“Should Ireland be focussing on our relationship skills as our unique selling point?” Gina Quin CEO, Dublin Chamber of Commerce, asked the panel at the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) breakfast meeting in the Conrad Hotel Dublin on the 16th September? Bernie O’Hanlon, Director of Channel Management for Microsoft Ireland, with 22 years of experience with the company, responded by saying, “yes, while Europeans in general and the Irish in particular were known for their people skills, we have not been making full use of them in recent times and need to begin concentrating on them again”.
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| Bernie O'Hanlon |
Kim Majerus originally from Chicago, General Manager of Cisco Ireland, added that people buy from people and the Irish are very interested in you and your life. This reinforced a point made earlier by Rachel Mooney, Head of Organizational Culture and Capability for Vodafone Ireland, that empathy means being human and not cutting off what makes each of us unique when we enter the workplace. Mooney’s empathic business role model is Sheryl Sandberg, a phenomenal networker, and a former colleague of hers in Google, who genuinely listened to her team and would let nothing stand in the way of doing the right thing. As a result her team would have run through fire for her.
Empathy can also be defined as putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes and as Celine Mullins, psychologist and founder of Act4 Business explained, “research proves that 65% of us who have a secure attachment with our primary carer as children will naturally develop this skill, unfortunately the 35% who don’t will need help to foster it.” O’Hanlon’s example of the empathy demonstrated by a Northwest Airline ground crew member in getting her life-containing laptop flown back to her destination city after a fellow airport passenger accidentally picked it up, thinking it was his, while they were going through security and boarded his plane with it, clearly shows this. She had to go to 48 desks before she met a Northwest Airline ground crew member who empathised with her predicament. O’Hanlon works for a company of 90,000 people - that’s a lot of business flights per year and a clear indication of how empathy translates into sound business sense.
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| Rachel Mooney and Kim Majerus |
Irial O’Farrell, moderator and founder of Evolution Consulting asked the panel, “if empathy can be developed?” It was agreed that it’s easier to grow in smaller groups and Majerus pointed out that for those who are not naturally empathic, relating a particular situation with a fellow employee in work, to how a family member might feel if the same thing happened, develops understanding and increases empathy.
Fiona O’Connor from Boardmatch.ie queried, “if women tended to be more empathic than men?” In a move away from the stereotype, Mooney believed that men are more open with their feelings in the workplace than women and are becoming more empathic. Majerus, on the other hand, felt that women traditionally listen to their gut more. Mullins was clear, however, that while testosterone can initially inhibit the production of oxytocin (the bonding hormone), men are highly capable of empathy, with which Conor Hurley from Arthur Cox sponsors of the event strongly concurred.
Andrea Cusack of Sheppard Moscow posed an interesting question on the right balance between empathy and leadership. It was roundly agreed that in times of crisis, people want a clear message delivered by a strong leader and that empathy, the response to the message, is not necessarily competing with leadership, the message itself.
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| Pamela Jeffrey and Celine Mullins |
