The photo above is the Manchester skyline, taken around 5:30 pm a couple of nights ago from a hotel room. Quite a view from the high floor room!
I had travelled North as I had a client meeting the next day. This is a regular thing for me, though normally I would get to the hotel around 10 pm the night before the meeting so as to have a full day in London first. This time, however, due to train timetable uncertainty, I got to the hotel late afternoon.
I felt a little in limbo, to be honest. A little lost and out of sorts.
I am so used to being occupied with things that suddenly having an empty evening ahead of me felt very strange. I often remind clients in senior leadership positions that “the less you do the more valuable you are to your business”, yet here I was struggling a little to slow my mind and activity down.
I remember then, as I walked around the town centre, smiling at the irony of my “struggle”, so I walked around for about half an hour more, then found a great burrito joint and took one back to my room and simply enjoyed that while looking out at that view.
Empathy means that you can get what others feel. I had over twenty years to begin my career where every moment was filled, with to-do lists I could never get to the end of, with my mind constantly occupied with responsibilities and tasks. I, therefore, “get” what busy leaders feel and also their struggle as I guide them to reduce the “busy-ness in their business”, as I have been there myself. Last night was a brief reminder of that.