--- title: How empathy from my manager changed my life | daily.dev description: A personal story about how a manager's empathy during a stressful work incident transformed the author's short-tempered behavior into a calmer, more... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-empathy-from-my-manager-changed-my-life-xeamo02qy twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How empathy from my manager changed my life | daily.dev og:description: A personal story about how a manager's empathy during a stressful work incident transformed the author's short-tempered behavior into a calmer, more... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-empathy-from-my-manager-changed-my-life-xeamo02qy og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/XeaMo02qy.png og:image:alt: How empathy from my manager changed my life og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How empathy from my manager changed my life **[Playful Programming](https://daily.dev/sources/playfulprogramming)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A personal story about how a manager's empathy during a stressful work incident transformed the author's short-tempered behavior into a calmer, more collaborative approach. After rudely hanging up on his VP of Tech following an exhausting two-day sprint, the author expected consequences but instead received kindness and food. That moment became a turning point, reshaping how he interacts with colleagues, other teams, and his family. The lesson: fighting alongside people is more effective than fighting against them. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Never Argue With Your Boss](https://daily.dev/posts/never-argue-with-your-boss-ucocidnoe) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Taking just one step too far](https://daily.dev/posts/taking-just-one-step-too-far-03fnbmvds) · Manager.dev · 4 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Work With Anyone](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-work-with-anyone-58f6x0qea) · Tech Lead Digest · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-empathy-from-my-manager-changed-my-life-xeamo02qy) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How empathy from my manager changed my life","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-empathy-from-my-manager-changed-my-life-xeamo02qy","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-empathy-from-my-manager-changed-my-life-xeamo02qy"},"datePublished":"2026-03-16T21:46:44.571Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T21:53:48.549Z","description":"A personal story about how a manager's empathy during a stressful work incident transformed the author's short-tempered behavior into a calmer, more...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/92ead76f5468606729fc0a260fa47441?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/92ead76f5468606729fc0a260fa47441?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Playful Programming","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Playful Programming","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--WoGOmY81--/f_auto,q_auto/v1773697582/logos/playfulprogramming?_a=BAMAMiiu0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/playfulprogramming"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-empathy-from-my-manager-changed-my-life-xeamo02qy","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"leadership","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Playful Programming","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/playfulprogramming"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How empathy from my manager changed my life"}]} ```