When i was younger some of the leaders i had would fly off the handle and i just think well how's this guy gonna make a decision no one makes a good decision when they're emotional. Empathy is an essential element of being a servant leader empathetic leaders can sense what their followers are feeling  this eliminates tone deafness and the perception leaders do not understand or worse yet the perception the leader does not care. empathy is the capacity to show followers you care about them in order to provide resources allowing followers to do their job more effectively.