Using Empathy Coaching to Improve Interpersonal Relationships at Work

William J. Rothwell · Jamie Campbell · Phillip L. Ealy · Behnam Bakhshandeh

Sep 2025 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Ebook

260

Pages

Eligible

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About this ebook

Meaningful human interaction requires empathy, the ability to understand and share another's feelings. It promotes genuine connections, compassion, and social cohesion. Sympathy involves acknowledging another's hardships from your perspective, often leading to pity rather than a shared emotional experience. The difference between empathy and sympathy is key. Sympathy makes you a compassionate observer, but empathy immerses you in another's experience, deepening understanding and connection. Sympathy disconnects, but empathy connects.

Increased social isolation, digital dependence, and polarization are to blame. Screen time and online interactions can sometimes hinder emotional intelligence and empathy. Social polarization makes it hard to empathize with opposing views. A lack of empathy can cause society to suffer, discriminate, and show a lack of compassion. It also makes working with others, especially those with different views, harder.

How can individuals be helped to demonstrate more empathy? That question has provoked much thought among business leaders, government leaders, social activists, and workers. This book sheds light on that question.

About the author

William J. Rothwell, PhD, DBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, RODC, FLMI, CPTD Fellow, is a Distinguished Professor at Penn State, USA, and President of Rothwell & Associates, Inc. He has nearly 20 years of internal Organization Development (OD) experience and founded Penn State’s OD Master’s program. He has led, and still leads, three OD consulting firms for 30 years and serves as an external OD consultant.

Jamie Campbell, PhD, CDE, was an inaugural fellow in the CEO Action for Racial Equity program, focusing on education policy and legal reforms. A Morehouse College (USA) graduate, he earned an MEd in Adult Education from Central Michigan (USA) and a PhD in Workforce Education from Penn State (USA), specializing in organization design and human resource development.

Phillip L. Ealy, PhD, MPS, is an author, researcher, and practitioner passionate about helping organizations thrive. He earned his doctorate degree from Pennsylvania State University. He is a co-founder and vice president of operations for Ealy Hopkins Consulting Group, LLC., and holds the Master Practitioner designation from the International Association of Coaching.

Behnam Bakhshandeh, PhD, MPS, is an accomplished business manager and a personal and professional development expert with over three decades of field experience working with individuals, teams, and organizations. He is widely known as a dynamic executive coach, business coach, amongst other roles.

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