Page 73 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

52 CHAPTER 2

the better part of a year learning to listen to each other is borne out in the company’s
Statement of Purpose:

We aim to become a vertically integrated, truly sustainable real estate company.
Our definition of sustainability focuses on the triple bottom line of economic per-
formance, environmental footprint, and social engagement with the community. We
®
view ourselves as an Enveloper —enveloping our community in a fabric of innova-
tive, sustainable, inspiring practices.

Collective visioning was the green glue that ultimately resulted in a statement of
purpose that everyone felt ownership of and could understand and support. But the
green glue that made this collective visioning stick was empathic leadership.

Empathic Leadership
Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee, in their book Primal Leadership, state the business
case for empathy very clearly:

When leaders are able to grasp other people’s feelings and perspectives, they access a
potent emotional guidance system that keeps what they say and do on track. As such,
empathy is the sine qua non of all social effectiveness in working life. Empathetic peo-
ple are superb at recognizing and meeting the needs of clients and customers, or sub-
ordinates. They seem approachable, wanting to hear what people have to say. They
listen carefully, picking up on what people are truly concerned about, and they respond
on the mark. Accordingly, empathy is key to retaining talent. Leaders have always
needed empathy to develop and keep good people, but when there is a war for talent,
the stakes are higher. 4

Most business writings on leadership focus on the competition for top talent and the
value of retention as the underlying rationale for empathic leadership. I certainly
wouldn’t dispute that. Research has proven that people want to be recognized and val-
ued. Showing empathy is part of giving the right kind of recognition, an aspect of an
intangible compensation program, if you will. It motivates people to go the extra mile.
And so on.
But I think that such a take on empathic leadership misses something more funda-
mental. Being an empathic leader, particularly in the context of shaping a vision for a
company, makes a statement about ownership. It says we need to understand your
feelings and beliefs because without that, there is no strategic vision for the company.
It also sets the stage for a different approach to day-to-day management of the com-
pany, stating in effect that this leadership team intends to seek out and listen to every-
one on matters that are of the utmost importance, all the way down to the most
mundane. If the leadership team seeks to understand the needs of all its staff members
at a deep psychological level in order to shape the direction of the company, imagine
how it will govern relationships and practices on a daily basis.