Catalyst Elevates Empathy as Business Skill This International Women's Day

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NEW YORK, March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Catalyst is celebrating International Women's Day (IWD) 2022 by reimagining the CEO title—as Chief Empathy Officer—to encourage leaders and employees at all levels to lead with empathy and build inclusive cultures within their organizations.   

The Chief Empathy Officer campaign features a collaboration with The CEO Magazine as part of Catalyst's global campaign to #BiasCorrect unconscious bias. Catalyst invites companies and individuals to participate in the campaign today in advance of International Women's Day on March 8 by:

• Taking the Catalyst IWD empathy quiz;
• Adding "Chief Empathy Officer" to your LinkedIn title; and
• Creating custom CEO Magazine covers using our photo uploader tool and sharing them across social media platforms using #BiasCorrect.

The Chief Empathy Officer-CEO Magazine photo uploader tool is available in English, French, German, and Spanish.

The campaign, created in collaboration with the Burns Group, is based on Catalyst research that defines empathy as a skill "of connecting with others to identify and understand their thoughts, perspectives, and emotions and demonstrating that understanding with intention, care, and concern."

For leaders and managers, empathy is a critical workplace skill that has the potential to reduce burnout and improve employee engagement and retention. The data shows that employees with highly empathic senior leaders report higher levels of creativity (61%) and engagement (76%) than those with less empathic senior leaders (13% and 32%, respectively).

"The pandemic has really shown us how critical it is for leaders to prioritize empathy and inclusion to improve workplace cultures," said Lorraine Hariton, President & CEO of Catalyst. "Building more equitable workplaces has always required empathy, and so as Catalyst reimagines the workplace on International Women's Day, we know that everyone, no matter their title, can be a Chief Empathy Officer."

Catalyst invites individuals and companies to visit the Chief Empathy Officer webpage today, which includes resources to help understand, develop, and practice empathic leadership. Bank of America is the lead sponsor for this campaign.

And join Catalyst CEO Lorraine Hariton for a webinar conversation on  Reimagining Workplaces for International Women's Day and Beyond on March 3 at 11:00 am ET.

About Catalyst
Catalyst is a global nonprofit supported by many of the world's most powerful CEOs and leading companies to help build workplaces that work for women. Founded in 1962, Catalyst drives change with preeminent thought leadership, actionable solutions, and a galvanized community of multinational corporations to accelerate and advance women into leadership—because progress for women is progress for everyone.

Media Contacts
Erin Souza-Rezendes
Senior Director, Global Communications
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Naomi Patton
Vice President, Global Communications
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Stephanie Wolf
US Communications Consultant
Catalyst
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Frances Knox
Europe Communications Consultant
Catalyst
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SOURCE Catalyst