The need for empathetic leadership grows exponentially in a post-Covid world of accelerating digital transformation. Managers need to support humans in an increasingly virtual and artificially oversaturated world.

Though tempted by the productivity boost of Gen AI, many worry about its impact on their livelihoods, families, communities, and society. One-third of all jobs worldwide, or 1 billion jobs, will likely be transformed by technology in the next decade (OECD). In the fourth industrial revolution, a new set of workers is confronting their replaceability and experiencing a general malaise.

Many turn to technology to palliate their feelings, becoming dependent on artificial empathy. But instant gratification and virtual acquaintances seem to worsen loneliness, inadequacy, and polarization.

Researchers report an increase in narcissistic tendencies, suggesting that we may expect a decrease in empathetic behavior in the workplace. Behavior honed on social media could be turning discourse to discord as narcissistic personal brands battle over “market shares.”

When technology accelerates and flattens interactions, genuine empathy struggles. Tech emphasizes convenience, but empathy thrives on patience, humility, and vulnerability. Without it, we cannot truly connect. Yet human experience thrives on genuine connections because empathy requires knowing the other.

Leaders aren’t immune; burnout erodes their empathic capacity. Understanding and connection demand complex faculties, often compromised by urgency and immediacy. It takes time, honesty, and trust. Self-awareness — our ability to accept ourselves for who we are— is essential for leaders.

Reevaluating the role of empathy and how it shapes the leader-member exchange is central to navigating the AI-powered workplace transformation in a way that supports human sustainability. Such reflections will ensure AI will enhance and strengthen the human workforce, not replace or damage it.

A curious correlation between artificial and emotional intelligence?

A decade ago, clumsy chatbots amused us. Today, they generate artificial empathy via natural language processing, affective computing, and machine learning algorithms. Large Language Models like ChatGPT automate the generation of materials using general language and other resources, making synthetic (or artificial) thinking, speaking, and feeling that closely replicate some human outputs, often faster and more efficiently.

Amusement recedes as the machines interpret emotional cues and generate more appropriate responses as seemingly perfect conversationalists. But when a chatbot says, “I am sorry,” we know it does not feel sorry in any real sense.

Engaging with a robot or chatbot doesn’t involve respect, empathy, or kindness. They are there on demand – focused on us. They advertise personal brand values and reward toxic behavior. We bark orders at them, as we do to Alexa and Siri and Gen AI tools. No “please” and” thank you” required.

As these interactions take over large swaths of our lives, the brain’s emotional centers might atrophy, just as the advent of navigation systems shrank London Taxi drivers’ hippocampus (memory centers).

Atrophy carries implications: An emotionally crippled leader will not address change recipients’ fears of being easily replaced by AI. And with change leadership focused on the workload without empathizing with the people that do the work, we can’t expect to see improved strategic processes.

The emotional nature of workplace transformation

Because change makes many of us uncomfortable, we often resort to familiar patterns. As a result, nearly 70% of organizational change efforts fail because the change exceeds the organization’s capacity to cope. Leaders struggle to get their teams and employees onboard, failing to compel them with stories of a better future. They must articulate a new reality employees can see.

Empathy is a critical element in leading change. Leaders and managers need active listening skills to understand employee needs, dreams, and fears to get employees to believe in a strategic goal and accept perhaps painful adjustments. Empathy can build this crucial audience engagement via networks of change agents who can influence change adoption. 

A message of hope in an emotionally atrophied and digitally disrupted workplace

Beyond what the experts say, most humans know how powerful it feels to be understood. After all, what better way to lead than tuning into someone else’s experience? Before helping others make sense of AI-driven digital transformation, leaders need to make sense of it for themselves. We suggest the following practices:

Awareness: Recognize how technology’s capacity to cater to you might affect your disposition and empathy. Focus on maintaining empathy when these interactions undermine depth and patience. Understand that empathy is a crucial element of organizational change success.

(In)dependence: Reflect on how much of your world is mediated by technology and how to connect to humans again. Where would you find solace, escape, and connection if technology were to fail? What would you remember about the emails you read and stories you heard? What are you doing to recognize Gen AI’s limitations and your own cognitive biases? Be mindful of how you process inputs, content, and generate responses with technology.

Accessibility: Recognize your experience of change adoption and understand that change recipients will go through a similar process, possibly more intensive and with a higher risk. Consider how much of your online presence is pretense. Trusting team members enough to display vulnerability to build interpersonal is difficult when having the courage to show vulnerability is still considered a sign of weakness. 

Chatbots will never know what it is to live a life—to feel one’s feelings and those of others. Only humans can understand. Well-functioning groups need reciprocal altruism and compassion (empathy + action).

Unsurprisingly, nine out of the top 10 skills for 2025 identified by the World Economic Forum are related to people—preserving and enhancing these skills will require more and more intentional practice in the digital age. Our ability to form connections is our superpower in building a sustainable future in the digital workplace.