When the world changes, leadership need to change, too. No company is too big to avoid this reality -- even one of the mightiest retail giants on the planet.
I'm speaking of Walmart, which earned recent press for its shift toward prioritizing genuine compassion among its leadership. Today, its famed Manager Academy curriculum doesn't just focus on the nuts and bolts of supervision, it also focuses on driving emotional intelligence.
The Walmart example represents a broader corporate awakening to the realization that empathy and kindness matter. And they don't just matter to younger workers. Certainly, Gen Z and millennials tend to be credited with the movement toward people-centered, meaningful workplace cultures. However, I know many boomers who are no longer willing to tough it out at their jobs. They're well aware that they have alternatives to where they work, and they're exercising their options at an ever-increasing pace, according to LinkedIn research.
In other words, if you're holding fast to how things have always been done, you're not tuning into what people need now. You're not validating their concerns. Even if you're not unkind, you'll lose people because they'll feel no connection with you, your leadership, or your company. By establishing stronger, more caring relationships with employees, you can enjoy a host of benefits.