Leaders who lack empathetic understanding can carry on being leaders and even succeed in fields like business and politics without it. On the other hand, any leader who lacks empathy with those they are leading will necessarily be limited in their effectiveness. Some leaders like to lead by example and expect others to follow them. If this works, then lacking empathetic behaviour may not necessarily be problematic. However, if some people choose not to follow or comply with a leader only in a partial sense, then the leader will need to try and work out why if they are to change the situation. In this regard, being able to understand what is motivating followers and to address underlying issues will necessarily mean being able to think empathetically. In other words, empathetic leadersip simply tend to be more effective in creating the right sort of conditions to get other people on board with whatever it is they are trying to achieve.