decisions and forfeit the benefits just described—
failing to recognize its limits can impair individual
and organizational performance.
Here are some of the biggest problems you can run
into and recommendations for getting around them.
Problem #1: It’s exhausting.
Like heavy-duty cognitive tasks, such as keeping
multiple pieces of information in mind at once or
avoiding distractions in a busy environment, empathy
depletes our mental resources. So jobs that require
constant empathy can lead to “compassion fatigue,”
an acute inability to empathize that’s driven
by stress, and burnout, a more gradual and chronic
version of this phenomenon.
Health and human services professionals (doctors,
nurses, social workers, corrections oicers) are
especially at risk, because empathy is central to their
day-to-day jobs. In a study of hospice nurses, for
example, the key predictors for compassion fatigue
were psychological: anxiety, feelings of trauma, life