Empathy is an essential skill for designers. It allows them to understand their users' needs, wants, and behaviors. In turn, they can better create products and experiences tailored to their users' needs and preferences.

But in my experience, the Design team shows a lack of empathy toward one particular user or group of users. The founders or execs above them at the company.

Reading this thread by Andy Budd (linked) opened my eyes to the vantage point of the founders as they, too, try to improve the product. :

"It’s super frustrating for founders and execs if their primary interaction with designers is sharing what they see as obvious improvements and being met with speed bumps."

~Andy Budd (@andybudd)

That post was a paradigm shift for me. My world changed as a Design Leader, realizing I was going in only one direction, advocating to execs for design practices and the design team; when I needed to spin that and better advocate to the Design team, I led the thoughts and perspectives of the founder and company leaders.

From then on, whenever I heard zero-sum talk or venting about the leadership's feedback or reactions, I took the role of devil's advocate and patiently worked to increase the level of empathy and have the designer see what I understood of the leader's perspective.