It was a regular Monday morning when the HR Manager, noticed something odd in the meeting room. One chair was always kept empty during the weekly leadership meetings. Curious, she finally asked her CEO why.
He smiled and said, “That chair represents an employee who isn’t in this room. Every time we make a decision, we look at that chair and ask, ‘How will this affect the person sitting here?’”
From that day on, HR started applying the same principle in her daily work—whether designing a new leave policy or responding to a grievance, she imagined the employee sitting in front of her.
Moral: Empathy isn’t just a soft skill—it’s a leadership skill. Always leave space for the employee’s voice.