The Cruelty of "Ruthless Compassion"

You may have heard the phrase of "Ruthless Compassion". Some love and live by it .

Then there are some who find it an extremely strange phrase as the two words are poles apart.

When you start reviewing the word ruthless you discover it means:

• Having no compassion or pity; merciless
• Feeling or showing no mercy; hardhearted
• Without compassion; cruel; merciless.
• Heartless, mean, barbaric, or brutal
• Someone who is ruthless is very harsh or determined, and will do anything that is necessary to achieve their aim

Look at the word compassion and it means:

• Is the emotion that one feels in response to the suffering of others that inspires a desire to help
• Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it
• A feeling of distress for the suffering or misfortune of another, often including the desire to alleviate it
• To recognise the suffering of others, then take action to help

"Ruthless Compassion" is a phrase regularly used in the business world and for some in their personal life. It is it sad to see how so called business leaders show their cruel actions by hiding behind such a phrase. It is these toxic individuals who may truly prove fatal to others, the organisation and to their own life.


Compassion is not about having pity on others. It has nothing to do with being nice and feeling sorry for others. It never means to be disrespect to yourself or be a yes person to the needs and wants of others. In simple terms it is about being loving, empowering, tolerant and forgiving. It is about being respectful to yourself and others without the ego and judgement.

For the users of "Ruthless Compassion" please listen and see the Ted Talk by Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, "Why aren't we more compassionate?". 

Rohit Bassi is the founder of In Learning and works with you so that you can outperform yourself. He works on the premise of “Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway®” and the "100 0 Principle". He has carried out work for organisations such as Oracle, EMC, Alshaya, Baskin Robbins, Mazda, Emirates NBD, Emaar and many more. Please feel free to contact him on rohit@in-learning.com or call on +971-(0)55-553-2275.