Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.

Worries typically follow such lines, a narrative to oneself that jumps from concern to concern and more often than not includes catastrophizing, imagining some terrible tragedy. Worries are almost always expressed in the mind's ear, not its eye - that is, in words, not images - a fact that has significance for controlling worry.

Attention is a little-noticed and underrated mental asset.

I don't think focus is in itself ever a bad thing. But focus of the wrong kind, or managed poorly, can be.

IQ and technical skills are important, but emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership.

True compassion means not only feeling another's pain but also being moved to help relieve it.

Empathic, emotionally intelligent work environments have a good track record of increasing creativity, improving problem solving and raising productivity.