Empathy – Is It Measurable and Teachable?

This paper offers the findings of a review regarding the term empathy and its two dimensions – measurement and education. The main question that is discussed through the paper is the definition of the term, as well as its measurability and possibility of being taught. Empathy is a critical interpersonal and societal role, which enables cognitive and emotional understanding of others' feelings and experiences. In business processes, empathy is the key indicator for improving customer satisfaction and revenue growth and as such was analyzed in 2014 by the Harvard Business Review. The Global Empathy Index was established and analysis on a sample of companies with major financial indexes was conducted. Over the years, the criteria were adjusted and the data sources were expended. Even though the conducted research revealed that top 10 companies in the 2015 Global Empathy Index increased in value more than twice, in comparison to the bottom ten and generated 50% more earnings, the problem that still persist is empathy implementation as well as the negative connotations and its quantify issue. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of larger scale empathy indicators and to define empathy as a discipline that can be learned with the proper education and promotion among the leaders.