Learning the principles of compassion and leadership are important steps on the journey to developing a meaningful compassionate leadership practice. Understanding and doing, however, are two different things. Those who want to show up as truly compassionate leaders need to integrate these principles and practices into their whole life so that is who they become.

Compassion, at its core, is a distinctly human act. Does that mean that organizations cannot be compassionate?

The same attributes that lead to gaining power are attributes that are undermined once one has achieved a position of power. Dacher Keltner, in The Power Paradox, shows us the origins of power, how it is part of all our everyday transactions and can consistently be a positive thing, how power can be abused and lost, and the costs of subjecting others to conditions that create powerlessness.

Chris Whitehead’s Compassionate Leadership: Creating Places of Belonging covers an exceptionally comprehensive amount of territory related to compassionate leadership, and does so in a well-structured manner.

Many people think that leadership and compassion don’t belong together. In reality, they strengthen and complement each other. Leaders who lead with compassion get better results, and the compassion we so profoundly need in this world will be developed most effectively if our leaders are acting compassionately and spreading compassion.

In The Mind of the Leader, Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter offer a clear, structured means for leaders to achieve greater individual engagement and create environments that are more responsive to the relational needs of today’s workplace.