Self‐awareness, empathy, and inclusion: a powerful trio

Abstract

Leading with empathy is a hallmark of many leadership strategies. As members of the 2021–2022 cohort of the Senior Leadership Academy (SLA) run by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI), we set out to understand what leading with empathy should look like. Simultaneously, as part of our introversion and leadership group project, we conducted both secondary research and primary research interviews with introverted leaders on our group members’ campuses. Our examination happened during a time in which colleges and universities were just beginning to sort out what postpandemic higher education would look like. Events such as the murder of George Floyd were also shining a spotlight in higher education on diversity, equity, and inclusion. This context only served to highlight for us the need to center empathy in leadership conversations and reinforced lessons we were learning from our personal experiences, from our institutions, from our SLA colleagues, and from each other. Here we present some of the lessons we have learned about understanding ourselves as leaders and how that understanding can inform the way we respond to those we lead with empathy.