Can you teach empathy?

In my last post, I asked about how one would go about teaching wisdom. It seems that we focus our attention on teaching skills and practical arts rather than wisdom or persuasion or (heaven forbid) the liberal arts. After posting my thoughts, I soon stumbled across an article in the New York Times titled “Can Doctors Learn Empathy?”

It turns out that even doctors can learn to be empathetic (OMG!) and can do so with as little as one hour of training. Empathy is certainly a significant component of wisdom, so perhaps we’re already on the road to teaching wisdom and, therefore, effective leadership.