Empathy in Leadership: The Foundation of High-Trust, High-Performance Organisations | Spring House

 "Women leaders often bring a natural sense of empathy that helps build stronger teams and ensures organisations grow with people at the centre. As a CFO, I see this perspective translating into responsible financial stewardship and strong governance-foundations that enable organisations to scale sustainably."

A few weeks ago, CXO Digital Pulse invited me to share insights as part of their #StrengtHER campaign celebrating women who #LeadTheChange.

I was genuinely excited to be part of that conversation, because there’s something deeply reassuring about seeing more women step into leadership roles.

And if there’s one thing I’ve consistently observed, it’s this: women leaders often bring empathy to the table almost naturally.

Now, empathy is one of those words that’s often misunderstood. People hear it and imagine a leader nodding gently in a one-on-one conversation. But in reality, empathy in leadership looks very different.

What "Empathy in Leadership" Actually Looks Like (It's Not What You Think)

• For instance, it shows up in the kind of teams you build. When people feel seen and heard, they surface problems early before they become expensive. They don’t pass this problem on to others. They try to solve that problem in their own way (if they can). They speak up if the problem is out of their skill set. What matters here is that the team with an empathetic leader is proactive in catching the problems. And that matters most for effective risk management.

• At the same time, empathy changes how governance is experienced. Strong governance isn’t about control for the sake of control. Instead, it’s about clarity. When people understand why certain guardrails exist, they respect them. But when they don’t, they find ways around them. Empathy helps bridge that gap. It makes governance feel human, not punitive.

• And then there’s a long view. Truly sustainable growth requires thinking in decades, not quarters. It requires caring about what you’re building, not just how fast you’re building it. In many ways, that long-term thinking is also an act of empathy towards the people who will live with the consequences of today’s decisions long after the meeting ends.

Interestingly, this perspective became even clearer to me during my time at the IIT Delhi Department of Management Studies. The programme was everything you’d expect—technically rigorous, intellectually demanding, and incredibly enriching.

However, what stayed with me wasn’t something from the syllabus.

It was a pattern I noticed.

The best finance leaders in the room weren’t the ones who had all the answers. They were the ones asking better questions. Questions that went beyond numbers. Questions like:

• What assumptions are we making here?
• Whose perspective is missing?
• And what does “growth” really cost—not just financially, but organisationally?

That experience didn’t just sharpen my financial thinking. It made me more curious about people. And over time, I’ve come to believe that curiosity is simply empathy in action.

Back at Spring House Workspaces, this idea plays out every day. Today, we operate 25 centres and manage over a million square feet of workspace across Delhi NCR, serving more than 300 organisations and 11,000 members.

On paper, those numbers look exciting. And they are.

But they also come with a certain weight.

Because when your decisions impact the working lives of 11,000 people, growth stops being an abstract KPI. It becomes tangible. Every decision you make has a ripple effectacross workspaces, teams, and livelihoods.

And that changes how you approach the role.

Responsible Financial Stewardship Is About Being Curious About People

For me, responsible financial stewardship isn’t just about discipline, although that remains critical. It’s about building systems that can scale without losing their essence. It’s about holding governance firmly, while still staying open and curious about people.

It also means having the patience to say “not yet” to certain opportunities, so that you can say “absolutely” to the right ones at the right time.

Finally, I want to say this to women in finance and leadership.

To the Women Leading in Finance

Being part of conversations like #StrengtHER matters, not because representation is a checkbox, but because visibility matters in fields where women have historically had to work twice as hard to be heard half as much.

If you’ve ever been told that leading with empathy makes you less “hard” as a leader, I would gently challenge that idea.

Because the ability to balance rigour with humanity isn’t a weakness.

It’s a capability.

In fact, it’s exactly what leadership today demands.

We don't have to choose between being sharp and being human. The best leadership is both. Always.