We are living through a moment in time when everything is in upheaval. As we move forward into a new era, we have an exceptional opportunity to put the pieces together in a way that will lead to a safer, more just, more sustainable world. Is that possible? Yes! And compassionate action, catalyzed and led by compassionate leaders and organizations, can play a central role in creating a more humane global society.
We are hard-wired for this moment.
Our brains, from the earliest days of our life, have the capacity for compassionate action. Babies experience emotional contagion, a precursor to empathy and compassion, from their earliest days. Within a day of birth, a newborn who hears another baby crying will respond by crying as well. At ten months, additional empathic responses arise. Then, at around fourteen months, the capacity for compassion arises, and babies will be seen seeking to comfort someone in distress, through touching or kissing or simply moving toward the sufferer. Before words, children already understand that “we are all in this together.”
Although we associate Darwin with “the survival of the fittest,” Darwin’s research showed clearly that communities that cooperated and supported each other had the healthiest offspring and the greatest number of offspring. Highly competitive survival techniques were more valuable in more primitive times. However, the threats faced by our early ancestors are no longer our threats. The global economy produces enough to offer survival to all humanity without needing a “survival of the fittest” mentality.
Brain scans show that compassionate action delights the giver of compassion.
Whether due to puritanical teaching or fear of lack, many people associate compassionate action with uncomfortable sacrifice. The tragic part of this fear of compassion is that science now shows us just the opposite: compassionate acts create a rewarding emotional response in the one offering compassion.
Compassion and empathy are two related, but subtly distinct emotions. Empathy is our ability to share and understand the emotions and feelings of another. Compassion also includes the understanding of the emotions of another, and additionally a desire to act to improve the other’s wellbeing. The primary difference between empathy and compassion is action!
One of the powerful discoveries of modern neuroscience is that empathy and compassion generate distinct neurological responses in different parts of the brain. While empathy for the suffering of others triggers activity in the area of the brain associated with pain responses (anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex), compassion generates activity in the brain region associated with regulating emotions and prosocial reward response (prefrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex.) By controlling our emotional response, we are able to break through the discomfort of sharing in another’s suffering and move toward helpful action. In turn, the intention to take or the taking of action is very rewarding and reinforces our desire to bring more compassionate behavior forward in our lives.
Leaders are more effective when they lead compassionately
Leaders, in particular, are often hesitant to focus on compassion for fear that it will create a perception of weakness among their peers and team members. Again, recent scientific evidence shows that just the opposite is true. Actually, compassionate leaders are viewed as both stronger leaders and more effective leaders.
Compassionate leaders respond to their team with kindness and patience. They are strongly focused on shared team goals and purpose, and realistic enough to recognize what is holding their team back from hitting the mark. Usually the hurdles, individually or collectively, lie somewhere within our human fallibility. Rather than responding with anger and judgment, compassionate leaders offer understanding, which has been shown to be much more effective in motivating positive action and change.
Whether your goals are global in scope or more narrowly focused on the tasks of a local work team or community, compassionate leadership is a powerful means to achieve them. With the scope of challenges facing us in the world today, if we all pursue compassionate action in our interactions with others, we will accomplish all that is required of us and flourish.