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Women can lead with both heart and mind. Here’s why compassionate leadership matters now

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · · 1268 words · By Mine Karatas-Ozkan
Gender and Leadership Institutional Reform Emotional Intelligence
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What to know about Gender and Leadership

The article argues that compassionate leadership, characterized by empathy and emotional intelligence, is a strength rather than a weakness, particularly for women in leadership. It suggests that integrating these qualities and addressing systemic institutional biases can create more sustainable and effective organizational cultures.

Propaganda risk 30%
Claims checked 9
Techniques found 3
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Right coverage
Left12%
Center88%
Right0%

8 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

When former New Zealand prime minister and activist Jacinda Ardern rejected the idea that empathy makes a leader weak, she named a contradiction many women know well.

Why it matters

Women in leadership are often expected to be decisive but not too forceful, caring but not too soft, confident but never difficult.

Common ground

Yet in a world shaped by burnout, polarisation, inequality and institutional distrust, the old model of leadership as toughness without tenderness looks increasingly out of date.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Black-and-White Fallacy, Glittering Generalities: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

The article argues that compassionate leadership, characterized by empathy and emotional intelligence, is a strength rather than a weakness, particularly for women in leadership. It suggests that integrating these qualities and addressing systemic institutional biases can create more sustainable and effective organizational cultures.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/women-can-lead-with-both-heart-and-mind-heres-why-co…

