유학에서의 공감 개념과 류성룡의 감성 리더십

Abstract

This study attempts to view Ryu Seong-ryong’s leadership in terms of emotional leadership. His leadership style may be considered emotional leadership given that his life-long favorite learning was the Neo-confucianism based on the principle of empathy. Neo-confucianism might be considered a revival of the original teachings of Confucius and Mencius. Its core value was benevolence; more specifically, in Neo-Confucianism, such Confucian values as “to overcome oneself and return to propriety (克己復禮),” “loyalty and reciprocity (忠恕),” and the way of correcting (絜矩之道)” are emphasized. These thoughts are similar to the Western concept of empathy. The leadership based on empathy is called as emotional leadership today. This article aims to illuminate the traditional ideas of empathy and emotional intelligence in East Asia. Although these ideas were thought to have come from the Western traditions, they originated from Buddhism and Confucianism, and were later transmitted to the West. Interestingly, the Daniel Goleman’s emotional leadership theory was initally developed from the teachings of Buddhist Monk Sungsan in the Buddhist meditation training in New York. The Buddhist meditation is also similar to the Confucian concept of empathy implied in loyalty and reciprocity or the way of correcting. Therefore, this study argues that Ryu Seong-ryong’s emotional leadership stemmed from the Neo-confucian concept of empathy as he had embodied Neo-Confucian tradition throughout his life. The patterns of Ryu Seong-ryong’s emotional leadership can be summed up as follows. Ryu was empathetic to the pains of his fellow people all the time. He taught that we should behave like holding a memorial service for his/her ancestors when we serve the people of our country. He prefer encouraging rather than enforcing the people to do a certain tasks during the war. He employed the emotional leadership in order to coordinate partisan conflicts among his fellow leaders. He exhibited emotional profundity when handling conflictual issues between Ming and Joseon. These patterns of empirical findings support the assumption that Ryu Seong-ryong excercised emotional leadership, which is based upon the teachings of Confucius and Mencius.