The trait Trump, Vance lack could make them better leaders

Empathy, the ability to understand and share another person’s perspective, is often regarded as an important skill for leaders navigating complex organizations. Research suggests that empathy is one of the most important leadership skills, particularly in managing highly stressful situations.

Watch the video above as Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette argues that the Republican ticket lacks empathy at the highest level. Navarrette is particularly concerned with VP nominee JD Vance’s platform, which he says highlights this absence of empathy.

The following is an excerpt from the above video:

Trump is a billionaire who lives in New York and Florida, while Vance pals around with billionaires in Silicon Valley, and yes, with regard to the matter at hand, both men lack empathy.

In the case of Trump, this fact is very well known. During his first campaign for president in 2016 and during his first and hopefully last term in the White House, Trump, time and again, demonstrated that he is totally oblivious to anyone’s experience but his own. Former President Bill Clinton would go around telling people who had hit a rough patch: “I feel your pain,” after a national tragedy. The man from Hope, Arkansas, would offer a sympathetic shoulder. After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, however, Trump offered the people whose lives were destroyed paper towels. Not quite the same thing, is it?

What I find surprising about all this is Vance. Frankly, I expected more depth and more character from somebody who had a hard scrabble childhood, someone who essentially grew up without parents. Someone like that should not need training in how to be more humble. Life should have taken care of that. But it turns out, Vance, who was once a venture capitalist after graduating from Yale Law School, is that rarest of commodities, a hillbilly snob. He rails against affirmative action and college or corporate initiatives that foster DEI — that’s diversity, equity and inclusion. He says migrants are invading the United States, and that Mexican drug cartels are getting Americans hooked on fentanyl.

See, life is not a spelling bee. Intelligence can count for a lot, but empathy counts for more, and (in) that race, the Republican ticket is running on empty.