71% of leaders report increased stress. And 59% of CEOs now view empathy as a “nice to have.”
Read those two numbers together.
The tension
When pressure rises, empathy is usually the first thing leaders drop. It starts to feel like a luxury, something for calmer days. But the evidence points in the opposite direction. Teams don’t hold together under stress because of strategy alone. They hold together because someone is paying attention to what people are actually experiencing.
This is the tension many organisations are sitting in right now. More is being asked of leaders emotionally than ever before, while the very skills that make emotional leadership possible are being quietly deprioritised.
What the numbers say
DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2025 surveyed 10,796 leaders across more than 50 countries. 71% reported increased stress since stepping into their role, and 40% had considered leaving leadership altogether.
Businessolver’s 2025 State of Workplace Empathy report, the tenth annual edition, found 59% of CEOs describing empathy as a perk or a nice to have, up twelve points in a year. The same research puts the cost of unempathetic organisations at around $180 billion a year in US attrition.
The two findings sit either side of the same gap. Leaders are under more strain than they were, and the thing that would help them carry a team through it is being reclassified as optional.
Warmth and strength
In the Braver than Before® programme, we talk about warmth and strength. The idea is simple: you don’t have to choose between holding high standards and holding people well. Clarity and care aren’t in competition.
A practical starting point
Before your next difficult conversation, pause on two questions.
What does this person need to know?
What does this person need to feel?
Most of us prepare thoroughly for the first. The second tends to get skipped, especially when we’re stretched. But it’s often the part that determines whether the conversation actually lands.
The second question doesn’t soften the first. Knowing that someone needs to leave with their dignity intact changes how you deliver a message, not whether you deliver it.
Sources
Development Dimensions International (2025). Global Leadership Forecast 2025. Study of 10,796 leaders across more than 50 countries. ddi.com
Businessolver (2025). 2025 State of Workplace Empathy Report. Tenth annual edition, drawing on more than 26,000 responses over the decade. businessolver.com
About Braver than Before®
Braver than Before® is a courage-building programme for leaders: six progressive workshops covering vulnerability, brave conversations, speaking up, self-compassion and resilience, equivalent to 30 hours of CPD. 91% of graduates are more likely to speak up after the programme, and 96% report increased confidence to act when something needs to change.