Do you know why you lead?

By Mary Schaefer

Years ago my boss and I were talking about a controversial decision within the company. We in HR were charged with presenting it. It was not going be well received by the employee community.

This news I could handle. The bigger issue for me was how the message was delivered to me. When we as HR professionals were notified of the decision, it was suggested we might over-empathize with employees, and in turn, look like we were not supporting the company’s decision. It felt lik...