About

About the Empathic Manager

It was February 13, 2008, my birthday.  I was exactly 1049.88 miles away from my wife and kids.  I was embroiled in a difficult client engagement, all the while inhaling Sudafed and any other cough syrup I could find because I was suffering from a terrible cold.  Oh, did I mention that it was my birthday?  Life, at the time, sure seemed to suck.

I was in the middle of a meeting with about 20 employees, extolling the virtues of the company I represented with my fancy power point presentation when the unthinkable happened…I lost my voice.

I sounded like a broken engine every time I opened my mouth!  I was bordering on panic; then it suddenly dawned on me…stop talking.  Let the employees talk to you.

I looked out to the audience and simply said, “Folks, I sound like a frog.  It hurts to speak, but I’m getting the impression that you were tired of hearing me talk anyway.  I need your help…would someone mind telling me how their day is going?”

Two and half-hours later my life and my mission were forever altered.  I sat there and I listened to 20 employees share their fears, motivations, pain and happiness.

I witnessed the pain and anguish of a grieving mother who had lost her son to gang violence.

I saw the pride of the father who had saved every paycheck from three different jobs so that he could send his daughter to college.

I heard the anger and frustration that a housekeeper felt when her manager refused to at least pay her a compliment for all of the hard work that she had put into her job.

I heard the stories of men and women who clocked in and clocked out of work every day, all the while hoping and dreaming that someone, anyone, would notice.

They allowed me to walk in their shoe – to experience their lives – and I was forever changed.  On this day the Empathic Manager was born.

Who am I?

My name is Jason Greer, management consultant, speaker, writer, former Board Agent for the National Labor Relations Board and an Empathic Manager.  The Empathic Manager is a culmination of everything that I have learned over the past 17 years through business and formal education.

I have dedicated my life to helping organizations, both large and small, to create harmonious work environments that maximize productivity while maintaining that “human spark.”  It is my belief that the best retention strategy is one that is dedicated to teaching and guiding managers on the importance of stepping into the world of their employees. Until a management team understands the motivations of their work force, they will always struggle to recruit and retain the best and brightest.

At the heart of the Empathic Manager lies this one simple observation: “People will work for money, but they will die for respect and recognition.”

Just a couple of other facts about me:

I hold a Bachelors Degree in Social Work from Valparaiso University, a Masters Degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Masters Degree in Labor and Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.