Empathy - Its Dark Side, as Presented in "The Royal House of Windsor"

Empathy is saluted as the key trait of leadership. Essentially it is the intuitive ability to assess what people need at a specific time and then delivering that in an authentic way. 

That was how former head of Disney Bob Iger steered the corporation through crises ranging from technology disruption to COVID. 

It is also embedded in the effectiveness of Chairperson of law firm Paul Weiss Brad Karp in all aspects of the business, be it attracting star talent or adding 20 new clients annually. 

And we gave former US President Bill Clinton forgiveness over and over again because he felt our pain. 

But empathy can have a dark side. That's how the Netflix documentary "The Royal House of Winsdor" interprets Diana Spencer's initial hold on Prince Charles. At the time they met he had just lost his surrogate father Louis Mountbatten in a terrorist attack. 

Diana, the documentary opines, picked up on the extreme vulnerabillity and zeroed right in. She wanted to bag a prince for a husband. Charles, a damaged soul, assumed Diana would be the supportive spouse he needed. Damaged herself, Diana was incapable of that. They were star-crossed lovers.

Throughout her time in the royal family and after the divorce, "The Royal House" hammers the Diana kept casting the empathetic spell. She knew how to play the media. The world ate it up. Of course, the Royals came across as the bad guys. But equally adept at public relations they restored the brand after Diana's funeral.

The documentary is only one lens for understanding the complex being Diana had been. Another interpretation could be that she wasn't manipulative. Her behavior just was typical of what the needy unleash simply to make it through each and every day. 

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