Monica Worline discusses findings on compassion at work, its utility in tough times

November 16, 2016

In an interview with Central Valley Business Times, Monica Worline explains how compassion at work can ease political wounds.

“It’s quite important,” she noted, for a number of key areas including innovation, service quality, adapting to change, recruiting, and retaining talent. In response to whether compassion is a “soft” way of managing people, she stated “the most compassionate leaders are the ones who are willing to be direct and also kind, and usually not perceived as soft but are perceived as caring even when they have to do difficult things.”

Worline and Jane Dutton have been conducting research on compassion for over 20 years. Together, they will be releasing the book Awakening Compassion at Work in early 2017 (Berrett-Koehler Publishers).

Worline is a Center for Positive Organizations faculty affiliate, chief executive officer EnlivenWork in Palo Alto, and a research scientist at Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research. Dutton is Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration and Psychology and co-founder of the Center for Positive Organizations.