complaint was only that he had no people skills. Ultimately,
of course, Ed’s problem was much deeper than that, but peo-
ple skills deserve more attention than they often receive in
dis cussions of leadership. Some of them can be taught; I’m
not certain that all of them can. Empathy, for example—like
charisma—may be something that people either have or don’t
have. Not all leaders have it, but many do—and as Marty
Kaplan said, “I’ve known leaders who have had none of it
and nevertheless were leaders, but those who have had that
quality have moved and inspired me more.” Gloria Steinem
added, “There are a lot of excellent people who can’t em-
pathize very well.”
As a CBS executive Barbara Corday worked through empa-
thy, which she sees as particularly female: “I think women gen-
erally see power in a different way from men. I don’t have any
need for personal power, especially over people. I want to have
the kind of power that is my company working well, my staff
working well.... As moms and wives and daughters we’ve
been caretakers, and a lot of the caretakers in our lives were
women, and we continue in caretaking roles even as we get suc-
cessful in business. And that feels natural to us. I have always
been very pleased and happy and proud of the fact that I not
only know all the people who work for me, but I know their
husbands’ and wives’ names, and I know their children’s names,
and I know who’s been sick, and I know what to ask. That’s
what’s special to me in a work atmosphere. I think that’s what
people appreciate, and that’s why they want to be there, and
that’s why they’re loyal, and that’s why they care about what
they’re doing. And I think that is peculiarly female.”
The men I spoke with also talked of empathy, however. Herb
Alpert said, “One of the keys to dealing with artists is to be sen-
On Becoming a Leader