Stories of Leadership: Leading with Empathy Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations worldwide have witnessed an unprecedented need for organizational change that rapidly transformed the work environment and operational procedures. This study focuses on leaders’ experiences during COVID-19 as an opportunity for complexity leadership scholars to apply new ways of thinking to leadership practices. This study attends to the concepts of leading with empathy and fostering organizational environments where individuals feel a sense of belonging. This is important because the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the need for organizations to create a supportive environment for employees. Specifically, this study focuses on how individuals’ leadership experiences during a time of complexity (i.e., COVID-19) serves to examine and shift leadership paradigms in organizations.