As managing director of The Firm Search LLC, Dale Sternberg has helped a number of Fortune 300 companies secure talented employees. In addition to her day-to-day job functions, Dale Sternberg pursues a personal interest in emotional intelligence and other topics related to human psychology.

For a business leader, few skills are as effective in motivating employees as that of empathy. Empathy is, by definition, the ability to relate to and understand other people. It allows a person to meet others where they are and to compromise, rather than to unilaterally impose one's own opinion on others.

An empathetic leader communicates with his or her employees, discovers how they think and feel about a situation and then uses that insight to drive decision making.

As one of the four core components of emotional intelligence, empathy gives a leader the ability to use emotions as a tool. This does not mean taking advantage of others, but rather leading responsibly and with full understanding of how decisions affect others. When a leader is able to show employees that he or she respects their thoughts and feelings, both morale and workplace engagement improves.