analyticsAnalysis

30%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 90%
Minor concerns. Some persuasive language detected, but largely factual.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 3 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.
warning
Black-and-White Fallacy 60% confidence
Presenting only two options when more exist.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing black-and-white fallacy helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.
warning
Glittering Generalities 70% confidence
Using vague, emotionally appealing phrases ('freedom', 'justice') without specifics.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing glittering generalities helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 9 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4
verified Verified By Reference 2
verified Verified 1
help Insufficient Evidence 1
report Misleading 1
verified
Claim 1: “Emotional intelligence is... the capacity to remain self-aware, regulate one’s emotions, read social situations, and respond to others with judgement and care (Goleman, 1995)”
VERIFIED
Web search results confirm that Daniel Goleman's 1995 work defines emotional intelligence as the capacity to recognize feelings in oneself and others and manage them effectively. While the phrasing in the claim is a slight paraphrase, the core components (self-awareness, regulation, social reading) are verified.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Daniel Goleman (born March 7, 1946) is an American psychologist, author, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for The New York Times, reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Goleman
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Goleman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Barbara Goleman, twentieth century American schoolteacher Daniel Goleman (born 1946), internationally known author, psychologist, scienc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goleman
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Emotional Intelligence Appraisal is a skill-based self-report and measure of emotional intelligence (EQ) developed to assess emotionally competent behavior that provides an estimate of one's emoti…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emotional_Intelligence_App…
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 2: “Compassionate leadership begins with four steps which are interlinked: noticing, connecting, understanding and acting (Lee, B. – Compassionate Inclusive Leadership Development Programme at the University of Southampton, UK)”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While sources mention 'Compassionate Inclusive Leadership' and 'four behaviours of compassionate leadership' (King's Fund), none of the provided evidence specifically links the four steps 'noticing, connecting, understanding and acting' to 'Lee, B.' or the University of Southampton.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Ramon Magsaysay Award (Filipino: Gawad Ramon Magsaysay) is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous se…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Magsaysay_Award
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Stephen Keith Benjamin (born December 1, 1969) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement under …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_K._Benjamin
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Adv. Tashi Gyalson is a prominent political leader, lawyer, and public figure from the Union Territory of Ladakh, India. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , he is known for his pragmatic le…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashi_Gyalson
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 3: “Waddington (“Creating conditions for compassion”, in The Pedagogy of Compassion at the Heart of Higher Education, Springer International Publishing, 2017) describes three emotional regulation systems: threat, drive and soothing/affiliation”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web sources confirm the existence of three emotional regulation systems: threat, drive, and soothing/affiliation. Although the specific book by Waddington isn't explicitly quoted in the snippets, the theoretical framework described is consistently reported across multiple psychology-related sources.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Steven Waddington (born 30 December 1967) is an English film and television actor. He is best known for his starring role as the title role of Derek Jarman's Edward II and supporting role in Michael M…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Waddington
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Waddington may refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waddington
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name Waddin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waddingtons
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 4: “former New Zealand prime minister and activist Jacinda Ardern rejected the idea that empathy makes a leader weak”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including the BBC, confirm that Jacinda Ardern has explicitly argued that empathy is a strength in leadership, directly countering critics who label it as a weakness.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — It is that collaborative, empathetic leadership tends to produce better and more durable outcomes once someone is actually in power, in any system where that leader still has to answer to the people t…
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-women-may-better-leaders-…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern is known for being open and likeable - but critics say that makes her a weak leader. She tells the BBC how she's trying to chart a different path.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-46207254?intlink_fr…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has warned that the rise of “strongman” leadership is worsening political division.
https://au.variety.com/2026/biz/news/jacinda-ardern-empathy-…
help
Claim 5: “Paulo Freire argues that empowerment begins with critical consciousness: people must see that their difficulties are not just personal failings but that they are rooted in the structures around them”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided or found in the search results to evaluate this claim regarding Paulo Freire.
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Claim 6: “The Potential Project research that encompasses around 500 organisations in approximately 100 countries demonstrates that 55% of women leaders were rated by followers as both wise and compassionate, compared with 27% of men, while 56% of men were rated poorly on both dimensions”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources provide the exact statistics (55% women wise/compassionate, 27% men, 56% men poor on both) and attribute them to research by The Potential Project across ~500 organizations in ~100 countries.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use b…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gain-of-function research (GoF research or GoFR) is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that may enhance the biological functions of gene products. This may include an altere…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gain-of-function_research
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — High Potential is an American crime comedy drama television series created by Drew Goddard for ABC. It is based on the 2021 Franco-Belgian television series HPI. The series stars Kaitlin Olson as Morg…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Potential
+ 3 more evidence sources
report
Claim 7: “Brené Brown’s (2022) writing on the “Gifts of Imperfection””
MISLEADING
Brené Brown did write 'The Gifts of Imperfection', but the original book was published in 2010, not 2022. The evidence mentions a '10th Anniversary Edition', which explains the later date, but the claim presents the writing as being from 2022.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Casandra Brené Brown (born November 18, 1965) is an American academic, author and podcaster. Brown is known for her work on shame, vulnerability, and leadership, and for her widely viewed 2010 TEDx ta…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brené_Brown
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Richard Rohr, (born 1943) is an American Franciscan priest and writer on spirituality based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church in 1970, founded…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rohr
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sympathy is the perception of, understanding of, and supportive reaction to the distress or need of another life form. According to philosopher David Hume, this sympathetic concern is driven by a swi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathy
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 8: “kintsugi, the Japanese philosophy and craft of repairing broken pottery with gold”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and other sources explicitly define Kintsugi as the Japanese art and philosophy of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Kintsugi (Japanese: [kɪnˈtsuːɡi] or [kʲint͡sɯɡʲi]; Japanese: 金継ぎ, lit. 'golden joinery'), also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair"), [1] is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mendi…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Kintsugi — the Japanese philosophy of repairing broken pottery with gold. The cracks aren't hidden. They're highlighted. Because a history of surviving is worth displaying, not concealing. This change…
https://www.tiktok.com/discover/what-is-kintsugi-pottery
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese technique used to repair broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum powder. Instead of hiding the cracks, the kintsugi method highlights them, …
https://japan-clothing.com/blogs/japan/kintsugi-the-japanese…
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Claim 9: “Waddington’s work draws on Neff and Germer (“Self-Compassion and Psychological Welbeing”, The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science, 2017) to describe self-compassion as involving self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including Wikipedia and specific research summaries, confirm that Kristin Neff (and Germer) define self-compassion as consisting of three elements: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Common humanity: Self-compassion also involves recognizing that suffering and personal failure is part of the shared human experience rather than isolating.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-compassion
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — population, called Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC; Neff & Germer, 2013). In this program (described in detail below), participants meet for about 2.5 hours once a week for eight weeks, and also attend a…
https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Neff.…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — So What Is Self-Compassion? According to Kristen Neff (one of the principal researchers of this new movement), self-compassion consists of three elements: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulne…
https://phoenix-society.org/resources/self-compassion-what-i…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.