Impathy is the counterpart of empathy. Empathy points outward, to what others experience. Impathy points inward, to our own experience. Here is the impathy meaning in one sentence, three key statements and the difference from empathy: The short version of my 2023 Forbes article, for anyone reading the term for the first time.
Impathy, noun: The ability to take part in your own feelings and to understand them. The term comes from Stefanie Neubrand’s research (Frontiers in Psychology, 2022) and describes a non-judgemental acceptance of our own thoughts and emotions, without evaluating them and without being carried away by them. This impathy meaning separates two steps that usually collapse into one in daily life: Noticing what is there, and deciding what to do with it.
Impathy reduces self-criticism because it leaves the content of an experience neutral and focuses attention on how we process it. That creates psychological safety and flexibility, first in dealing with ourselves, then in dealing with others. As short as the impathy meaning sounds, it is demanding in daily life: Most leaders judge their own feelings faster than they notice them. Impathy interrupts that reflex.
For top leaders, impathy plays a major role in personal growth. It influences leadership effectiveness and the leader’s relationship with themselves. Leaders who cultivate impathy lead in a more inclusive and successful way, based on self-knowledge and genuine connection. An example from coaching: A CEO who feels anger after a meeting and reads it as information rather than weakness decides differently in the afternoon than one who pushes the anger away. The first asks what the anger tells him about the meeting. The second carries it into the next one. That is impathy in practice, and it can be trained.
1. Impathy emphasises the inner processing of our own experiences in leadership. Before a leader understands others, they understand what is happening inside themselves.
2. Impathy raises psychological flexibility and improves the relationship with oneself. Better decisions follow, because personal bias carries less weight.
3. Impathy is a key competence for leaders in the 21st century. It leads to self-knowledge, to an environment where people speak openly, and to informed decisions. In leadership teams this shows first in meetings: Leaders who stay with themselves listen longer, interrupt less and decide with fewer reversals. The team notices the difference long before it knows the term.
Empathy asks: What does the other person feel? Impathy asks: What do I feel, and which part of that belongs here right now? A leader needs both. In my experience the second is usually missing, and that is exactly where most leadership problems begin. Anyone who takes the impathy meaning seriously therefore practises noticing first: What is there right now, before I label it? One minute before the next meeting is enough to start.
The full version with the research background, the three levels of impact and an everyday exercise is in the article The power of impathy in leadership excellence.
Further reading on hofmann.coach: Self-confidence: The most powerful weapon of a leader · Leadership lives in the minds of those you lead · Executive Coach
Note: Short version of «The Power Of Impathy For Leadership Excellence», published on 27 June 2023 in the Forbes Coaches Council. Source of the term: Neubrand, S. (2022), Frontiers in Psychology.
Cristian Hofmann is an executive coach in Zurich and Schaffhausen (MAS Coaching & Supervision BSO, Forbes contributor). Over more than 20 years he has coached more than 1,500 leaders: CEOs, executive boards and leadership teams in Switzerland, with measurably agreed goals and, on request, pay-for-results. More about Cristian Hofmann.
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