathy And Camaraderie With Your Team

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
More and more leaders are becoming aware of the role emotional intelligence plays in a successful workplace. Long gone are the days of harsh authority generating positive results - in today's world, you need to establish real connections with your team and show empathy if you want them to follow you.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Did you know?

Sympathy and empathy both refer to a caring response to the emotional state of another person, but a distinction between them is typically made: while sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful, empathy involves actively sharing in the emotional experience of the other person.

Sympathy has been in use since the 16th century, and its greater age is reflected in its wider breadth of meanings, including "a feeling of loyalty" and "unity or harmony in action or effect." It comes ultimately from the Greek sympathēs, meaning "having common feelings, sympathetic," which was formed from syn- ("with, together with") and páthos, "experience, misfortune, emotion, condition." Empathy was modeled on sympathy; it was coined in the early 20th century as a translation of the German Einfühlung ("feeling-in" or "feeling into"). First applied in contexts of philosophy, aesthetics, and psychology, empathy continues to have technical use in those fields that sympathy does not.

Did you know?

Compassion and empathy both refer to a caring response to someone else's distress. While empathy refers to an active sharing in the emotional experience of the other person, compassion adds to that emotional experience a desire to alleviate the person's distress.

... the story of Nellie Bly, the first female investigative reporter, who not only demanded justice from powerful institutions, but also insisted on dignity and compassion for the most vulnerable citizens. - The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Aug. 2022

Blonde clearly wants us to feel for Norma Jeane, but it dwells on her pain so obsessively ... that the movie's empathy feels like another form of exploitation. - Justin Chang, NPR, 23 Sept. 2022

The distinction between compassion and empathy is frequently a topic of exploration.

By empathy I mean feeling the feelings of other people. So if you're in pain and I feel your pain-I am feeling empathy toward you. If you're being anxious, I pick up your anxiety. If you're sad and I pick up your sadness, I'm being empathetic. And that's different from compassion. Compassion means I give your concern weight, I value it. I care about you, but I don't necessarily pick up your feelings. ... [I]f I feel compassion for you, I'll be invigorated. I'll be happy and I'll try to make your life better. - Paul Bloom, quoted in Vox, 16 Jan. 2019

Compassion is a much older word; it's been part of the language since the 14th century, and comes ultimately from Latin com- and pati, meaning "to bear, suffer." Empathy is a 20th century coinage modeled on sympathy as a translation of the German Einfühlung ("feeling-in" or "feeling into"). It was first applied in contexts of philosophy, aesthetics, and psychology and continues to have technical use in those fields.

Example Sentences

He felt great His months spent researching prison life gave him greater empathy with the poor. empathy towards convicts.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'empathy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

Greek empatheia, literally, passion, from empathēs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion - more at pathos

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 2

The first known use of empathy was in 1909

Dictionary Entries Near empathy

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster on empathy

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search-ad free!

Merriam-Webster unabridged

Challenging Words You Should Know

Often used to describe "the march of time," what does inexorable mean?

Can you make 12 words with 7 letters?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit... See the full definition

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The term “empathy” is used to describe a wide range of experiences. Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. Contemporary researchers often diff…

# data[].attributes.body
the difference between sympathetic and empathetic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The power of empathy: Helen Riess at TEDxMiddlebury

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Nouns make up the largest class of words in most languages, including English. A noun is a word that refers to a thing ( book), a person ( Noah Webster), an animal ( cat), a place ( Omaha), a quality ( softness), an idea ( justice), or an action ( yodeling). It's usually a single word, but not always: cake, shoes, school bus, and time and a half are all nouns.

There are a number of different categories of nouns.

There are common nouns and proper nouns. A common noun refers to a person, place, or thing but is not the name of a particular person, place, or thing. Examples are animal, sunlight, and happiness. A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing; it usually begins with a capital letter: Abraham Lincoln, Argentina, and World War I are all proper nouns.

A collective noun is a noun that names a group of people or things, such as flock or squad. It's sometimes unclear whether the verb for a collective noun should be singular or plural. In the United States, such nouns as company, team, herd, public, and class, as well as the names of companies, teams, etc., are treated as singular, but in the United Kingdom they are often treated as plural: ( US) "The team has been doing well this season." vs. ( British) "The team have been doing well this season."

are nouns that are identical to the present participle (-ing form) of a verb, as in "I enjoy swimming more than running."

