In leadership and education, we often talk about performance, innovation, and resilience. But beneath all of these lies a quieter force - one that’s often misunderstood, undervalued, or dismissed as “soft.”   That force is empathy .   Empathy isn’t just a warm feeling or a moral virtue. It’s a neurocognitive capability —a dynamic system of processes that allow us to feel with others, distinguish their emotions from our own, imagine their perspective, regulate our reactions, a

'Think through.'   What do you mean, boss?   Confused. Frustrated. Anxious.   I've worked so hard, made so many changes and you are still unsatisfied?   Every conversation was a tug-of-war; filled with tension and uncertainty. I found myself bracing for criticism, and feeling foolish for not 'thinking through'.   My voice became softer and quieter. My confidence, diminished. And my desire to learn and excel? Extinguished.   What am I not seeing? What exactly am I missing?   T

Are you intelligent? Do you believe you are?   One of the ways of interpreting intelligence focuses on cognitive processes, examining how people solve problems (Sternberg & Kaufman, 1998, 49:479–502). This involves the executive function of our brain and encompasses three key skills: working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility. What this means for us, in layman terms:  can we hold the information in our minds, inhibit our behaviours based on past rules and be flexibl