Empathy, Leadership, and Life Experiences

Talking about Empathy, Leadership, and Life Experiences! 🙆🏻‍♂️ 🕹

What’s up, beautiful people! 🌟 Hope you’re all shining bright! So, I’ve been on this incredible journey lately, filled with learning and laughter, and guess what? It led me straight to a goldmine of thoughts about empathy and leadership, inspired by the one and only Gary Vaynerchuk. Ready to dive in with me?

To give a bit of context, Gary Vee is the brain behind VaynerMedia and has this uncanny ability to see where the digital world’s heading. Over the years, what really resonated with me wasn’t his tricks of the trade but solid gold values lived out: empathy, understanding, and straight-up candor.

We’ll roll back for a little in here, to 2014. I had my mind made up to dip my toes in the world of Esports associations that, a few years later, took me to finally give birth to DEVA – Asociación de Deportes Electrónicos y Videojuegos de Argentina. Imagine that, a group of esports fanatics, coming together solely led by passion (read: way too much coffee) to light a spark of something they truly believed in. Fast forward to today, and I can proudly call some of these amazing people my friends.

But here’s the kicker about organizations – often, there’s little to no money in the kitty. It is all about passion, dedication, and a common goal close to our hearts. These are the real MVPs—organizations run by volunteers and collaborators who can pour time, skills, and energy into the mix but not mainly because they are motivated by a paycheck.

I learned what leadership really is; not managing, but serving, guiding, and growing together. The learning curve was steep, no doubt. Of course, there were still a few flavors of micromanaging, vastly misplaced expectations, and those classical “why can’t you see it my way?” dilemmas of the early days. And then, empathy entered the chat.

Here are four key takeaways about leading with empathy and a dash of candor:

Listening Is Golden: Truly hearing what your team has to say builds trust like nothing else.

Flexibility and Trust: Sometimes, letting go of the reins allows people to surprise you in the best ways.

Mistakes Are Just Pit Stops: They’re not the end of the road but chances to learn, adapt, and grow.

Candor Clears: openness and straightforwardness, served with kind honesty, are our points of open communication and mutual respect.

Years of experience in dealing with different organizational teams—from startups to the most established ones—have brought living examples of these values in practice to me. That’s true for hiring staff or rallying volunteers; it’s equally true for partnerships that cross sectors. Always remembering the mantra: “Action always brings more action; in others and in ourselves, the momentum is what keeps it growing.”

So, have you ever experienced the magic of empathetic leadership in your own life? ✨