Good leaders understand that people in a team will optimize their contribution based on how good they feel about being in that team and how self-fulfilled they are in their work. Leadership, while it exists in relationship with others, begins inside and comes from a higher level of personal self regard and true self-confidence. Out of this comes courage to do what you believe is right. Compassion is the characteristic that sometimes separates good leaders from successful leaders. Good leaders always have compassion.
Compassion is defined as love with discipline.
A compassionate act is when a parent disciplines a child because the parent knows that if he doesn't discipline the child, the child may make a significant mistake in the future. It's not about disciplining when the parent is mad at the child or embarrassed about the child, it's about discipline when the parent doesn't want to do it but knows it's the right thing to do. At some point or points in your life, your parents had compassion for you or you wouldn't be here. Compassion comes out of a fundamental belief that at the level of the soul, everybody has a contribution to make, and everybody has a story to tell. So it comes out of a respect for all human beings.