Most leaders treat empathy and profit as competing forces. They believe caring about people means compromising on results, or that driving performance requires sacrificing culture. This false trade-off creates organizations that underperform on both dimensions.
Jamie Durling, a Chief HR Executive and board member, has led people strategy and operations for global brands across luxury, trade shows, and media for over two decades. He has seen firsthand that organizations thrive when leaders stop viewing empathy and execution as opposites and instead treat them as mutually reinforcing strategies.
“I’ve seen how organizations perform when leaders lead with empathy and deliver results,” Durling explains. “Both can exist at the same time. Both should exist at the same time.”
Empathy Is Not Soft. It Is Strategic.
Empathy is not about lowering expectations. It is about understanding the realities teams face and responding with clarity, not just compassion. Leaders who listen deeply make better, faster decisions and inspire stronger follow-through because their teams trust that leadership understands what is actually happening on the ground.
During a rapid scale-up, Durling built strong regional HR partnerships that allowed his team to quickly spot workforce challenges and realign support to drive both well-being and performance. This was not about employee satisfaction surveys or engagement initiatives disconnected from business outcomes. It was about creating infrastructure that informed decision-making in real time.
“Building regional HR partnerships allowed us to quickly spot workforce challenges and realign support to drive both well-being and performance,” says Durling. “Not just individual performance. Financial performance and EBITDA growth. That is not softness. It is business intelligence.”
This approach delivers measurable outcomes. Teams with strong support structures hit performance targets more consistently because they are not operating under constraints leadership does not understand. Turnover decreases when people feel heard, reducing the cost and disruption of constant rehiring. Decision quality improves because leaders have accurate information about what is blocking progress and what is enabling it.
Communicate the Why Behind the What
People do not resist change. People resist confusion. One of the most powerful ways to demonstrate empathy is to clearly explain why decisions are being made, especially in high-pressure environments. If you do not know why, you should not be making the decision.
In global transformations Durling has led, whether post-merger or during rapid scale-ups, transparent and continuous communication has been key to maintaining trust and momentum. Employees do not need sugarcoating. They need to feel included and informed so they can make sense of what is happening and understand how their work contributes to the larger strategy.
“Communicating the why enables our employees to effectively impact, drive, and deliver that strategy,” Durling explains. “When people understand the reasoning behind decisions, they can execute with confidence instead of second-guessing every move.”
Clear communication reduces the time teams spend interpreting leadership intent or debating what priorities actually matter. It eliminates the friction that comes from misalignment and allows execution to move faster because everyone is working from the same understanding of what needs to happen and why it matters.
Build Systems That Support Both People and Profit
Empathy must be operationalized. Systems should be designed so that both performance expectations and the support mechanisms behind them are clear. Without this, empathy becomes performative rather than functional.
Durling has evolved talent frameworks that integrate coaching, feedback, and goal tracking, all tied to business outcomes. This shifted accountability from being solely top-down to being shared across engaged and enabled teams that were empowered to deliver.
“We enabled our employees, not just engaged them,” says Durling. “When you create systems where people feel heard, supported, and challenged, and are given the resources to do their jobs effectively, you do not just protect culture. You amplify financial results.”
Operationalized empathy means performance management systems that clarify expectations while providing the coaching and resources people need to meet them. It means compensation structures that reward outcomes while acknowledging the realities of different markets and roles. It means career development frameworks that tie individual growth to business priorities, so advancement is not disconnected from value creation.
The Direct Route to Sustained Growth
Empathy is not a detour from profit. It is a direct route to sustained growth. When leaders integrate empathy into strategy rather than treating it as a separate initiative, they create workplaces where people perform at higher levels because they have the clarity, support, and resources to succeed.
“If you’re ready to lead with both heart and head, the opportunity is there,” Durling concludes. “Build systems that support both people and profit. It is not only possible. It is necessary for your results.”
Connect with Jamie Durling on LinkedIn for insights on leading with empathy while driving financial performance.
