Tactfulness vs Empathy

In my conversations with people this week, an issue keeps coming up again and again: what is the best way to balance tactfulness and empathy?  At first, this may sound like a strange question.  Tactfulness and empathy may be like comparing apples and oranges to some and then considered essentially intertwined by others. However, in all of my conversations, individuals expressed concern that their desire to be tactful would somehow be at the expense of empathy. Continue reading