An attributive noun is a noun that modifies another noun that immediately follows it, such as business in business meeting. These nouns look like adjectives but they're not.

For learners of English, the most important feature of a noun is whether it can be counted. A is a noun that can be used after a or an or after a number (or another word that means "more than one"). Count nouns have both singular and plural forms and can be used with both singular and plural verb forms, as with the word letter in "A letter for you is on the table. Letters for you arrive regularly." Sometimes the plural form of a count noun is the same as its singular form, as in "I saw a deer in my yard yesterday. There are a lot of deer in the woods near my house."

A (or noncount noun) refers to something that cannot be counted. Mass nouns are normally not used after the words a or an or after a number. They have only one form and are used with singular verb forms, as in " Portuguese is one of the languages they speak," and "The information was unclear."

Some nouns are not count or mass nouns. Nouns which only ever refer to one thing are called nouns: " Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun," "We heard a terrible din in the alley." And a noun refers to more than one person or thing, or sometimes to something that has two main parts. Plural nouns have only one form and are used with plural verb forms: " Townspeople are invited to a forum on the project," "These scissors are dull."

A particular noun can have any or all of these kinds of uses.

( count) I've read that book several times.

( mass) Time seemed to stop when I saw him for the first time.

( singular) The time is 3:22.

( plural) Fuel costs three times as much as it did five years ago.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
any member of a class of words that typically can be combined with determiners to serve as the subject of a verb, can be interpreted as singular or plural, can be replaced with a pronoun, and refer to an entity, quality, state, action, or concept... See the full definition

# data[].attributes.body
My definition of storytelling is using your imagination or experience to tell and connect with others

# data[].attributes.body
writing books is some peoples way of telling a story

# data[].attributes.body
animated videos tell stories as well

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hand Drawn Animation - Cyrano the Elephant in "Trunk Troubles"

# data[].attributes.body
puppets tell different types of stories

# data[].attributes.body
others sing there story
EX: Shawn Mendez wrote his song in my blood to tell his story about what it feels like to live with anxiety and depression.

# data[].attributes.body
talking is a big way people all over the world tell stories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
con·​nec·​tion | \ kə-ˈnek-shən \

a : causal or logical relation or sequence the connection between two ideas

b(1) : contextual relation or association In this connection the word has a different meaning.

(2) : relationship in fact wanted in connection with a robbery

c : a relation of personal intimacy (as of family ties) Family connections can make getting a job much easier.

d : coherence, continuity … a confused multitude without order or connection.— John Locke

2 a : something that connects : link a loose connection in the wiring

b : a means of communication or transport a telephone connection

3 : a person connected with another especially by marriage, kinship, or common interest has powerful connections

4 : a political, social, professional, or commercial relationship The school has no connection with the museum. : such as

b : an arrangement to execute orders or advance interests of another a firm's foreign connections

c : a source of contraband (such as illegal drugs)

5 : a set of persons associated together: such as

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
the act of connecting : the state of being connected: such as; causal or logical relation or sequence; contextual relation or association... See the full definition

# data[].attributes.body
We as humans have many types of connections for example Intimate Relationship...

# data[].attributes.body
PARENT RELASHIoNSHIPS

# data[].attributes.body
FRIENDSHIP

# data[].attributes.body
SIBLING RELASHIONSHIPS

# data[].attributes.body
WE are related to people we dont even know.

# data[].attributes.body
Genetic connections

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The genetic connections among organisms within a sexually reproducing populations form a tangled web. Through generations, the genes of an individual are passed along a chain of offspring, i.e., children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on. Through the process of interbreeding, the individual's genes are combined at each step with the genes of other individuals.

# data[].attributes.body
WE All HAVE A CONNECTION IN THIS WORLD ... BENEATH THE SKIN WE ARE ALL HUMAN

# data[].attributes.body
others use shorter forms of literature to express there stories

# data[].attributes.body
Connections are also puzzle peaces that come together to create a big picture

# data[].attributes.body
There is also electronic connections

# data[].attributes.body
the Aztecs have there way of telling stories too

# data[].attributes.body
hula dancers tell there story through dancing